A bill put before a Virginia State Senate committee by Sen. Bill Stanley that would have automatically put some teenage defendants on trial as adults was voted down at a committee hearing on Jan. 30. Critics described the bill as unnecessary and that removing discretion from judges would be a bad decision.

Several interested parties testified against the bill, which had the support of Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell. The bill would have changed the law to automatically transfer juveniles who are considered repeat violent offenders to adult criminal court. Currently, it is up to judges to decide whether to keep the defendant in juvenile court or transfer him or her to adult court, which the judge does on a case-by-case basis.

Among the testifiers was a law professor at the University of Richmond. She recalled that in her six years working as a prosecutor in the juvenile court system, she never had a juvenile defendant who was wrongfully kept out of the regular court. A Fairfax County, Virginia, attorney and former juvenile probation officer agreed. She urged the committee to have faith in judges' ability to make the right decisions.

Republican and Democratic senators voiced opposition to the bill, including chairman Sen. Thomas Norment, R-James City, who termed automatically having some juveniles face adult charges not "worth a durn." Sen. Stanley, R-Franklin County, asked the committee give him until Feb. 1 to amend the bill. But the committee decided to vote on it then and there, and by 11-4 voted to kill the bill.

Source: WUSA-TV, "VA Senate Rejects Bill That Would Try More Juveniles As Adults," Jan. 30, 2012