Hey capoly - I'm not a legal beagle, but my understanding is that the teens' background will not come into play until it is decided she is guilty. Then her attorney should use her background to mitigate her sentence. Say the sentence is 25 to life - if the attorney can put enough mitigating factors in the mix, her sentence could be 25 years with time off for good behavior. This is a VERY SIMPLISTIC example. All states use their own version of the Model Penal Code and sentencing guidelines, so everything varies.
Hope it helps,
Salem
Hi Salem...
This article gives a brief simplistic insight into MO system....so think I got it.
Now I am a bleeding heart fool so it isn't easy for me to say this...but do feel it be best if this minor is charged as an adult. He/she would be out of DYS custody in 6 years (if I am understanding correctly) if tried as a juvenile........imo that is not acceptable.
Potential sentence could vary for juvenile
"Here in Missouri, we do have what you call 'dual jurisdiction,'" Couty noted, "where an individual could be committed to the Division of Youth Services and, at the same time, to the Department of Corrections."
"Under that state law, if an offender younger than 17 is tried as an adult and is convicted or pleads guilty to the felony charges, the trial judge may "invoke dual jurisdiction of both the criminal and juvenile codes."
When the youth placed in the program reaches 17, the court must decide to continue or revoke the juvenile disposition, impose the criminal sentence or enter another order as the judge sees fit.
The youth cannot remain in the DYS facility after his or her 21st birthday -- but could be ordered to an adult prison.
http://newstribune.com/articles/2009/10/25/news_local/067local05potential09.txt
Semi-OT
Re article below....I lived in Roslindale at the time of his release. Am not positive but seem to recall this case being one of the reasons legislature was sought to change MA law to allow juveniles to be charged as an adult.
BOY'S KILLER, HIS TIME SERVED, TO BE FREED TODAY
Published on March 17, 1992
Author(s): Ray Richard, Globe Staff
Matthew Rosenberg will be freed from a Utah treatment center today, eight years after he admitted the killing of 5-year-old Kenneth Claudio of Roslindale. Rosenberg, who turns 23 today, will be released from custody of the Massachusetts Division of Youth Services, which has had custody of him because he was a juvenile when he killed the boy in 1983. Rosenberg confessed to drowning his young neighbor after Claudio threatened to complain about Rosenberg's attempts to sodomize him.
