There is legislation pending before the Rhode Island General Assembly which would allow the parole board to grant parole to anyone after 15 years behind bars if they committed the crimes before their 18th birthday, The supporters state that it only provides the opportunity but does not mandate parole. Attorney General Peter Kilmartin is opposed and he is right on this issue.

Juveniles who are waived into adult court for trial committed heinous acts which are the very backstop as to why they are tried as adults in the first place, and sentenced accordingly. Attorney General Kilmartin reminded the lawmakers that Craig Price, who at age 15 killed four neighbors in Warwick, at that time was tried as a juvenile because the law allowing juveniles to be tried as adults wasn’t in existence. Craig’s crime spree continued while he was incarcerated and it is those crimes that keep him in jail today. Just as the law allowing a juvenile to be tried as an adult is an important escape mechanism for society, so is a long term sentence for hardened juvenile murderers.

One doesn’t have to look too far back in the news to see where juveniles perpetrated mass murders. I don’t want to repeat their names here since I don’t want to give them any publicity for their nefarious actions. Suffice it to say that they were bad actors.

I prosecuted a case of an 18 year old. Fortunately, the year before he committed a crime as an adult my legislation to allow the consideration of a juvenile record for the purposes of sentencing had passed. Up until then, as an adult the perpetrator was treated as a first time offender because his juvenile record was expunged. Usually, he would then get probation or a suspended sentence. In this case , J.F., had perpetrated 56 crimes as a juvenile. What brought him to the adult court was his assault on an old lady (one of his favorite targets) to steal her purse. He knocked her down and she was "sentenced" to a nursing home for the rest of her life with a broken hip. Her freedom had been taken away. J.F. was convicted and got a 40 year sentence precisely because of his long history of juvenile crime.

The public sometimes doesn’t want to think that any child is “lost” since most people have a Father Flanagan complex. The reality is that juvenile hoodlums could care less about another human being. Judges often can assess the psychopathy of an offender by listening to the facts of a case and observing the perpetrator during the trial. Let them continue to do so. If the judge thinks the facts show someone who is redeemable then he/she will impose a shorter sentence.

Attorney General Peter Kilmartin reminded legislators that barring a judge from imposing a life sentence without parole for an “as-yet-unknown juvenile criminal who commits an unimaginable horrific crime” would be a mistake. Further, it “sentences” the victims to go before the Parole Board repeatedly to oppose early release.

Hopefully, the lawmakers will heed him. The ACLU asserted that no person under age 18 should be treated as irredeemable. Sadly, there are juveniles who are exactly that. Wishing otherwise won’t make the problem go away. Keep this important option in place.

Arlene Violet is an attorney and former Rhode Island Attorney General.