The debate continues to rage on the issue of charging juveniles as adults. We oppose it. We oppose any kind of one-size-fits-all justice. Here's the latest from the Baltimore Sun on the matter.

Rikki Klieman, former prosecutor, defense attorney, Court TV Anchor, and now NBC Legal Analsyst, wrote in her recently published memoir, Fairy Tales Can Come True, about her unsuccessful attempt as a prosecutor to have a juvenile charged with manslaughter convicted as an adult:

[Background: Rikki insisted the juvenile be tried as an adult. He was convicted on a lesser assault and battery charge, but the Judge exercised his discretion and sentenced him as a juvenile. She was furious. Years later, she ran into the young man who had become a kind and productive member of society. He even thanked Rikki for sending him to jail.]

How wise was Judge Young. How biased was I. The hubris of a young prosecutor, to think that I knew so much, that I had such power and zeal to put a young man in prison forever without any effort at rehabilitation. If we cannot rehabilitate our young people, who can we ever rehabilitate? Placing prosecutorial power in the hands of people perhaps too young or too lacking in life experience is sometimes not wise. Judge Young, being far older and more seasoned—and more learned—than I, understood that we could not give up on these children, we needed to give them another chance….As a prosecutor, I could only see the crime. Although I knew all about the defendant’s lives, I could not see their humanity.