By Brendan Dzwierzynski

KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA — The House Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice discussed a bill Thursday that would allow juveniles who commit crimes with a firearm to be placed in a juvenile correction facility.

Rep. Blaine Finch (R-Ottawa) spoke in favor of the bill, arguing there needs to be updates in how the state deals with juvenile offenders.

“We as a society, we as a state, we as a juvenile justice system, have learned, and we have grown, and this is a reflection of us trying to modernize and address that appropriately,” Finch said.
Finch added he doesn’t like the way juvenile offenders are labeled as either “high risk” or “low risk,” saying it creates more issues in the justice system.

“The whole point of this bill is to get smart about how we deal with juvenile offenses,” Finch said. “[Juveniles] are very susceptible to suggestion, and spending a lot of time with them in a small room, interrogating them, will ultimately lead them to break down and confess to about anything, and that’s not a good way for us to treat juveniles if we want to keep them out of the system.”
Rep. Eric Smith (R-Burlington), a Coffee County deputy sheriff, said he wanted to remind the committee that there are many interactions between law enforcement officers and juveniles every day, many of which result in no criminal action.

“I’ve been involved in hundreds of interactions with young people,” Smith said. “I’ve never witnessed a child being berated in a room between a cop and a child.”

Rep. Susie Swanson (R-Clay Center) said she has concerns about the rigidity of the bill. She said not everything that works in one area will work in another, using rural and urban differences as an example.

“What works, perhaps, in a school district the size of Washington, Kansas … and what works in Shawnee Mission North might be two different things,” Swanson said. “I want to guard against being so standardized and consistent that we take away our ability to be flexible in some situations.”

Both Finch and Swanson referenced youth court programs as successful alternatives for working with juveniles. Swanson said the Manhattan youth court has been successful, although her home county does not have a youth court program.

Committee Chair Russ Jennings (R-Larkin) said the committee will hear testimony on the bill through Wednesday, Feb. 15.

Brendan Dzwierzynski is a University of Kansas senior journalism major from LaGrange Park, Illinois.