 |
 |
With Sonoma County’s young offenders, focus is on rehabilitation, not incarceration
By PAUL PAYNE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Judge Raima Ballinger last week opened a proceeding that happens hundreds of times a year in Sonoma County juvenile court and is usually kept hidden from the public eye — deciding what to do with teenagers in trouble with the law.
The rare glimpse, which came in the case of a Cloverdale High School student who fatally injured an elderly pedestrian in a hit-and-run crash, revealed stark differences between the treatment of kids 12 to 17 and their adult counterparts.
Juvenile corrections counselor George Aceves supervises outdoor activities Wednesday at the Los Guilicos Juvenile Justice Center in Santa Rosa. (Kent Porter / PD)
The fast-moving proceedings are less formal. Young people are called by first names and Ballinger consults with family members seated nearby to arrive at dispositions that focus on rehabilitation rather than incarceration.
The courtroom, where Ballinger has a white lily sitting in a vase on her desk, is located next to the Los Guilicos Juvenile Justice Center at the gateway to Sonoma Valley vineyards, miles from the main court and jail complex.
The juvenile court, in effect, is the stop that will determine whether a troubled teen returns to parents and school or heads off to the cinder-block walls of juvenile hall, and even tougher state-run detention centers.
This was the challenge before Ballinger, parents, defense and prosecution attorneys and probation officials at last week’s sentencing hearing.
“This is much different than what happens in adult court,” Ballinger told those gathered to hear the manslaughter case against Mitch Carlson, 17. “We look at every person individually.”
But the quick, initial settlement of Carlson’s case raised questions about the speed with which about 1,500 county cases are resolved each year. The confidentiality of the proceedings — only relatives are allowed inside the courtroom — fosters concern that no one in the public is present to ensure justice is done.
In the week after Christmas, Carlson was arrested for fleeing the scene as the severely injured Sanchez lay on a Cloverdale street, and appeared before Ballinger for resolution of the case — the day before Sanchez died.
After an outcry from Sanchez’s family and community members over the handling of the case behind closed doors, District Attorney Jill Ravitch called for an independent prosecutor.
Proponents of more openness say juvenile cases often are shrouded in too much secrecy.
Barring the public from all but the most serious juvenile cases can hide police and prosecutorial abuse, judicial error and unfair treatment of defendants, said Peter Scheer, executive director of San Rafael-based First Amendment Coalition.
He questioned whether minors are too young to be held criminally responsible and the practice of shielding their mistakes from an unforgiving public to speed their rehabilitation.
“Exclusion of the press and public prevents needed scrutiny of a part of the judicial system that is badly broken,” Scheer said.
As the system has developed over the past decade, statistics point to an even greater burden on the judgments made in juvenile court.
Sonoma County’s juvenile hall averages 80 to 90 inmates daily, significantly less than its 140-bed capacity. And the county has about a dozen kids in the state’s juvenile detention facilities, considered to be the last resort for the most incorrigible.
“We don’t have a lot of young people there,” said Steve Pettit, a public defender assigned to the Juvenile Justice Center since 2000. “That’s a really good thing. Sonoma County should be proud of that. Incarceration doesn’t happen lightly here.”
Juvenile delinquency filings in the county have declined 39 percent over the past decade, reflecting a nationwide crime-rate reduction.
Prosecutors filed 1,310 juvenile petitions, or complaints, in fiscal 2008-09, down about 16 percent from the previous year, according to the latest available court statistics.
During the same period, the court’s two judges — Ballinger and Judge Allan Hardcastle — resolved 1,633 cases, about 10 percent fewer than the year before.
The system actually sees many more kids, Ballinger told those attending Carlson’s hearing Wednesday, which was opened with the filing of the manslaughter charge.
About 2,900 are contacted by police, according to Probation Department officials, but about 60 percent of the cases are diverted to alternative programs, Ballinger said.
Unlike the adult system, incoming police reports are first reviewed by probation officials who decide whether to send the young suspect to the district attorney to face charges.
