Prosecutor: Juvenile justice series provided 'dangerous narrative'
Readers may have seen a series of articles that were sympathetic to teenage criminals who rob, rape and murder. As a prosecutor who works with crime victims, it’s clear to me that these articles advanced a dangerous narrative.
The series implied that teenagers who commit adult crimes should not be treated as adults in court. The second claim — offered without evidence — is that racism in some secret, invisible way, determines which teens end up in adult court. Both of these premises are wrong.
The stories showcased a chorus of defense attorneys, activists who seek to empty prisons, and criminals who hurt others but are now eager to shift the blame somewhere else. What didn’t I see? The full perspective of crime victims or prosecutors like me.
In one article, while a spectacle is made of Robert Daniel's case, the writer sidesteps the monstrous reality: he was convicted of aggravated murder and complicity to aggravated murder for his role in the murder of two teenage girls. This isn't just a passing detail — it's the crux of the whole matter.
I helped send a juvenile to prison for 18 years to life because this 17-year-old used a semiautomatic weapon to gun down and murder a man who was a father and a brother. Let’s be clear — this was no wayward grade school kid — he is a dangerous murderer.
Allowing violent teens to shift blame from themselves to the “system” ignores the fact that the most of their peers made more responsible choices. These other young people undoubtedly faced similar circumstances, but opted for the law abiding path to a better life. Their examples remind us that the handful among their cohort who turned violent did so by choice
You’d never know it from the series but transfers to adult court are rare and reserved for the most serious teenage offenders who commit the most egregious, and violent, crimes. The transfers are based on the severity of the crime and the age of the offender.
Additionally, our system is full of safeguards. Before any kid sees the inside of an adult courtroom, there's a probable cause hearing where we need to produce hard evidence. And, when a juvenile is moved to adult court, he gets the full range of due process: a grand jury review, bail hearing, complete discovery and the right to a jury trial.
Several of the articles implied that, because minority teens are admitted into Ohio Department of Youth Services at a proportion higher than their percentage of the population, invisible racism is to blame. This claim that minority kids are in the system because of some shadowy racist agenda ignores a basic truth: each of us, regardless of age, race, or circumstance, has agency. Ironically, the notion that minority kids don’t possess such agency — is, itself, racist. We all decide to break or follow the law.
Tossing out accusations of systemic racism without proof is crying wolf when there's no beast in sight. And when the real predator shows up, nobody's ready to believe it.
Statistics also show that in 2020 93% of the kids admitted into Ohio’s Department of Youth Services are male. If overrepresentation equals discrimination, then the juvenile justice system must also be sexist! Of course, no one believes that.
As the renowned Black social scientist Thomas Sowell has said, “At a minimum, history shows how dangerous it can be, to a whole society, to automatically and incessantly attribute statistical differences in outcomes to malevolent actions against the less successful.”
He’s right. Unsupported and overstated claims of “systemic racism” — the partisan bogeyman of the moment — create a perception of bias where none exists.
Our justice system holds criminals accountable and that includes teenagers who endanger others with their violent crimes. Anyone — including a reporter — who tries to claim that these issues are about age and race is trying to divert attention away from what it’s really about: right and wrong.
Seeing these issues through that clear lens is essential. It allows those in my profession to fulfill our calling: to seek justice for victims and ensure that the violent are punished.
Ray Grogan is the Marion County prosecuting attorney.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Prosecutor Ray Grogan: Don't let violent teens shift blame to 'system'
