January 12, 2006

County judge speaks about juvenile crime; drug court

AVCA plans election forum in April with mayoral
and district attorney’s contenders

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

In 2004, there were more than 206,000 juvenile arrests in the state, a local judge told members of the Almaden Valley Community Association Monday evening.

Of those cases, only 1,049 juveniles were convicted in adult courts and 1,590 were treated as adults, representing less than half of one percent of all juvenile cases, said Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky speaking at the Vineland Branch Library.

And minors are treated differently than adults, with the most significant difference being that when juveniles commit crime police agencies and the probation department have a lot of discretion before their cases get to a district attorney or to the court, the judge noted.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky spoke about juvenile crime issues during Monday’s Almaden Valley Community Association meeting. Photo by Sheila Sanchez

But sometimes, all that’s required to stop juvenile delinquency is a police warning, he added.

Persky, 43, served as Santa Clara County deputy district attorney for six years prior to being appointed in October of 2003 to the county bench by California Gov. Gray Davis. He was re-elected in November of 2004. He serves on the Santa Clara County Superior Court overseeing adult drug cases.

The AVCA invited Persky to speak because association president Lee Dimmitt said, even though Almaden Valley is an affluent community where parents have more resources than parents from poorer sections of town, “more than likely juvenile crime is still the same (here) as it would be in another area because they get rebellious and they’re hard to deal with for the parents. As far as that’s concerned, we have exactly the same problem (here) as do people everywhere.”

Statewide about 40,000 youths are counseled and released before they get to the probation department, 160,000 are referred to probation and 86,000 go to court, he added.

District attorneys’ offices prosecute the more serious cases or those involving repeat offenders, with records most often being sealed from the public to preserve the confidentiality of the minor.

Three juvenile court judges work in the county striving for uniformity in the treatment of minors, regardless of their ethnicity, he said, but he noted that youth advocates have expressed concern about a disparity in how juveniles are treated based on race or other factors.

He said the probation department could also informally supervise minors before their cases even make it to a district attorney’s office.

Juvenile proceedings are also confidential to prevent the public from watching the cases unfold. He said the juvenile cases are kept private on the premise that “when you’re a kid you do very stupid things and you shouldn’t let everyone know about it, particularly in the age of the Internet because kids can be reformed. They’re not considered criminals. They’re considered wards of the court.”

With limited exceptions, juveniles also don’t have a right to jury trials. When cases go that far, a judge decides the fate of minors involved in criminal activity.

In limited cases, a youth can be tried as an adult, he said, adding that Proposition 21, a juvenile justice initiative passed several years ago, allowed district attorneys’ offices to file cases directly in adult court.

Both juvenile and adult criminal court systems follow the same state penal code statutes.

For Persky, who now works in adult drug court, many of his cases deal with custody versus release issues. Methamphetamine, the drug of choice today constituting 80 to 90 percent of his caseload in the court, is extremely addictive so it becomes a challenge to know what to do with defendants.

Many cases benefit from Proposition 36, which mandated treatment instead of incarceration, he said. “I have to let them out of custody unless they’re a danger to others,” he said.

Assistant District Attorney Marc Buller, a candidate for Santa Clara County District Attorney, attended the meeting. He will face three opponents in the June election, as Santa Clara County District Attorney George Kennedy is not seeking re-election after serving for 16 years in office.

Buller will run against chief assistant District Attorney Karyn Sinunu, one of Kennedy’s closest associates, Dolores Carr, who worked in the DA’s office for about 15 years before becoming a Superior Court judge in 2000 and Deputy District Attorney Jim Shore.

Buller said 64 percent of the youth population in the county’s Juvenile Hall and ranches is Hispanic. “It’s a disproportionate number we need to look at,” Buller said. “It’s beyond just something that’s kind of institutionalized… We’re trying to look at that to see what we can do to get those numbers more back in proportion to where they should be.”

Persky also gave a lengthy civics lesson to association members and the public about the state and federal justice systems, commenting on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearings on Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito.

He said judges try to decide each case on individual merits and are often silent on controversial subjects because of an ethical prohibition requiring them to come to each case with a clean slate.

Persky said the challenge of judges is to remain fair even while having opinions and experiences that are brought to the bench.

In other news, the association is planning a combined mayoral and district attorney’s forum in April in light of the upcoming elections. The forum’s location may be at the Santa Clara County Water District Office on Almaden Expressway, where previous AVCA forums have been held.

The association also released its latest budget activity statement, which shows the group has more than $14,000 on deposit.

The association reported having 388 addresses on its e-mail loop, 75 members in 2004 and 93 members in 2005.

Linda Spencer, the association’s Web site editor, said hits to the group’s cyberspace page were up from December of last year and total number of viewers has increased by 25 percent last during the past 12 months. “We’re continuing to grow,” Spencer said, adding that the site’s capacity to include photos and large volume of information is quite large.