Harris County: Where a Kid Can't Be a Kid

At Chuck E Cheese, a kid can be a kid.

Not so, however, in Harris County, where we prosecute more teens as adults than do four other heavily populated Texas counties....combined. Judges and prosecutors think we can expect the number of teens in prison to increase in the coming years as well, since recent sex scandals at the Texas Youth Commission (the juvenile hall end of the law) have led to a new rule where prisoners are transferred to the regular Department of Corrections when they reach 19, rather than 21 as previously.

Despite the fact that only fifteen percent of crime is committed by Harris County's minors, the county represents half of the underaged kids in jail in the state. Between 2000 and 2003, the county was certifying (i.e. prosecuting as adults) only about 55 kids a year, but last year that number jumped to 90, in part because of the Ashley Benton case and the related crackdown on violent gang crime. So far this year, 67 juveniles have been certified to be tried as adults, on pace to match last year's total.

Ultimately, many defenders--who are overworked with huge caseloads since most juveniles who are certified require a public defender and there are only 25 of them working juvenile cases--say that Harris County's version of youth justice is harsher than most others.

"Once they get in this system, it's a meat grinder," said W. Michael Coulson, a court-appointed defense attorney, "for the most part, they're on a rocket sled headed for [the department of corrections as adults], unless something really big steps in the way."