Neuroscientists say that the brain doesn’t fully mature until age 25, which makes you wonder why teenagers are considered adults at the age of 18. What’s more, in some cases, teens under 18 years of age are prosecuted as adults in the criminal justice system.

Researchers have long understood that adolescents are impulsive and reckless; they do not think before they act more times than not. The reason teens make rash decisions or break the law isn’t that they are necessarily immoral. Instead, teenagers are impulsive because their prefrontal cortex — the region of the brain that helps stifle impulsive behavior — is not yet fully developed.

Consider that one has to be 21 years old to buy a beer, but can be prosecuted as an adult at the age of 17. In recent years, many states have even raised the age to buy cigarettes to 21; the reason for the change is to allow the prefrontal cortex more time to develop.

The three years added will hopefully enable young people to make more rational decisions regarding nicotine. What’s more, in the twilight of 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration officially changed the federal minimum age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21.

So, if scientists agree that the brain isn’t fully developed until the mid-twenties, then shouldn’t lawmakers amend the age at which a teen can be tried as an adult. California Senator Nancy Skinner thinks so, and she has introduced legislation that would raise the age to 20 for adult prosecution.

Senate Bill 889

Last week, Sen. Skinner introduced Senate Bill 889 Juveniles, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The measure lacks specifics and is currently a placeholder bill. Still, if it is approved and signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, the legislation would raise the age limit on California’s youth justice system.

“We have 21 as the age for alcohol. We have 21 as the age for tobacco,” said Sen. Skinner. “The research definitely shows that there’s an age difference in things like impulse control.”

In November of 2019, the California Probation Officers Association (CPOA) proposed raising the state’s adult prosecution age to 20, the article reports. Currently, 17-year-olds throughout the state are sent up to the adult court. The CPOAs plan would let people under the age of 20 get rehabilitative services provided by juvenile courts and detention centers. It would also offer more youths the opportunity to have their criminal records sealed.

The Chief Probation Officers of California (CPOC), the CPOAs lobbying group, cites research indicating that people as old as 25 share many of the same characteristics as teens, according to the SF Chronicle. The shared traits include peer pressure susceptibility and impulsive behavior.

In the coming months, Senator Skinner, D-Berkeley, will finalize the details of SB 889 by joining forces with juvenile justice reform advocates such as the CPOA and the Commonwealth Juvenile Justice Program.

“This is a reform whose time has come,” said David Steinhart, director of the Commonweal Juvenile Justice Program. “It will improve public safety by putting thousands of California’s youth back into education and on job tracks that are blocked when they are processed as adults.”

Orange County Juvenile Defense Attorney

Juvenile defense attorney Katie Walsh has an extensive amount of experience advocating for youths and their families. As a former juvenile prosecutor at the Lamoreaux Justice Center in the City of Orange, Mrs. Walsh has a unique understanding of the juvenile justice system. Her knowledge and experience can make a significant difference in your child’s future. Please contact us today for a free consultation to discuss the charges your loved one is facing and how Attorney Walsh can help.

Supervising children is not an easy task; managing a classroom of more than 30 adolescents is a monumental feat. It should go without saying that teaching is a profession that is at times both rewarding and thankless. Those who choose to go into the field do so because of a desire to help young people achieve their highest potential even though the classroom is usually the last place students want to be for more than 200 hundred days of the year. Those of us without the task of overseeing youngsters find it challenging to understand how teachers do it; we were all children once, so we know firsthand the patience-trying nature of teenagers.

Most adults can remember the handful of troublemakers they had to share classrooms with, those who made it a point to disrupt lesson plans day-in-and-day-out. It seems like the sole mission of some kids was to be the bane of the faculty’s existence. Although, it is likely that few of us could grasp, at the time, why certain classmates acted out; we could not know that forces outside the classroom may have driven some youngsters to rebel.

Some people can probably remember instances of their school throwing in the towel with specific students, deciding that the best thing to be done was to suspend or expel a student; if asked, the school would justify removing a problem child as being a service to the rest of the class and the teacher. Dismissing a student might lessen distractions in classrooms, but it probably did nothing to help the student in question and potentially was a jumping off point to more severe problems. Those who are expelled from high school are far more likely to face the juvenile justice system.

