Poverty is the key to understanding why minorities are over-represented in the criminal justice system, especially among juveniles, but legislative response to public outcry has become a major contributing factor.

The ISBA Midyear Meeting presentation, “Kids in a Jam,” on Dec. 8 began with an observation by journalist Steve Bogira that the adult and juvenile systems have in common the fact that criminal defendants are “overwhelmingly poor.”

Bogira, who spent a year in the Cook County Criminal Courthouse doing research for his book, ”Courtroom 302,” termed the system “adversarial, competitive, and all about winning and losing.”

University of Chicago Law Prof. Ran-dolph Stone, a former public defender, agreed with the similarities Bogira described, and he amplified the dialog with references to glaring differences that work to the detriment of juveniles.

Stone referred to “super-predator hysteria” that generated sweeping changes for juvenile offenders, such as lowering the age distinction from 18 to 17 and expanding the categories of offenses that are classified as felonies.

For instance, individuals arrested for crimes committed near public schools or public housing in the city are transferred automatically to adult court. Suburban youths do not face the same fate for similar offenses.

A felony conviction on the record of a youth is “an economic death penalty and an educational death penalty,” Stone said.

Bogira had said earlier that he is “a great believer in the power of empathy” in dealing with young offenders. “Put yourself in their shoes; listen to them and pay attention.”

He noted that defendants in criminal court “quickly learn that silence is not just a right; it is expected.” Youths rarely get to say anything before arraignment, and then only a few words in answer to a judge's questions.

But empathy is not enough, Bogira added later, when a defendant has a lawyer who just wants to win a case. “Don't tell me about your troubles,” a defense counsel might say. “I'm not your social worker.”

Speaking from the audience, assistant public defender Darron E. Bowden pointed to racism and classism as factors. “The schools fail, and we get what's left,” he said. “The system works just the way it was designed.”

Both Stone and Bogira urged members of the bar association to bring some energy to attempts to effect change, such as that of the Illinois Juvenile Justice Initiative, a co-sponsor of the ISBA program (see related story on page 1).

“Lawyers are also citizens,” Bogira said. “They have the power to start yelling and screaming to get rid of the war on drugs” that seems to have been formed just to get rid of cases quickly.

“We need to coalesce around elimination of transfer of juveniles to adult court,” Stone added. “We need to roll the age back from 17 to 18” in Illinois, which is one of only 16 states that uses the age-17 guideline.

Part of the subtitle of the program was “and What Can Lawyers Do About It?” Prof. Cecil Hunt of The John Marshall Law School spoke eloquently to that question.

“It is not true that only institutions can change institutions,” he said, noting that individual and grassroots initiatives can have profound effects.

“Turn your lights on, and turn others' lights on,” he urged. Acknowledge the problems, and focus on solutions.

“Save a life, and save the future,” he said. “Waste a life, and waste the future.”

Afternoon panels of judges and academics continued the exploration of problems in the criminal system and the potential for meaningful solutions.

“Kids in a Jam” was conceived by ISBA President Bob Downs as part of his commitment that the bar association focus on criminalization of youth as one of many issues critical to the nation's security and liberty.

Co-sponsors with the ISBA and Juvenile Justice Initiative included The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, the American Bar Association, the Cook County and Puerto Rican Bar Associations, and the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois.