State v. Green7/30/1998
dating notification of a minor's parents when a minor is charged with an offense and establishing numerous crime- prevention programs for juveniles. North Carolina Legislation 1994, at 157-60 (Inst. of Gov't, Univ. of N.C. at Chapel Hill, John L. Sanders ed. 1995). During the 1994 extra crime session of the legislature, the general consensus of the people through their elected representatives was that violent youthful offenders were a substantial threat to the security and well-being of society, and they must be dealt with in a more severe manner. Such sentiment found expression through the legislature's reduction of the minimum transfer age from fourteen to thirteen years of age.
To paraphrase the Supreme Court: "These and other facts and reports detailing the pernicious effects of [juvenile crime] in this [state] do not establish that [our state's] penalty scheme is correct or the most just in any abstract sense. But they do demonstrate that the [North Carolina] Legislature could with reason conclude that the threat posed to the individual and society by [juvenile crime] . . . is momentous enough to warrant the deterrence and retribution of [lowering the transfer age from fourteen to thirteen years of age]." Harmelin v. Michigan, 501 U.S. 957, 1003, 115 L. Ed. 2d 836, 870 (1991) (Kennedy, J., Concurring in part and Concurring in the judgment).
Moreover, North Carolina is far from alone in its treatment of youthful offenders for serious crimes such as first- degree sexual offense. Of at least eighteen other states permitting waiver or transfer of offenders thirteen or under to adult court: Georgia, Illinois and Mississippi also have thirteen years as a minimum age, Ga. Code Ann. § 15-11-39 (1994), 705 Ill. Comp. Stat. 405/5-4 (West Supp. 1998), Miss. Code Ann. § 43-21-157 (Supp. 1997); Colorado, Missouri and Montana have twelve as a minimum age, Colo. Rev. Stat. § 19-2-518 (1997), Mo. Ann. Stat. § 211.071 (West 1996), Mont. Code Ann. § 41-5-206 (1997); Vermont permits transfer at age ten for sexual assault, Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 33, § 5506(a)(10) (1991); and Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wyoming have no minimum age for trial as an adult for sexual offense, Alaska Stat. § 47.12.100 (Michie 1996), Ariz. Rev. Stat. R. Juv. Ct. Pro. 12, 14 (1998), Del. Code Ann. tit. 10, §§ 937, 938 (rev. 1974), Idaho Code §§ 20-508, 20-509 (1997), Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 15, § 3101 (West Supp. 1997), Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 43-261, 43-276 (1993), N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 169-B:24 (Supp. 1997), Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 10, § 7303-4.3 (West 1998), Or. Rev. Stat. §§ 419C.349, 419.352 (1997), R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 14-1-7, 14-1-7.2 (1994), S.D. Codified Laws §§ 26-11-1, 26-11-4 (Michie 1998), Tenn. Code Ann. § 37-1-134 (1996), Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 14-6-237 (Michie 1997). Although this state's possible life- imprisonment punishment of thirteen-year-olds for a first-degree sexual offense would not be per se unconstitutional even were it the only state to do so, Harmelin, 501 U.S. at 1000, 115 L. Ed. 2d at 868 (Kennedy, J., Concurring in part and Concurring in the judgment), the growing minority of states allowing such punishment is indicative of the public sentiment toward violent youthful offenders.
While this circumstance may indeed be a sad commentary on the state of our youth and the general decline of values in our society and a truly grievous fact, it is not of necessity and by virtue thereof unconstitutional. "Evolving standards of decency" are not fixed in time and place, nor are they always focused solely on the rights of criminals. At this time, protection of law-abiding citizens from their predators, regardless of the preda
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