Dulaney High School student Nicholas Browning is charged with a heinous crime, the murders of his parents and two younger brothers. His 16th birthday is tomorrow, but he has been charged as an adult in the shooting deaths of his family because under the law he can be. It may be legal, but teenagers who enter the adult criminal justice system are often lost to it.
In recent years in Baltimore County, that has certainly been the case. Now that the Browning teenager has a lawyer, all efforts should be made to move his case to juvenile court.
Unlike some states, Maryland allows for that if a judge agrees. First, juvenile authorities would review a youth's family, social and medical history and determine if the teenager would benefit from treatment in the juvenile justice system. They also would consider the severity of the crime, the youth's involvement in it and the impact on public safety.
Juvenile court is the appropriate forum to decide how to best serve the needs of a troubled young offender and address the public's concerns. Maryland has its share of prison inmates who committed their crimes as juveniles, even though research has shown that youths often don't have the intellectual or emotional maturity to fully grasp the consequences of their actions.
The criminal justice system has a greater responsibility to ensure that a young suspect accused of a crime that would send an adult to prison for the rest of his life receives every protection the law allows. To do anything less would be an injustice.