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The Ohio Supreme Court made a disturbing but understandable ruling last week: Juveniles who are arrested on criminal charges are not entitled to meet with a lawyer or their parents before being questioned by police.
The majority ruling is understandable because it’s based on what state law says, or, more precisely, what it doesn’t say.
The law protects children once they go to court, but it doesn’t refer specifically to their meeting with a lawyer or their parents before charges of delinquency are filed.
The ruling is disturbing because children need this protection. You have only to imagine the stress and legal jeopardy that such a situation would cause for an adult, let alone a child.
The court’s ruling was 4-3, with the dissenters writing that the majority’s ruling “offends fundamental notions of due process and fairness ... (and) defies law, logic and common sense.” Certainly those are the offenses that state legislators are guilty of, for leaving such a hole in the law.
State Rep. Tracy Heard, a Columbus Democrat, said Friday she will introduce a bill that will close that hole. Children would have to be read their rights, and they would not have to answer questions until they had spoken with their parents or an attorney.
The sooner this bill starts through the pipeline, the better. State legislators should make it a priority when they return after the election.
The Ohio Supreme Court made a disturbing but understandable ruling last week: Juveniles who are arrested on criminal charges are not entitled to meet with a lawyer or their parents before being questioned by police.
The majority ruling is understandable because it’s based on what state law says, or, more precisely, what it doesn’t say.
The law protects children once they go to court, but it doesn’t refer specifically to their meeting with a lawyer or their parents before charges of delinquency are filed.
The ruling is disturbing because children need this protection. You have only to imagine the stress and legal jeopardy that such a situation would cause for an adult, let alone a child.
The court’s ruling was 4-3, with the dissenters writing that the majority’s ruling “offends fundamental notions of due process and fairness ... (and) defies law, logic and common sense.” Certainly those are the offenses that state legislators are guilty of, for leaving such a hole in the law.
State Rep. Tracy Heard, a Columbus Democrat, said Friday she will introduce a bill that will close that hole. Children would have to be read their rights, and they would not have to answer questions until they had spoken with their parents or an attorney.
The sooner this bill starts through the pipeline, the better. State legislators should make it a priority when they return after the election.
