Lack of justice

Juvenile justice system neglects youth, federal judge says

—By Lori Craig

The juvenile justice system is failing American youth, according to the Honorable Terry J. Hatter Jr.

Hatter, United States senior district judge for the Central District of California, presented the 2008 Justice Lester W. Roth Lecture at USC Law Oct. 27, during which he discussed his decades of experience working with youth offenders and the state of juvenile justice today.

The Honorable Terry J. Hatter Jr.

Although medical and psychological evidence shows young people lack maturity and decision-making skills, too often juveniles are tried as adults, Hatter said. Prosecutors in Northern California even considered such an action against a 6-year-old, he noted.

“Clearly, it’s becoming easier and easier to try juveniles in adult level court in every state,” Hatter said. “I wonder if we as a society have abdicated our responsibilities to the youth.”

Society treats young people as mature adults far too early, yet pays lip service to a juvenile system that is underfunded and underserved, he said. For years, the pattern in Los Angeles and elsewhere has been to cut juvenile camps and other such programs first when money is tight.

“We’re actually spending as much for the adult prison system — and sometimes exceeding — what we spend on higher education,” Hatter said.

Hatter has experienced the juvenile justice system from a number of perspectives since he was a “poster child” for a juvenile diversion program while growing up in Chicago’s South Side during World War II. After law school, Judge Hatter worked in the Cook County, Ill., Public Defender’s Office, where he represented indigent juveniles.

When he was appointed to the California Superior Court for Los Angeles County in 1977, his first assignment was in juvenile court.

“So many problems, so few solutions,” Hatter said. “I don’t have answers, but I do have a suggestion: I believe it is ourselves that can lead to more positive reform of the juvenile justice system.

“I envision an interdisciplinary study for juvenile justice here at USC, centered in this law school,” he said.

He proposed that USC Law, along with other schools and programs at USC — social work, psychology, political science, communication, etc. — engage in a “noble experiment” to research and analyze local, state and national policies; study the impacts of children’s programs; examine the influence of media coverage of juvenile issues; and make recommendations on juvenile rights.

"So many problems, so few solutions,"  Judge Hatter said.

Hatter, who served in the Army and Air Force from 1954 to 1956, graduated from Wesleyan University and the University of Chicago Law School. After serving as an assistant public defender for Cook County, he entered into private practice in Chicago.

He was named assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern and Eastern District of California and later served as chief counsel to the San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Assistance Foundation and worked with the NAACP.

Hatter served as a special assistant and executive assistant to Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, was executive director of the Western Center on Law and Poverty, and has taught at USC Law and Loyola Law School. He was appointed to the federal bench in 1979, the first African American to serve as chief judge of the Central District.

Hatter has served as chair of the board of councilors at USC Law, and as chair of the board for the Los Angeles Civic Center Public Partnership. He currently serves on boards of the Rand Institute for Civil Justice and Project Restore, and is vice chair of the Western Justice Center Foundation in Pasadena, Calif.