Questions continue to mount after the arrest of a juvenile charged in the shooting at Valley Fair mall in San Jose.
The police chief said the suspect was already on probation for carrying a gun earlier this year and accused the juvenile justice system of being too lenient on violent juveniles — marking the latest incident to fuel a debate over the laws giving juvenile offenders extra protections.
The Valley Fair mall suspect is scheduled to make his first court hearing on Wednesday. The Santa Clara County district attorney on Wednesday is expected to announce the charges the suspect and his alleged female accomplice will face in the Black Friday shooting.
Prosecutors said a teen opened fire on a rival gang member in the crowded mall, forcing panicked shoppers to run for cover at Valley Fair.
The shooting prompted San Jose’s police chief to demand more consequences for minors.
“Our officers have a limited ability to prevent this kind of juvenile violence because our laws are so weak,” San Jose police Chief Paul Joseph said during a news briefing on Monday. “Our juvenile offenders have almost no fear of consequences.”
State law currently gives juveniles a wide range of protections and sets strict limits on when a juvenile can be charged as an adult.
For instance, no one under 15 can be tried as an adult no matter how heinous the crime is. For 16 and 17 year olds, a judge will ultimately decide whether to charge them as a child or adult. But that only happens if the DA requests a charging ruling.
“The juvenile justice system recognizes that minors are different,” said Steven Clark, a legal analyst. “They lack maturity and impulse control.”
The images of Black Friday’s shooting at Valley Fair mall in San Jose are still rattling shoppers. Damian Trujillo reports.
State lawmakers and the governor can only change the rules.
“What you may see as a result of the Valley Fair shooting is a harbinger of change that we need to fix the system while protecting juvenile rights, but at the same time recognizing public safety can’t take a back seat when it comes to gang violence in the Valley Fair shopping mall on the busiest shopping day of the year,” Clark said.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan on Tuesday said he will urge the candidates for governor to react to the challenges mayors are facing at the local level on a number of issues, including juvenile violence.
San Jose police say they have made an arrest in the shooting at the Valley Fair mall that occurred on Black Friday. Jocelyn Moran reports.
Damon Silver, the acting public defender in Santa Clara County, released the following statement Tuesday to NBC Bay Area:
“As widely recognized and consistently confirmed by data, we live in one of the safest large cities in the country.
Evidence-based research makes clear we cannot punish our way out of the tragic, yet rare, instances of youth violence.
Harsher penalties for children and teens fail to address the underlying causes and therefore cannot solve the problem.
True public safety comes from investing in the young people and communities that are struggling, not from signaling that they are disposable.
Furthermore, California continues to maintain some of the most punitive gun laws in the nation, some of which carry potential life sentences. Under current California law, juveniles can still be tried and sentenced as adults, including with enhanced penalties tied to gang allegations.
It is inaccurate to suggest that either juveniles or adults are insulated from severe punishment, particularly for violent conduct involving firearms.
We should be cautious about returning to the expensive mass-incarceration mindset of the past – which failed to deliver increased public safety – because history has shown our marginalized communities will bear the brunt of such counterproductive policies. A strategy that is not supported by science, data, or past experience.”