Video: Prosecuting Juveniles

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GOLDEN TRIANGLE, Miss. (WCBI)- When teens are charged with a crime, they don’t face the same legal steps as people older than them.

Children are protected by the law. Certain criteria must be met before they can be charged as adults.

“A juvenile process, it’s a long process,” Noxubee County Sheriff Terry Grasseree said.

Noxubee County Sheriff Terry Grasseree has been in law enforcement for over 25 years.

He’s investigated almost every type of case imaginable, and he said juvenile cases are always tough to handle.

“The law is set up to look out for the juvenile, and although what the juvenile did was a serious crime, the law is still set up to look out for the juvenile,” Grasseree said.

District Attorney Forrest Allgood has prosecuted cases involving juveniles for more than 25 years.

He explained how the process in the justice system is different of youth offenders.

“What happens initially is he’s taken to youth court and he goes through all of the youth court procedure first, and then at some point the representative of the state in youth court will file a petition or motion to have him transferred to circuit court to stand trial as an adult,” Allgood said.
According to Sheriff Terry Grasseree, prosecuting a juvenile is like playing the waiting game, it can takes weeks or even months before a decision is made. But , once they are certified, a juvenile can be charged as an adult.

“If a juvenile commits what we call a capital crime, armed robbery, rape, murder, kidnapping, those types of offenses where one could get life in prison, he’s automatically under the jurisdiction of the circuit court and he’s handled as an adult,” Allgood said.

But for other crimes, such as agrravated assault

“They use different criteria to decide that, and it’s set out in the statue which criteria they’re suppose to use, and if the youth court finds out that criteria exists, then they’ll certify him and stand trial as an adult,” Allgood said.

Grasseree said once his department has a juvenile in custody, they transfer them to any Juvenile Detention Center throughout the state that has an opening.