While people most often associate violence and drugs with suspension and expulsion, up until not too long ago faculties could adduce “willful defiance” — virtually anything that disrupts a class — as a reason to expel or suspend students. Then, in 2014, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 420, eliminating willful defiance as a cause for expulsion. Since that time, California school districts have had to focus on what was behind a student’s behavior, address the problem, and help a child change their ways.

Classroom Management

If a classroom is a ship of enlightenment, the teacher is the captain, which make the students the crew. Those teens who pay attention and do their work may one day grow up to oversee a team of employees, or maybe even become teachers him or herself. As with any voyage, the captain must be both stern and fair; and, perhaps more than anything else protect the mission from mutiny. One could argue that students prone to disrupting the class are, in a sense, mutineers; on the high seas the captain might throw the offender overboard, but in the California classroom of today that frankly isn’t an option anymore. It seems the only course of action is to ensure that the “classroom captain” can manage their students effectively.

With that in mind, you may find it hard to believe that very little of a teacher’s education involves taking courses on how to manage a classroom effectively. It’s one thing to tell a teacher that a disruptive student is going to be around whether they like it or not, it’s another thing altogether to say that to an educator who lacks to the necessary skill set to manage the future generations.

“Classroom management is extraordinarily absent in teaching certification programs,” Mike Lombardo, director of prevention supports and services for the Placer County Office of Education, tells EdSource.

In fact, a survey shows that when it comes to classroom management, more than 40 percent of new teachers reported feeling either “not at all prepared” or “only somewhat prepared.” The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing is responsible for establishing best practices in teaching; last year, the commission made a requirement that new teachers have an excellent understanding of non-punitive methods of discipline, EdSource reports. Restorative justice is one such method, a technique that involves relationship building and making amends. Instead of permanently removing kids from a classroom — a practice that can have a lasting effect (i.e., run-ins with the juvenile justice system, otherwise known as the “school-to-prison pipeline”) on a student who likely is only acting out because he or she needs more support — teachers work to better understand the misbehaving student’s social and emotional needs.

“[Beginning teachers should] promote students’ social-emotional growth, development and individual responsibility using positive interventions and supports, restorative justice and conflict resolution practices to foster a caring community where each student is treated fairly and respectfully by adults and peers,” according to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing’s new performance expectations.

Juvenile Defense Attorney

The Law Offices of Katie Walsh specialize in juvenile law. If your son or daughter is facing criminal charges or school expulsion, Attorney Walsh can advocate for you and your family in several ways. Please contact our office for a free consultation.

Young people are not the best at thinking things through thoroughly before they act, and as a result, they sometimes learn valuable lessons. Even when minors understand the difference between “right” and “wrong,” they can still make unfortunate errors in judgment that can cost them significantly. While some offenses committed by minors are severe and should carry a commensurate punishment, most infractions are benign. However, getting caught up in the juvenile justice system for a minor offense often does more harm than good.

More than a decade ago, the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station started a diversion program, called “Teen Court.” Minors who commit minor offenses and meet specific criteria are eligible for Teen Court, excluding them from incarceration, formal probation, and a conviction on their record if they complete the requirements within a six-month period. The program can make all the difference for teenagers, potentially keeping them from becoming trapped in the criminal justice system.

L.A. County Teen Court

Teen Court is unique in several ways, notably in the fact that Juveniles who commit minor offenses plead guilty to a jury of their peers, meaning other teenagers in school. After which, teens in the diversion program must avoid getting into trouble during a six-month probationary period, according to KHTS. Juveniles taking part in the program have to do community service, write letters of apology and pay restitution to the victim or victims. Teen Court is only available to first-time offenders.

“We deal with juveniles that have committed misdemeanors and even felonies,” said Dan Finn, a detective with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station. “The only limits are: we don’t take serious felony charges like gang-related crime, rape, murder (or) robbery.”

The goal of programs, like Teen Court, is to avoid recidivism. Data indicates that around half of teens who don’t take part in diversion programs end up going on to commit more crimes. Detective Finn points out that less than 15 percent of the juveniles who go through the Teen Court commit another offense. Owing to the success in Santa Clarita, Los Angeles County is following suit; a little over a year ago, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a plan that would make diversion the focus of the county’s juvenile justice system. The Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, reports that there are 38 Teen Courts in operation at high schools throughout Los Angeles County and over 70 judicial officers preside over the program.

