Charged as an adult with first-degree murder, 15-year-old Eric Brown will appear today for a critical hearing that will determine whether he could spend the rest of his life in prison or have his case transferred to the more lenient juvenile courts.
Defense lawyers will argue that Brown should be moved to juvenile court because he has a lengthy history of mental and emotional problems, ranging from illiteracy to potential lead poisoning, and lived in wretched conditions at home. The teen-ager, who was age 14 at the time of the killing, needs treatment, not punishment, they will argue.
Prosecutors will counter that Brown should remain in the adult system because the teen is charged with committing a heinous crime - the coldblooded shooting death of a man he didn't know. Arrested at least nine times as a juvenile and accused of often skipping school and fleeing group homes and other programs designed to help him, Brown doesn't deserve another shot at rehabilitation, prosecutors will argue.
The hearing is one of about 200 argued every year in Baltimore that carry an enormous consequence - whether a teen-ager charged as an adult with a serious crime gets another chance at being rehabilitated or faces the possibility of hard prison time.
Such cases pose dilemmas for prosecutors and defense lawyers, but especially for judges.
By switching a youthful offender accused of serious crime to the juvenile system - a process called transferring - judges are giving those teen-agers a chance to turn around their lives. In doing so, though, judges know that a youth will spend at most a few years, even as little as a few months, in custody, and be released to perhaps commit another violent crime.
On the other hand, judges can keep teen-agers in adult court where they face a potential prison sentence. If convicted, youths will face harsher conditions behind bars and will have an adult conviction that will dog them for life.
It "is probably one of the most agonizing decisions a judge can have," said Baltimore Circuit Judge David W. Young. "You just always wonder if you are making the right decision. You don't have a crystal ball."
Prosecutors say that about 400 youths are arrested on adult charges in Baltimore each year, and about 200 seek hearings for transfers to juvenile court.
Conversely, prosecutors can seek to send teen-agers charged as juveniles to the adult system. About 275 of those - mostly chronic offenders or those who are facing other adult charges - are moved to the adult courts each year.
