Prison or rehabilitation

Beyond school, most 14-year-olds look forward to playing video games, going to the movies and on a Friday morning, thinking about what they are going to do over the weekend.

Drama Compton is looking forward to possibly spending the next five years in a youth prison after pleading guilty in Juvenile Court Wednesday to second-degree murder for fatally shooting his 10-year-old sister.

A prosecutor said the youth deliberately shot the girl and then tried to rearrange the crime scene before getting help for his dying sister. She asked Magistrate Herb Lane, who is scheduled to determine Drama’s fate next week, to send himto one of the Department of Children’s Services youth development centers, where he can be held until he’s 19. The centers basically are youth prisons.

His defense attorney maintained the shooting was accidental and has traumatized Drama. She asked Lane to place him in an alternative rehabilitation program, where he would have access to counseling, anger management and other resources.

The case is emblematic of discussions that are taking place nationally and here on how to handle young violent offenders. Can a 14-year-old murderer be rehabilitated in a nonprison environment or does he need to be locked away from society until he is 19? And, ifhe is locked away, will he receive the counseling he needs to be a productive adult when he is released?

Those are weighty issues for juvenile court judges, who must balance a child’s future against the public’s safety.