Delaware juveniles with firearm offenses to be prosecuted as adults

Editor’s note: Changes in the Department of Justice’s anti-gun initiative are being implemented in Delaware, not nationwide. That fact was misstated in an earlier version of this article.

Juveniles in Delaware who have committed serious or multiple firearm offenses will now be prosecuted as adults, part of the state’s initiative to reduce gun-related crimes by minors.

Delaware Attorney General Matt Denn said Friday the department has developed a series of initiatives that will allow the courts to crack down on juveniles who are a danger to the public and keep them from returning to the community to commit additional violent crimes.

Delaware saw 3,339 juveniles commit crimes in 2013, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation arrest statistics. Nationwide, violent youth arrests number at about 53,000 — a statistic that has declined from a mid-1990s high of 500,000, according data available on the National Juvenile Justice Network’s website.

Still, the state’s new juvenile anti-gun program is looking to further reduce the thousands of teenagers committing violent, weapon-related crimes by altering charging decisions for juveniles, Delaware’s WBOC 16 reported.

“We need juveniles in our state to understand that carrying a gun has real consequences,” Mr. Denn said in a statement obtained by WBOC 16. “It no longer automatically means a delinquency charge that will disappear from your record when you turn 18. Prosecuting a juvenile as an adult is a difficult decision and one that we don’t make lightly, but these gun crimes have created an intolerable condition on our streets.”