COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Is a 10-year-old too young to be put behind bars?
Right now in Ohio, children as young as 10 can be incarcerated, but that could soon change.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine created a juvenile justice reform working group to take a look at how Ohio handles its youngest offenders. The bipartisan group came before the Senate Judicial Committee at the statehouse with three recommendations for Ohio lawmakers.
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“First of all, is to raise the minimum age for youth commitment to the Department of Youth Services from 10 to 14 years of age,” Ohio Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson (D-Toledo) said. “Can you imagine a 10-year-old being sentenced to a correctional facility? Then secondly, it would allow for more judicial discretion when sentencing youth who are adjudicated of a gun specification.”…