Kissel Supports Notion That Troubled Youth are Redeemable

Last week Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield, threw his weight behind three bills that are aimed to help reform the process by which a juvenile offender enters the courts and prison system.

“I support the notion that youth are redeemable. If I can put less young people in juvenile facilities in my district that’s a good thing,” Kissel, who represents Enfield, Somers, Suffield, Windsor, Windsor Locks in the 7th Senate District, told the .

The three bills include measures to:

• Gradually change the law so that children 17 years and younger are primarily treated as juvenile offenders.
• Help children who are convicted of a crime transition back into school faster.
• Require a court order to send anyone arrested on a juvenile charge to detention.

Log onto The Granbys Patch for more details on the laws and what Kissel and other legislators had to say.