Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Ark. Boys May Face Federal Charges > WASHINGTON (AP) -- The two boys arrested in the Arkansas > school shooting could be charged as juveniles under > federal law and officials were studying whether the > older one could be tried as an adult, Attorney General > Janet Reno said Thursday. > > Whether the 11-year-old or the 13-year-old now in > custody for the Jonesboro shootings ends up facing > federal rather than state charges will depend on which > system provides the heaviest penalties. > > The question arose in part because Arkansas law forbids > trying children 13 and under as adults; federal law > allows adult trials for defendants as young as 13. > > ``What we're doing is going through all the various > federal statutes to see what might be effective,'' Reno > told her weekly news conference. ``At this point, ... > both (juveniles) ... could be charged under certain > federal crimes as juveniles.'' > > Reno and her aides said the questions remaining were: > > --Whether the 13-year-old could be tried as an adult in > federal court. > > --Whether a federal juvenile prosecution was more likely > than an Arkansas prosecution to allow the boys, if > convicted, to be incarcerated until age 21 rather than > just age 18. > > Although Arkansas law lets youths convicted under state > juvenile law be held up to age 21, no one has ever been > held past age 18, the state's legal age of adulthood. > The reason is that Arkansas law requires that > 18-to-21-year-olds convicted as juveniles cannot be > housed in juvenile facilities, and, in adult prisons, > must be separated from adult inmates. However, the state > has no adult prison with such separate facilities. > > Federal juvenile law allows detention up to age 21 if > the sentence lasts that long. > > Officials of the Justice Department's criminal division > were conferring with U.S. Attorney Paula Casey in > Arkansas and Arkansas officials over whether there would > be any advantage to bringing federal charges, Reno said. > > Reno's deputy chief of staff Kent Markus said officials > were trying to see if any federal statutes that allow > adult trials of juveniles were applicable in this case. > > Federal law allows 13-year-olds but not 11-year-olds to > be prosecuted as adults but only under very limited > circumstances, Markus said. Those circumstances include > certain violent federal offenses but not the law that > makes it a federal crime for a juvenile to merely > possess a handgun, he added. > > Four students and a teacher were slain Tuesday at > Jonesboro's middle school, but murder is a federal crime > only when committed on Indian reservations, in federal > parks or on other federal property or against a federal > law enforcement officer or very high-ranking federal > official. Federal civil rights statutes can only be used > in murder cases when the crime was committed because of > race or national origin of the victims or by a law > enforcement officer. > > Last year, a proposal to allow adults trials of youths > as young as 12 failed to pass the Arkansas legislature. > Gov. Mike Huckabee and state legislators this week > called for readdressing the issue. > -- Two rules in life: 1. Don't tell people everything you know. 2. Subscribe/Unsubscribe, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the body of the message enter: subscribe/unsubscribe law-issues