“We catch these kids early, and it’s making a difference,” Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David S. Wesley, tells California Courts Newsroom. “We are incarcerating fewer kids, and saving millions of dollars keeping them out of the juvenile justice system.”

Juvenile Offense Attorney

At the Law Offices of Katie Walsh, we specialize in juvenile law. If your son or daughter is facing criminal charges, Attorney Walsh can assist you and your family in a number of ways. Please contact our office for a free consultation.

Adolescents are not the best at exercising sound judgment, and part of growing up is learning by your mistakes. Young people are instructed to always be on their best behavior, to act their age, so on and so forth. While most youths are pretty good at following the rules, especially in public settings like middle and high schools, there are some who like to push the envelope. Seeing just how much one can get away with is a fairly common trait among a number of students. However, choosing to not use one’s head before engaging in specific behaviors, i.e., disrupting class, getting into fights, and participating in illicit substance use, is often a slippery slope to detention, suspension, and even expulsion.

In many cases, teens who get into trouble with an authority figure in school are merely acting out. The reasons for doing things that will inevitably garner the ire of a teacher are usually rooted in some kind of issue a young person is having outside of school. Troubled teens, perhaps more times than not, are contending with problems at home. Such individuals could probably use guidance and support from the faculty members; instead, they get the opposite.

Punishing disruptive students may seem logical and making examples of students is likely to send a clear message to classmates about what kinds of behavior will not be tolerated. However, multiple day suspensions as a means of punishment might do more harm than good, serving only to cause teens to get behind in class which brings on more problems.

Senate Bill 607

Did you know that that there is a cut off age for when an adolescent can no longer get away with disrupting a classroom in California? It’s true, up until fourth grade, kids cannot face suspension for engaging in what is known as “willful defiance,” that is disrupting class or defying teachers. What’s more, thanks to California Assembly Bill (AB) 420, expelling students for backtalk and not doing assignments is no longer permitted, CBS Sacramento reports. Citing concerns over the real impact of suspensions, some lawmakers would like to see AB 420-style protections for teenagers, as well.

“If you’re suspended out of school even once, that doubles the likelihood the student will drop out,” said Assemblyman Roger Dickinson in 2014.

California Senate Bill (SB) 607 would extend the protections of AB 420, protections which expire in July of this year. If passed, it would mean that schools couldn’t suspend students of any age for petty offenses. SB 607 provides “willful defiance” suspension protections to all students, Your Central Valley reports. The new legislation could significantly help minority and disabled students who are suspended at higher rates, according to ACLU data.

“When we look at the data, we see who it is used on,” Senator Nancy Skinner said. “It’s used on kids of color, it’s used on LGBTQ kids, it’s used on kids with disabilities.”

It’s worth pointing out that SB 607 wouldn’t protect students who make threats, commit acts of violence, or steal. Strict penalties will still apply to such offenses; the new law is meant to keep kids in class even when they make poor decisions. There is opposition to the legislation, critics worry that it might scare teachers away in a state already dealing with shortages.

“If you’re not going to allow us to have the right to take someone who is defiant to authority out of the situation, so they don’t infect everyone else in class, nobody learns,” said Former Fresno County Superintendent of Schools Larry Powell. “The teacher is disheartened and wants to get out of the profession.” Please take a moment to watch a short video on the subject here.

Juvenile Offense Attorney

At the Law Offices of Katie Walsh, we specialize in navigating the school disciplinary process and juvenile law. If your son or daughter is facing expulsion, Attorney Walsh can assist you and your family in many ways. Please contact our office for a free consultation.

We can all agree that teenagers, for a host of reasons not always their fault, are not the nicest of people. Especially when it comes to their fellow classmates. Each of us has our own experience with high school. Some of us were popular, some sports driven. Others dove headfirst into their studies. But for most people in high school, there was a need to ever remind one’s self: ‘this will all be over soon.’ Regardless of one’s standing in the teenage social hierarchy.

It’s an unfortunate reality that in every high school there will always be some kids who catch the ire of other students. Classmates who, for whatever reason, feel the need to belittle students who are not at the top of the teenage pyramid of popularity. Constantly terrorizing certain students, for some, could be chalked up to as an extracurricular activity. And sadly, it’s a behavior that can leave lasting scars whether the assaults be verbal or physical.

