Councilman Wants to Release Names of Juveniles in Crime Cases : Thousand Oaks: Alex Fiore seeks support from the city for a change in state law. He says giving identities would alert the community and deter illegal behavior.

Thousand Oaks City Councilman Alex Fiore, frustrated by the rising rate of juvenile crime, wants the city to push for a change in state law that would authorize public release of the names of children accused of crimes.

Fiore will ask fellow council members on Tuesday to support introduction of state legislation that would make public the names of juveniles accused of serious crimes.

“There are burglaries being done by young people in our neighborhoods and nobody in the area knows who was arrested,” Fiore said. “I don’t really feel that (our system) is effective. I don’t think it works.”

Fiore said releasing the names of juvenile offenders would serve the dual purpose of alerting the community and possibly embarrassing the children and their parents into halting any kind of future criminal behavior.

Councilman Frank Schillo agreed.

“These (proposals like Fiore’s) may just look like a lot of little things,” he said. “But all those little things will make it tough for the bad guys to stay in town.”

Schillo said juvenile crime has not reached the level of a serious problem yet in Thousand Oaks, but added, “We’re not used to this kind of thing happening in our community.”

Mayor Elois Zeanah said she is willing to consider the proposal, but is reluctant to endorse it until she hears the pros and cons from legal experts.

Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski said she worries that publishing the names of juvenile offenders might backfire, feeding some teen-agers’ desire for attention, no matter what the arena.

“With some gangs, you know, that’s kind of a badge of courage, to be in the newspaper,” she said.

Councilwoman Judy Lazar was unavailable for comment.

Fiore’s proposal lands in the middle of a national controversy over how workable the country’s juvenile legal system is and whether it is time for a radical overhaul.

Created nearly 90 years ago, the juvenile justice system began with the idea that children are not responsible for their actions and must be protected by a legal system that acts as a surrogate parent. Juveniles were to be rehabilitated and released back into society without worry of stigma attached to their names.

Over the last 20 to 25 years, however, that system has undergone alterations. Today in California, juveniles over the age of 16 who are deemed to commit serious enough crimes may be tried as adults, and their names may be released to the public.

A handful of other states have gone even further.

In Delaware, for instance, the media may request the names of children arrested for felonies, according to information compiled by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

Virginia law allows the name of a child offender to be released if that child has been convicted of a serious felony in juvenile court, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

Slowly but surely, some criminal law attorneys say, society is wading into a gray area that it has yet to fully define.

“The theory of the juvenile justice system is based on rehabilitation, and the theory of the adult justice system is based on retribution,” said Barry Bernstein, a Woodland Hills-based criminal law attorney who also practices in Ventura County.

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“That’s the inherent conflict. Now we’ve got this dialogue going on: At what level does society’s interest in (a juvenile criminal) cross over from rehabilitation to retribution?”

Some local residents think that level begins with crimes such as spray-painting graffiti.

“People who tag and do graffiti . . . don’t want their names in the paper, but they want bragging rights,” said Curt Luft, the principal of Westlake High School. “I’m all for putting those names in the paper.”

Officials at the Ventura County district attorney’s office say they also would support releasing some child offenders’ names, but they might limit it to those who commit felonies.

“There’s a valid question--whether confidentiality under the current law hinders accountability rather than encourages accountability,” said Kevin McGee, the county’s chief deputy district attorney.

Fiore said he would like to release the names of children arrested for serious crimes, whether or not those children have been found guilty in a court of law.

“If they’re arrested, and there’s more than adequate evidence by the police, then sure, their name should be disclosed,” he said.

Others take issue with that point. Richard Hanawalt, a criminal justice lawyer in Ventura, agreed with Fiore that “our original basis for keeping (many juvenile offenders’) names secret is no longer valid.”

But, he said, he opposes releasing anyone’s name--adult or juvenile--until that person is convicted of a crime and jurors can no longer be “tainted” by what they hear or read in the media.

Bernstein, the Woodland Hills criminal lawyer, said the risks are just too great.

“The mere fact that someone is arrested is pertinent of nothing,” he said. “Before you can go ahead and ruin a child’s life, you have to prove that what the police say is correct.”

If the council approves Fiore’s proposal, he plans to take it to Assemblyman Nao Takasugi (R-Oxnard) and state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) and work with them on drafting a bill to bring before the state Assembly.

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Officials at both lawmakers’ offices say the legislators would be receptive to the proposal.

Wright said she tried to introduce similar legislation about five years ago, but it got buried in committee from lack of interest.

She said she thinks society’s mood, though, may have changed.

“Maybe (Fiore’s) timing is better than mine,” she said. “I’d be willing to work with him. Any step forward would be a help.”