Kids' Parole Board: Vacancy, or Vacate?

Friday's editorial takes a look at the problems facing the Juvenile Parole Board:

Decrying what he saw as a broken system inadequate to deal with a new generation of evil, Greg Killian of Myrtle Beach resigned his post at the state Juvenile Parole Board this month and called for its abolition. His frustration - while possibly an extreme position formed after five years of fighting on the front lines - raises one of society's most vexatious challenges: how to deal with the worst of the worst among our children.

After the board released a teen convicted in a controversial and tragic drag-racing death, Killian resigned, saying when the juvenile parole board was first established, the types of crimes that now come before it were never envisioned: gang-initiation killings, children raping other children, what he called a dozen or so unredeemable "super-predators" who showed up every month. The justice system for children is usually based on rehabilitation rather than punishment, but Killian says that dichotomy should be abandoned.

"There's no way that we need to treat violent predators, super-predators, as if they just need to be rehabilitated," said Killian, a counselor of troubled children. "I saw a whole different group of kids that I didn't realize existed. These are kids, regardless of age, who are predators. They intend to rape, maim and kill other beings."

Another of Killian's arguments is his accusation that the Department of Juvenile Justice - though technically a separate agency from the board - still has too much sway over the parole process. Killian said he saw multiple children released on parole who then committed murder. "Who gets paroled is more based on bed availability at the Department of Juvenile Justice than the merits of an individual case," Killian said.

In his years on the board, Killian saw the worst juvenile offenders the entire state has to offer, notes 15th Circuit Solicitor Greg Hembree. And even in Horry County, Hembree said his juvenile prosecutors occasionally point out young teens whose characters indicate they are on the road to murder. Further to Killian's point, the Department of Juvenile Justice is so reluctant to revoke probations - likely because of a barely sustainable budget, Hembree said - that his office often initiates the process on its own.

On the other hand, Hembree noted that it would be an egregious error to lump children in with adult, professional criminals after their first car burglary. Public Defender Orrie West said she is likewise skeptical of combining the two boards. Society holds adults and children to different standards, she noted, and they are kept separate at every other stage of the criminal-justice system. Because a combined board would have to be set up in a way to prevent blurring that separation, why combine them in the first place?

"If our only goal is punishment, it doesn't matter if we start putting them in jail at 6, 7, or 8," West said. "But if our goal is rehabilitation, it's a bad idea."

More than 40 states operate with only one board, and combining the two (as Gov. Mark Sanford has also proposed) would almost certainly eliminate some administrative redundancies. Barry Krisberg of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency dismissed parole boards as "political pork" that add no value to public safety. Attorney General Henry McMaster, now a presumptive candidate to succeed Sanford, would go so far as to eliminate all forms of parole, so that victims know exactly how much time convicts will serve.

These ideas all have merit, and as we continually seek to refine our justice system to protect society best, Killian's resignation sounds an alarm our legislature would do well to heed. But we should simultaneously take great care that - in the sway of the most extreme cases - we do not end up in such a dark place that we abandon hope for our children altogether.

"There's no way that we need to treat violent predators, super-predators, as if they just need to be rehabilitated," said Killian, a counselor of troubled children. "I saw a whole different group of kids that I didn't realize existed. These are kids, regardless of age, who are predators. They intend to rape, maim and kill other beings."

Another of Killian's arguments is his accusation that the Department of Juvenile Justice - though technically a separate agency from the board - still has too much sway over the parole process. Killian said he saw multiple children released on parole who then committed murder. "Who gets paroled is more based on bed availability at the Department of Juvenile Justice than the merits of an individual case," Killian said.

In his years on the board, Killian saw the worst juvenile offenders the entire state has to offer, notes 15th Circuit Solicitor Greg Hembree. And even in Horry County, Hembree said his juvenile prosecutors occasionally point out young teens whose characters indicate they are on the road to murder. Further to Killian's point, the Department of Juvenile Justice is so reluctant to revoke probations - likely because of a barely sustainable budget, Hembree said - that his office often initiates the process on its own.

On the other hand, Hembree noted that it would be an egregious error to lump children in with adult, professional criminals after their first car burglary. Public Defender Orrie West said she is likewise skeptical of combining the two boards. Society holds adults and children to different standards, she noted, and they are kept separate at every other stage of the criminal-justice system. Because a combined board would have to be set up in a way to prevent blurring that separation, why combine them in the first place?

"If our only goal is punishment, it doesn't matter if we start putting them in jail at 6, 7, or 8," West said. "But if our goal is rehabilitation, it's a bad idea."

More than 40 states operate with only one board, and combining the two (as Gov. Mark Sanford has also proposed) would almost certainly eliminate some administrative redundancies. Barry Krisberg of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency dismissed parole boards as "political pork" that add no value to public safety. Attorney General Henry McMaster, now a presumptive candidate to succeed Sanford, would go so far as to eliminate all forms of parole, so that victims know exactly how much time convicts will serve.

These ideas all have merit, and as we continually seek to refine our justice system to protect society best, Killian's resignation sounds an alarm our legislature would do well to heed. But we should simultaneously take great care that - in the sway of the most extreme cases - we do not end up in such a dark place that we abandon hope for our children altogether.