Some of you reading this may have been bullied, or were bullies yourself. You may try to downplay what you did or what happened to you as just being a part of growing up. After all, this is high school we are talking about. But, if you follow the news you know that in some cases bullying goes far beyond anyone’s imagination of just how bad it can be for some students. What’s more, such abuses can be exponentially worsened by technology. Taking what would historically be harms that only the oppressor and oppressed would be witness to, are amplified by the use of social media for all to see. It’s worth pointing out that scars of oppression may dull with time, but the Internet never forgets. Allowing shame and humiliation to take an intemporal form.

“Jordan’s Law”

Last year, a Southern Californian teenager named Jordan, had his life changed (maybe forever) by the acts of two peers. Jordan was “suckered punched” by one of the boys, while the other filmed it, ABC 10 reports. The boy who filmed the incident blasted the video to the internet for everyone to see. What was a spot of fun for two bullies resulted in a ruptured ear drum, fractured skull, and a blood clot for then fourteen-year-old Jordan. The assault required hospitalization lasting nearly a week.

Here is where the case gets tricky, the boy who punched Jordan faced charges, the girl recording the incident and posted it to Snapchat didn’t, according to the article. This led Jordan’s father, Ed Peisner, to work with Assembly Member Matt Dababneh to change the laws around posting to social media. Assembly Bill 1542 (Jordan’s Law) would make filming a violent attack with the purpose disseminating it on the Internet against the law. People who do so, could be held criminally responsible if AB 1542 is passed.

“Everybody’s posting… it’s out of control,” Peisner said. “[Jordan’s] emotional scars, they will last a lifetime.”

One analogy works fairly well: You didn’t rob the bank, but you drove the getaway car. The driver is culpable, too. Jordan’s Law would not apply to innocent bystanders who just happen to catch such events on a smartphone, but to people who conspire to record a crime. Ed Peisner started The Jordanstrong Foundation, with the hope making people think twice about cyberbullying.

“That’s my hope… before they do something, they’ll pause for a second,” Patrick said.

Victims’ Rights

If you have a son or daughter who has been assaulted by another teen, please contact The Law Offices of Katie Walsh. Crime victims have rights, but they often get lost in the criminal justice system. We can help.

American reliance on smartphones for day-to-day tasks increases steadily every year, as the devices become ever increasingly more advanced. There was a time when people could easily point out what a cellphone can’t do, but with each passing year that becomes more and more difficult. While there are thousands of apps available across many platforms, the majority of phone activity involves texting and messaging. Many Americans prefer talking to people via text than they do conversing by voice. Most would argue that it is just easier even if the discussion is of an intimate nature, otherwise known as “sexting.”

It is probably not hard for you to imagine how sexting can go wrong. The sending of salacious words or images may seem harmless, but there is little way to control what will be done with such material. Most romantic relationships do not end in marriage, some relationships end with bad blood between the two partners. Some may feel inclined to use lewd material exchanged via text against their ex’s, posting stuff online. This is not a trend relegated to adults only, practically every teenager has a smartphone and many young people “sext” each other. An alarming reality that resulted in legislation being passed in California last year to address cyber sexual bullying.

Assembly Bill No. 2536, authored by Assembly Member Ed Chau (D-Monterey Park), clarifies that sexting, with the purpose or effect of humiliating or harassing a pupil, is a part of cyberbullying and incorporates sexting curriculum as a part of comprehensive sex education programs, according to a press release. Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill into law on September 21, 2016.

AB 2536 was designed to protect young boys and girls who may fall victim to the unintended consequences of sexting. Seeing the value of continuing the conversation, Lauren Hersh, director of anti-trafficking policy and advocacy at Sanctuary for Families, spoke about “Raising Empowered Girls” on February 28, 2017, at 6:30 p.m., at the Hillview Middle School Performing Arts Center, 1100 Elder Avenue in Menlo Park, CA. The event was free and open to the public, The Almanac reported.

“Alarmed by the lack of early education around issues such as sexting, ‘slut’ shaming, pornography, sexual harassment, and the like, Lauren has dedicated time and energy to informing parents about the dangers our young girls, and boys, face online and in relationship, as well as empowering youth to do something about it,” said Assistant Superintendent Erik Burmeister.

There have been campaigns to educate people about the dangers of sexting across the country and abroad. It is important for Californians to know that sexting with minors is a crime. Receiving sexting photos and disseminating them can be a crime as well.