Proposed bill fills black hole for certain crimes committed by minors

Mar. 1—A new bill going through the Indiana General Assembly aims to fix what has been described as a "jurisdictional black hole" in cases where a child commits a delinquent act that is not reported until after the perpetrator turns 21 years old.

Indiana Senate Bill 464 specifies that if a juvenile court lacks jurisdiction over a crime that was committed by a child when they were between 12 and 18 years old and the crime is reported after the offender turns 21 years old, an adult criminal court will have jurisdiction over the case.

"Right now, victims who are violated by offenders of a certain age have no recourse, no avenue for justice if that offender offends while they're a juvenile but then some time passes before the offense is disclosed and comes to law enforcement's attention," Cass County Prosecutor Noah Schafer said. "We see that frequently in the case of child molesting because there's frequent delays in disclosure for a variety of reasons. It takes a while for kids to understand what's happened to them, to process it, and to have the courage to come forward."

Schafer was confronted with the problem in a recent Cass County case. He attempted to file the case in juvenile court, but it was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds. He then tried to file the case in adult criminal court, but it was also dismissed there on jurisdictional grounds. Schafer said there was nowhere else to turn because there are no other options for those types of cases besides criminal and juvenile court.

"Because of the way the juvenile jurisdiction statute was written and has been interpreted by the Supreme Court in some decisions in the past two or three years, in those cases where the offender's a juvenile, time passes, and when it comes to light the defender's not a juvenile, there was no place for that to go," he said. "It was not appropriately in the jurisdiction of juvenile courts and it was not appropriately in the jurisdiction of adult courts."

Schafer is far from the only prosecutor dealing with the lack of jurisdiction in those types of cases. He discussed the problem with the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council (IPAC), other prosecutors, legislators, Cass County community members who have been affected by the problem, and Indiana Senator Stacy Donato (R-Logansport). He urged Donato to write a bill to fill the jurisdictional black hole.

"Literally the last resort was, change the law," Schafer said. "That's part of the function of a prosecutor, to communicate with legislators on behalf of victims and on behalf of the public to fix problems when they come up, so we did that."

Donato said she was more than happy to help work toward a solution. She added that it is important for children who have been violated to receive closure and said that as a mother, she hates when children are hurt.

"I worked very closely with IPAC and allowed them to be the ones that were leading because I'm not an attorney, but I have a constituent who's been hurt," she said. "...We also met with defenders so that they can have a part too, and the amendment that we added included their language also so that both sides were represented. Most importantly, a child that has been molested will have justice at the end, and that's what I really cared about."

"It's because of the Logansport ties, it's because it affected us directly, that our legislator got involved," he said. "Stacy absolutely carried the torch on this. If you look at the history, this was a legislative fix that was proposed last year, and because of the way political sausage gets made, it didn't get through last year. But Stacy didn't give up on it, proposed new legislation again this year, and it looks very much like it's going to go through. I think it's going to happen."

The bill was authored after one such situation occurred recently in Cass County. Donato said her constituents reached out to her about the problem and asked for a legislative solution. As a mother, Donato said she felt compelled to help and protect children who have been hurt.

Schafer said he is grateful that Donato took action to hold offenders accountable and fill the jurisdictional black hole that prevented some child molesters within a certain age range from being prosecuted. He is hopeful that this bill will solve some of the problems caused by the lack of jurisdiction in those cases.

"Crimes committed by a juvenile shouldn't go unaddressed just because they managed to remain hidden in the closet for three, four, five, or 10 years," he said. "A child who has been violated at a very young age should not be told that, just because time passed, 'Hey, I'm sorry, but you're never going to get justice. You have no avenue here, no recourse for justice,' just because of the way the law is written."

The bill passed the Indiana Senate 31 to 13 and is currently being heard by the State of Indiana House of Representatives. It received its first reading and was referred to the Committee on Courts and Criminal Code on Tuesday.

While Senate Bill 464 still needs to be passed by the House of Representatives to become law, Schafer and Donato have high hopes that will happen.

"Children have to stop being hurt, and that's what this bill will help do," Donato said.