New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Bipartisan juvenile justice bill passes in CT House of Reps
HARTFORD — During a four-and-a-half hour debate that underscored Connecticut’s politically charged divide on stolen cars, youth crime and generational trauma in underserved communities, the state House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan bill late Thursday aimed at providing more services — and consequences — for juveniles in the criminal justice system.
Suburban Republicans, who ended up unanimously supporting the legislation, said it should have held youths more accountable for crimes including stolen cars, while urban Democrats said that trauma is generational and illustrates the need for better investments in social services and preschool to stop the juvenile crime that has become more noticeable in the pandemic.
The debate is likely to continue into the upcoming statewide political season as high-profile gun violence and car thefts has migrated to leafy suburbs. The legislation, which passed 129-17, next heads to the Senate.
“I hear over and over again that crime is down, that we don’t have a problem, and I can tell you the people that I represent certainly feel a whole lot less safe,” said Rep. Laura Devlin, R-Fairfield, who is expected to gain the Republican nomination next month to run for lieutenant governor with Bob Stefanowski, of Madison. “I can only wonder what’s taken so long that we finally recognize we do have an issue to address. I wonder if we would have taken action sooner, how many lives we could have saved. How many interventions in the lives of kids to turn them around.”
“It’s about where we’re going as a state,” said House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, RNorth Branford, stressing the need for better accountability. “It’s not about incarcerating children. We all know when there is not a consequence for actions, there will be a repeat of the actions.”
The bill passed with opposition from Democratic progressives and racial minorities including Rep. Robyn Porter, of New Haven. “There’s been a lot of talk about an uptick in crime, car theft,” Porter said. “A year, two years we’ve been dealing with this. Well, we’ve been in a pandemic for two years, but I can tell you my community has been in a pandemic for a lot longer than that. We have been suffering from car thefts, robberies, gun violence, gang violence for decades. So this is nothing new to us.”
She said stepped-up policing hasn’t helped.
“If we become more punitive without it being evidence-based, we run the risk of pouring money into a system that has historically not benefited communities that look like mine,” Porter said. “And not to leave out the rural communities, because this really is not a race issue. This is a poverty issue. So if we want to talk about
eradicating crime, we need to be talking about how we eradicate poverty, because poverty is a policy choice.”
Rep. Steve Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport, co-chair of Judiciary Committee who led the debate said that juvenile justice reforms enacted in the General Assembly over the past 15 years, including raising the age that teens are considered adults in the justice system, has been bipartisan. Stafstrom and proponents of the legislation noted that while there was an increase in stolen cars during the pandemic, thefts have since dropped sharply.
If enacted into law, the bill would require a juvenile charged with a crime to be arraigned in court within five days of their arrest; and would give state Superior Court judges the option to implement GPS monitoring for certain repeat motor vehicle offenders. Action on the bill was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but was delayed by a partisan controversy over the GPS portion.
Under the bill, police could hold suspects for eight hours, instead of six, when they are seeking a detention order from a judge; and it expands their access to records on juvenile arrests. Additionally, the bill would treat all
motor vehicle thefts the same. Instead of basing the punishment on the value of car, as is the case now, it would be focused on the number of offenses. A first car-theft offense would be a misdemeanor and second offense would be a felony.
“The most impactful way to reduce crime is by preventing it from happening and this bill takes meaningful steps to achieve that goal,” said Rep. Jennifer Leeper, DFairfield, who voted for the legislation.
“Sometimes we have to walk in the shoes of others to understand what is actually going on,” said Rep. Juan Candelaria, D-New Haven. “Many parents work a couple of jobs and they are not at home to watch for these children. That creates a different dynamic, a dynamic where there is no supervision. What are we doing as a legislature to ensure that families are whole, to ensure that the parent can spend time with that child? We need to invest in families.”
He said that $1.25 million for statewide judicial outreach could be spent in his city alone.
“This starts with the grandparents, the greatgrandparents,” said Candelaria, who voted for the bill. “Today that child is living in the same vicious cycle. Why is it that this youth has made the decision to steal a car? Did we provide support to that family that may have gone through a trauma?”
The electronic monitoring provision was a major sticking point for several Democrats, who despite their opposition, largely still voted for the measure. In a preliminary vote, the House passed an amended version of the bill earlier in the debate by 143-2.
Rep. Michael DiGiovancarlo, a Waterbury police officer, and Rep. Anne Hughes, co-chair of the House Democratic Progressive Caucus, were the two Democratic no votes.
Hughes said the GPS monitoring would “disproportionately impact brown and Black youth who will be tagged as criminals to their communities, to their peers because we failed to provide upstream prevention services before this moment.”
“The data doesn’t even support it as a tool that works,” said Rep. Quentin Williams, D-Middletown.
Hughes also voted against the bill when it came to a final vote. Other Democrats who opposed the bill were Williams, Rep. Andre Baker, of Bridgeport; Rep. Brandon Chafee, of Middletown; Rep. Pat Dillon, of New Haven; Rep. Josh Elliott, of Hamden; Rep. John Hennessy, of Bridgeport; Rep. David Michel, of Stamford; Rep. Travis Simms, of Norwalk, and Rep. Charlie Stallworth, of Bridgeport.