Juvenile Detention Limited By Judges In MA
The Boston Globe reports that the highest court in Massachusetts struck down a law yesterday that allows the state to keep juvenile offenders who are slated to be released at 18 in custody for three more years if they are believed to be dangerous.
The Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling that the law is unconstitutional will result in the release of a dozen juvenile offenders whom state officials had kept incarcerated after their 18th birthday. One of those was among a group of young offenders who had challenged the law. The high court wrote that the law fails to define dangerousness, gives “unbridled discretion” to the Department of Youth Services, and violates the due-process rights of offenders. “The language contains no indication of the nature and degree of dangerousness that would justify continued commitment and offers the department no guidance on how to make such a determination,” wrote Justice Judith Cowin.
Berkshire District Attorney David F. Capeless, president of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, said the ruling means “some dangerous young people, those who the DYS have determined continue to pose a real danger to the community despite being under DYS supervision . . . are going to be at large” …
In yesterday’s decision, Cowin wrote that the court warned the Legislature in 2004 that it had “grave concerns” about the constitutionality of the statute because of its failure to adequately define dangerousness, and “invited it to correct the deficiencies.” However, the Legislature did not change the law.
Yesterday’s ruling does not apply to juvenile offenders who, because of the severity of their crimes, were sentenced to state custody until age 21, nor to juveniles who were tried as adults and sentenced to prison terms.