Senate Bill 279
Introduced Senate Bill (S)
Authored by
Co-Authored by
DIGEST
Threats and gun violence. Provides that a juvenile court does not have jurisdiction over an individual: (1) at least 14 years of age who carries a handgun without a license; or (2) who uses a firearm in the commission of an offense. Makes communicating a threat with the intent to cause the evacuation of school property or a hospital a Level 6 felony. (Under current law, the offense is a Class A misdemeanor.) Adds unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon to the definition of “crime of violence”. Provides that a person who uses a firearm to commit certain offenses may be sentenced to an additional term of 20 years. (Under current law, the person may be sentenced to an additional term of five to 20 years.)
Above is a Senate Bill introduced in the Indian General Assembly 2015 session. It basically says that a child who is simply caught with a handgun will be tried as an adult; it says other things as well but that is the most significant part of this bill. This Bill suggests to me that its authors did not learn from the mistakes of the 1980’s war on drugs or those mandatory minimum sentences. Nor do they understand the problems trying kids as adults.
I am not going to go too deep on this matter because I can go all day ranting and raving. However, a brief discussion should spark some thought.
As a result of America’s war on drugs many low level dealers, dope fiends, and people in the wrong place at the wrong time were sent to prison for numerous years and judges could not look at each case on an individual basis. Those mandatory minimum laws had everybody sitting in prison with a Buck Rodgers out-date and a king pen sentence. Prisons became overcrowded and the drug epidemic persisted. It didn’t make too much sense sending a crack head to prison for 20 years and using up resources that could have been used to prevent a rape or murder.
Any time a person who is clearly not a criminal gets sent to prison for 20 years because of a mandatory minimum sentence there is something clearly wrong. It is an injustice. It is a mistake sending a thousand career criminals to prison using mandatory minimum sentencing if innocent men, women and children are getting sent too. Take Lee Wollard’s case as an example, he was sentenced to 20 years for protecting his family-a life sentence for this 59 year old man. Even the judge said he wouldn’t have given him anything near a 20 year sentence if his hands weren’t tied by Florida’s sentencing laws. Click here to hear about his story.
Now let’s look at some possible problems that comes from trying kids as adults. First, their childhood mistake will follow them for the rest of their lives. Second, if they are found guilty they will then be sent off to be trained as a career criminal, that’s if they don’t go crazy in prison.
We are supposed to keep people safe and protect our kids. Kids don’t have developed minds and can’t understand the ramifications of being tried as an adult, going to prison, and having a felony conviction on their record. As a result they won’t be deterred by SB 279 nor will the public be any safer. In fact, the kids will be harmed and the public will be in more danger once these kids return from criminal training camp.
In short, SB 279 is a mistake. I wonder did the authors of this Bill even look at history.
We all need to look at our mistakes and the mistakes of the past to make the most optimal decisions; as a taxpayer and a voter I expect our politicians to do just that. If this Bill becomes part of the Indiana Code we are allowing our kids to be condemned for their mistakes as opposed to allowing them to learn and profit from them.