KTLA News: "Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors holds public hearing on juvenile crime" (1972)

with particular reference to the return of probation First, deputy district attorney should review all petitions that probation officers decide to file with the authority to reject and amend these petitions to ensure that they are legally sufficient. Second, it is estimated that 50 to 75% of the dismissals of petitions in the juvenile court are the result of witnesses not appearing for the hearing. The district attorney's office should take over the process of issuing and serving subpoenas. >> Known juvenile criminals to the epidemic of crime. of Friday morning, 97 juveniles were charged with murder during this one year. And I talked to the watch commander of Lennox Station Saturday and he said they had another murder on 102nd Street near Western early uh Saturday morning. And so that figure is already up to 98 by teenagers by juvenile. Now this is a 20% increase. Dr. Naguchi informed me this morning there has been in this county as of this morning 968 total murders throughout the county. This is an all-time tragic re record. It's interesting to note that of the 97 juveniles that were charged with murder this year, 90 of them had previous arrest records. say with an average of six arrests per person and some as high as 30 arrests. Our schools are becoming unsafe. There's terror in the community. Teachers themselves have threatened they will not teach in certain areas. And it is altogether fitting and proper that we have this public hearing which will be in my judgment the first time in the history of the county to ever have a public hearing concerning the probation department. the philosophy of the probation department, the juvenile court, the attitude of some of the superintendent of schools, and the to receive testimony from expert witnesses on this problem. Let me say right off the bat, I believe we cannot just blame the probation department or their policy. I think this symptom here is a symptom of America and society as a whole. 59% of the people the discretionary power of punishment. In addition, in contrast, there is no confusion about the role of the public defender. He does represent the minor. The failure of the legislature to clarify the role of the district attorney results in the fact that the district attorney does not prepare the petition. the legal pleading which is filed with the juvenile court. He does not have control over the subpoening of witnesses in preparation of the case and he does not generally participate in the disposition hearing to rectify this situation. State law must be changed to clarify the role of the district attorney in juvenile court. the state legislature. Finally, the f following step should be taken immediately to each judges, probation officers, and juvenile attorneys all agree that there are not enough deputy district attorneys in juvenile court. Fourth, new facilities must be provided for juvenile court. The present East Lake facilities are atrocious. They do not convey the proper judicial and law enforcement posture to the juvenile offender. The sight of a defense attorney squatting in a public hall while conferring with his client, the family and witnesses, and people sleeping on benches and lounging on the floor and encamp halls hardly enhances one's first impression of the juvenile justice system. In addition, the facilities for deputy district attorneys are woefully lacking. They do not even have a law library. These recommendations have been de developed by a top management tech. And if there are any questions, I will welcome. >> You know, Mr. Bush, I want to compliment you. That's very thoughtful. And they're the ones who are saying to me, something's wrong with government. Something's wrong. Just can't can't do it. And I'm a great believer. My record will show >> almost revolutionary change. Further, it is imperative that we concentrate on this very serious and pervasive problem in the communities that have been victimized the most by the this is uh uh we're as someone said we're we're all here together and I want to work together but I certainly don't want to hide any facts here. I don't want to hide the the the facts of saying everybody's doing a good job when and patting everybody on the on the back when in fact the streets are are are a nightmare. Parents are concerned. Parents are concerned. Uh there's a demand for more law enforcement officer on the street. But captain, if you are the c commander of juvenile and if you're just re rear arresting the same ones over and over again, this is saturating your manpower. No wonder, no wonder what we have on our streets so much crime. If the same person that's committing the crime is going in and out, in and out, in and out, uh maybe we won't need more manpower for the police and the sheriff's department if those who have a habitual arrest record as long as my arm are taken out of society for a while, make the street safe. Do you agree with that, Ken? >> Uh yes, I do. I I think that we have to focus uh really on the >> Let's just say it as it is, then. Let's I think we have to focus really on what has happened and I think there are many things that have contributed to a a u a buildup of the hardcore offender in our communities uh primarily since 1965-66. The u philosophy of the juvenile court law is present. It's been hampered by patchwork legislation and appellet decisions. Then the uh the next thing has come down the national strategy on diversion the philosophies of community-based treatment and then all these are bought off by this shell game uh probation subsidy and >> you call it a shell game. >> Well, I call it a shell game in terms of the manner in which it's practiced. I would think that the legislative intent for probation subsidy would have been a very noble thing was a very noble thing in that uh enriched probation services could be provided and by that we could prevent the development of a hardcore delinquent. But the manner of practice is is not to cause a a an eventual reduction in first commitments to the youth authority. It was cause an immediate reduction by maintaining the hardcore in the community rather than focusing those funds on the early offender and providing enriched services and psychological testing, family education, remedial reading, things of that nature. So, we're not preventing delinquency with the use of probation uh subsidy funds. We're merely maintaining the hardcore in the community. And over the years the hardcore in the community have built up to such an extent that we have an infection taking place where other borderline children or non- delinquent children are brought into the mall of violence. As an example, we studied the first seven gang