16-year-old may be headed for adult court this time

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16-YEAR-OLD MAY BE HEADED FOR ADULT COURT THIS TIME

April 2, 2000

Last year in Marion County, 246 juvenile offenders were waived to adult court. The reasons for this include serious crimes such as battery, possession of cocaine or firearms, and murder, as well as lengthy criminal records.

A future statistic may be Jay, not his real name. Jay expressed his fear of being waived to adult court when Y-Press visited the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center.

Jay, 16:

"Stealing cars, making money . . . I thought it was fun till I got locked up.

"There were three other people with me, and I'm the only one that's here. I'm the only one who got caught because I didn't run.

"They were going to help me out. They were talking to the lawyer with my mother, telling the lawyer what happened, making up lies, trying to get me out of here. But only one of my friends came to court.

"I thought it was kind of cool that they tried. . . . But I'd rather they keep it real.

"My parents' first reaction was, 'What'd you steal that car for? You already got one.' And then the second reaction was, 'He ain't gonna do it no more.' And the third reaction was, 'You get caught stealing another car, (you're) dead. You ain't got no parents.' . . .

"The first time I got sent here, I was mad. I mean, I had too many excuses -- blamed it on everybody but myself.

"Now the law, they're trying to waive me. That's the biggest consequence of them all. I've been in the Boys School twice.

"My mom is trying to help me out of it now. I'm only 16, but if I get waived, then from here on out it'll be nothing but county time -- I mean prison. No more juvenile -- straight prison with the big boys. That's gonna change me a lot.

"I can't blame it on nobody else but myself. When my pops died in '93, that kind of really kicked it off. I was just like, 'Man, ain't nobody here to whop me no more, so I can do what I want.'

"My child is coming in April, so when it do come, for sure they gonna know what's right and what's wrong. And if they do something crazy, they catching a whopping for sure.

"I take it one day at a time. I don't say I ain't coming back 'cause it don't matter, you could be in the wrong place at the wrong time like I was.

"In 10 years, I really just hope to be alive and be out of prison, period, running my own life, maybe running my own business with a wife or something, my child. Taking care of my mama instead of her taking care of me."

REPORTERS: Lindsay Crawford, 13; Kimberly Heron, 11; and Rebecca Salois, 10.

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