NCJ Number
187281
Journal
Juvenile Justice Update Volume: 6 Issue: 4 Dated: August/September 2000 Pages: 1-2,16
Editor(s)
Henry Sontheimer Ph.D.,
Adrienne Volenik Esq.
Date Published
August 2000
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article examines changes in Arkansas legal proceedings regarding juveniles who kill.
Abstract
Two boys, 11- and 13-years-old, were convicted of killing one teacher and four students and wounding another teacher and nine students. Eleven-year-old Andrew Golden was sentenced to the Division of Youth Services for an indeterminate period with the court ruling that, if he were released before age 21, he would stay in a juvenile detention center for 90 days. Having been denied the right to raise insanity and lack of competency in the boy's defense, Golden's attorney appealed on the grounds that the denial violated the boy's due process and equal protection rights. The court upheld denial of an insanity defense, but agreed that failure to consider competency to stand trial formed a basis for reversal. The Arkansas General Assembly subsequently amended the Juvenile Code to state that juveniles charged with certain crimes, including capital murder, shall be afforded a determination of capacity. The Code also contains a new "age appropriate" capacity standard for juveniles and provides that a juvenile under age 13 charged with capital murder or murder in the first degree is to be evaluated to determine, among other things, the juvenile's mental state and capacity with regard to mental disease or defect.