And the process is accelerated. Young offenders must be released within 48 hours unless a petition is filed, and if it is a felony, a detention hearing must be held no later than a day after.
Any violation of the timeline could lead to mandatory release.
Teenagers may admit or deny a charge at arraignment. If they deny it and are detained, they have a right to a trial within 15 days.
Probation officials say the average processing time from charging to disposition is 16 days.
Criminal charges in adult court, on the other hand, can take years to resolve.
In Carlson’s case, the district attorney brought charges within two days of the Dec. 27 accident and the boy was released to his parents with an electronic monitoring device strapped to his ankle, Ballinger said.
He returned to court Dec. 30 and admitted to the lone count of felony hit-and-run causing great bodily injury. There was no plea bargain with prosecutors, Ballinger said.
“Everything listed on that petition,” Ballinger recounted, “Mitchell said, ‘I did that.’”
However, relatives of victim Miguel Sanchez, 83, said prosecutors never checked on Sanchez’s condition before charging Carlson. He died Dec. 31, a day after the case was resolved.
Weeks later, following the independent review by a Marin County prosecutor, Carlson was charged with an additional misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter.
He admitted the charge and was sentenced Wednesday to up to three years’ probation, community service and other sanctions including the loss of driving privileges.
“I hope someday you can forgive me,” Carlson told the court.
Sanchez family members were unsatisfied. A grandson called Carlson a coward for leaving the elderly man on the street and urged the judge to put him in custody.
But Ballinger said under the law, incarceration wasn’t an option. If Carlson completes probation, which may include a special restorative resources program, he will have his record wiped clean.
“I have heard what you have said. But I have to follow the law,” Ballinger said. “That’s what I’m going to do.”
The added charge is what compelled Ballinger to open the proceedings. The state’s Welfare and Institutions code lists serious offenses such as murder, arson, rape and robbery for which hearings must be accessible to the public.
Bill Brockley, chief deputy district attorney, said the Legislature and reviewing courts have supported the statutes governing juvenile proceedings to avoid placing the “stigma of criminality on the minor” while serving the “best interests of the state.”
Legal advocates for youth said the Carlson case likely played out the way it was supposed to.
Pettit said young people are treated differently than adults because they aren’t yet fully developed, mentally or emotionally. Science has shown many don’t grasp simple cause and effect until their early 20s, while others are coping with learning disabilities or problems at home, he said.
Juvenile law was written to be less punitive, concentrating instead on helping kids become productive adults and expunging criminal records.
“They used to hang kids just like they did adults,” Pettit said. “But they got to thinking that might not be the best way to do things.”
Pettit said there is a system of checks and balances that allows either side to appeal decisions. Some cases are reviewed by the grand jury.
“It’s the most effective branch of the judicial system,” Pettit said. “There’s generally more agreement between professionals to an outcome and less animosity. It’s a pretty unusual person who doesn’t try to help kids.”
Sheralynn Freitas, deputy chief probation officer, believes the system is on the right track.
“While we continue to develop and evolve with new research in juvenile justice, the system’s foundation is quite solid,” Freitas said.
However, Scheer questioned the idea that minors are too young to be responsible for their actions and should be protected to help them recover.
“That quaint notion no longer seems very relevant,” Scheer said, especially in those cases in which the most violent juveniles are sent to extended stays in juvenile hall and onto state custody. “The reality today is that juvenile rehabilitation is the rare exception. Continued secrecy therefore produces few, if any, benefits.”
JUVENILE JUSTICE BY THE NUMBERS
2,900: number of young people in Sonoma County’s justice system each year
77 percent: charged with misdemeanors
28 percent: charged with felonies
16 days: average processing time from charge to disposition
43 percent: percentage
of misdemeanors resolved on first appearance
31 percent: percent of felonies resolved on first appearance.
450: number of youths
on supervised probation
400: number of youths
in diversion program
Source: Sonoma County Probation Department
You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com.
