The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
State Republicans roll out a youth crime plan
HARTFORD — Republicans in the state House of Representatives charged Tuesday that majority Democrats violated an agreement of secrecy on juvenile-justice reforms that were the focus of closed-door summer negotiations in the State Capitol.
The spat worsened and illustrated the gaping divide between the parties on how to respond to crimes by youths, especially car thefts.
House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford and Rep. Craig Fishbein of Wallingford released an 18-point proposal aimed at putting the most dangerous youths behind bars and making current records systems more effective for cops after they arrest suspects.
They called for better ways for police and prosecutors to determine whether arrested youths have extensive criminal records that can result in immediate detention rather than release to their parents.
Also, they proposed electronic monitoring for juveniles with criminal records; mandatory transfers to adult court for serious crimes; and the creation of a new charge of vehicular larceny that can reach felony charges for second stolen-car offenses.
“While these negotiations have been going on, Democrats have taken to the podium, they’ve taken to editorial boards and sort of rewritten the narrative,” Candelora said during a late-morning news conference.
Candelora was talking about comments made by Democrats which, he said, improperly revealed the subject of talks between the parties about the youth crime issue. Democrats said they only presented their own ideas, which center on diversion and social services.
The core of the issue is whether the state should act swiftly and sternly to tighten enforcement, and whether reforms of 2018 exacerbated crimes. “If you speak to anybody, nobody feels safer today than they were five years ago or two years ago,” Candelora said.
“Juvenile crime in this state is out of control, and House Republicans believe that is unacceptable,” said Fishbein, the top GOP member of the legislative Judiciary Committee.
Fishbein and other Republicans had been meeting in a small group with Democrats including Sen. Gary Winfield of New Haven and Rep. Steve Stafstrom of Bridgeport, the Judiciary Committee co-chairmen, to discuss potential legislation with a variety of state experts, from social services to law enforcement.
Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly of Stratford and Sen. John Kissel, REnfield, of the Judiciary Committee, issued a statement in support of the House members.
“This package offers multiple ideas on how to strengthen the state’s response to juvenile crimes, including removing barriers to services that can make a big difference in the lives of young people and reduce their return to crime,” Kelly and Kissel wrote. “This is clearly one piece of the conversation that needs to continue with all perspectives and that must lead to action.”
On July 7, Republicans called for a special legislative session on the issue of youth crime and most recently submitted the names of 51 members in attempt to petition the issue to Secretary of the State Denise Merrill. Majorities of the 151 House members and 36 senators are needed to force a special session.
“It’s become clear over the last few months that Democrats don’t want solutions,” Fishbein said, detailing Democratic suggestions that auto owners lock their vehicles and take the keys when they park in what Republicans describe as victim-blaming.
“The talks have broken down,” added Fishbein, backed by about 20 lawmakers on the steamy north steps of the Capitol, including a lone Democrat, state Rep. Jill Barry of Glastonbury, whose community has experienced a recent increase in stolen cars.
“No talks broke down,” Winfield said in a phone interview after the 35-minute Republican news conference. “They decided they didn’t want to continue after our press conference last week. We focused on the data. If they feel betrayed by the data we should all focus on the data.”
Winfield said that he and Rep. Toni Walker violated no confidences last week because they declined to mention Republican proposals when they appeared with social service advocates at the same Capitol location. The Democrats stressed that overall crime has fallen sharply in recent years, but increased throughout the country last year.