Why most teen killers are sentenced as adults
In 2011, a 12-year-old boy in Kosciusko County was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in a conspiracy to kill his friend's stepfather.
But a 12-year-old Elkhart girl who stabbed her stepmother to death in 2015 did not receive any prison time — instead, she was placed in a state mental hospital, according to the Elkhart Truth.
The difference between the two cases: The girl was sentenced as a juvenile and the boy as an adult, although they were the same age.
In the case of the 13-year-old Cumberland boy accused of fatally shooting a 9-year-old boy in May, prosecutors decided not to waive him to adult court, although they would not discuss specifics about the case.
13-year-old charged with murder of Cumberland child
9-year-old boy fatally shot in Cumberland
Peg McLeish, spokeswoman for the Marion County prosecutor's office, said prosecutors generally consider the specific circumstances and any other important aspects of a case, such as the age and background of the child, in deciding whether to request that a case be moved to adult court.
But ultimately, the juvenile court has the final say in whether a child is waived.
If the juvenile is older than 16 and commits a crime such as murder, the case will be filed directly in adult court, said Marion County Juvenile Court Judge Marilyn Moores.
Beyond that, as long as children are 12 or older, their cases can be waived to adult court.
Because juvenile court emphasizes rehabilitation, the court's ability to help the child is a big consideration in the decision on whether to waive a case.
"The point where the battle really gets fought is if the child is beyond rehabilitation of the juvenile court, and that's often where there's a lot of discussions," Moores said.
In addition to the severity of the crime and the child's history with the law, key factors include whether the child has successfully completed rehabilitation services before, and whether the child is amenable after being charged, Moores said.
Less than 2 percent of youths — 6 out of 385 — who have been found guilty of murder have been sentenced as juveniles in the past five years, according to Indiana Department of Correction data.
Children, especially those younger than 16, have a different perspective and understanding of life than adults do, said Stephen Harper, a law professor at Florida International University.
"Thirteen-year-olds may do something they don't think is going to have permanent consequences," Harper said. "They don't have the same sense of literally life and death."
Children can be rehabilitated and return to society about 90 percent of the time, Harper said, which is the benefit of juvenile court. But in Indiana, most children charged with murder are waived to adult court, where they face a much harsher sentence focused on punishment.
"When dealing with 12-, 13-, 14-year-olds, most of the crimes they commit are literally a cry for help," Harper said. "Nobody is paying attention to them, so (juvenile court) is the appropriate place they should be tried."
Because being found responsible for juvenile delinquency — which includes all law-breaking dealt with in juvenile court — is not the same as a criminal conviction, specific sentence lengths aren't set, said Chris Eskew, an Indianapolis criminal defense attorney. If juveniles do well, they might be released from the system. If not, they might stay in longer. The only exception is juvenile detention centers, where there is a maximum number of days youths can be held — 120 days if they are 17, and 90 days if they are younger.
For adults, a murder conviction could lead to 45 to 65 years in prison. But in juvenile court, a child might be ordered to get counseling or attend anger management classes, or whatever a judge thinks is appropriate.
"It's what needs to happen to get the child back on track," Eskew said.
The 13-year-old Cumberland boy is set to appear in Juvenile Court at 9 a.m. July 28 for a pretrial conference.
Call IndyStar reporter Kara Berg at (317) 444-6179. Follow her on Twitter:@karaberg95.