Subscribe by Email
Follow us on Twitter
I am not impressed with the Juvenile Injustice System . Your race does make a difference in how your case is handled. If the situation had been reversed and a Sanchez had left the scene, leaving the man behind to die, he would for sure had a stiff penalty. I am not insensitive to what this young man must be going through just the system that will treat him with more consideration than the minority youth.
I have not seen much Justice in the Juvenile System, unfortunately your name and race does make a difference. Some Judges do not belong in this part of the law. Children should be accountable for their actions but Judges should not be biased against children of color and charge them for things they did not do. Especially when there are witnesses to the contrary.
When I was a kid,and I screwed up…
The first thing I wanted,since I was not”yet fully developed,mentally or emotionally”,was relief from the situation.Feeling bad for the situation is far different than having genuine remorse and empathy for the life,or lives you’ve destroyed.
I understand tragic accidents occur.However,this 17 YEAR OLD DROVE OFF! fully aware of what he did.This man’s life didn’t matter to Carlson anywhere near as much as it should have,and I have ZERO confidence that our juvenile justice system will adequately address that fact.
Any adult reading this that felt they were NOT fully responsible for their actions at the age of 17, strictly due to the fact that you were a minor, criminal or non-criminal please hit the “thumbs down” button.
Any adult reading this that felt they were fully responsible for their actions at the age of 17, even though you were a minor, criminal or non-criminal please hit the “thumbs up” button.
The Truth Please!
Crazy for the Truth..
the cat was Joe..the dog was Stephen…
@ crazy for the truth
Did The special prosecutor from Marin ever mention Stephen Passalacqua as not being involved?
Did the special prosecutor from Marin ever name the prosecutor that failed to notify the hit-and-run victims family about the case as it was being settled?
Is this information available….
Crazy for the Truth- I have to agree with you. Something is rotten in the DA’s office. Hopefully this will be remembered at election time. Ravitch and McMahon should both be removed from office. Their dirty pool not only tarnished the Passalacqua name but caused added grief to the Sanchez family. Hopefully Karma comes back to bite them where it counts
Unless you have been in front of one of these joker judges we have in sonoma county you dont a know what your talking about. criminal’s are 17 year old white kids who flee a deadly hit & run in any state but CA with this joke of a judge raima she deserves prison for her racist ways the old DA passalacqua too!
Raima Ballinger needs to be removed from Sonoma county and moved to a minority free county or even a different state, her minority incarceration percentage compared to whites is ridiculous just follow the last 3 years of her career especially in the media. White gets second chance, others get their record destroyed i see raimas wonderful work in the counties poor neighborhoods everyday. Your blind sheep if u don’t see or believe it.
So the lynch mob that was ready to pillory Joe and Stephan passalacqua was wrong. What a surprise.
Why did da ravitch let that implication stay with the public. Oh yeah, political payback. Better that 2 completely blameless people get lambasted then her appointed right hand man, bud McMahon, and her good friend and the supervisor of juvenile court Joan risse. Let’s not forget McMahon told cloverdale to stop investigating while his boss risse said what?
The press democrat went so far as to WRITE an editorial basically siding with ravitch that there was some “sweetheart deal” between the brothers. Now it turns out that was absolutely false and our new DA sat by and let that stay out there. This is absolutely shameful
I had better hopes for the DA’s office but Ravitch is proving to be a political hack like all the rest. And the press democrat editorial staff followed her down the ravitch hole, hook, line & sinker.
You should all be embarrassed. Maybe the next time you want to pin a crime on the dog, you shouldn’t get your information from the cat.
Rehabilitation only works when there is a willing subject with family support. More often than not the juvenile offender could give a crap about the slap on the wrist punishment given by our court system. The “by the numbers” fails to address the repeat offenders. So what if things resolve quickly if it is only to allow the offender to commit another crime. Give a first chance, make the second offense one where the offender is incarcerated. Maybe then they will not end up in county jail as their first wake up call.