It’s been said that it takes a village to raise a child. When it comes to juvenile crimes in Connecticut, that village can also contribute to a whole set of risk factors to a child’s choices to participate in criminal behavior.

So, though writing off juvenile crime as youthful indiscretions are quite tempting, understand things are much more complicated than that.

Decades of research have identified a number of consistent risk factors contributing to some of the most common juvenile crimes in Connecticut. Let’s take a closer look…

Is Your Child Considered “At Risk” in Connecticut?

According to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, there are handfuls of risk factors for committing juvenile crimes that can be identified as young as six years old. They generally fall under one of five main categories: Individual, Family, School, Peer, and Community.

Individual Risk Factors

For young children, ages six to 11, individual risk factors can be innate — as simple as being male, hyperactivity, dishonesty, and aggression. Later, between 12 and 14, they include factors such as physical violence, substance use, and antisocial behavior.

Family Risk Factors

Among young children, family risk factors can include poor parent-child relationships, neglect, abuse, and separation from parents. As children get older these risk factors can include low parental involvement, poverty, and both discipline that is too harsh or too lax.

School Risk Factors

For young children, a poor attitude about school can be a warning sign while in older kids academic failure is a factor that can influence juvenile crimes

Peer Group Risk Factors

Young children with little to no social ties tend to perpetrate juvenile crimes while older children that are members of a gang or have peers with antisocial tendencies tend to be at risk

Community Risk Factors

Children, no matter age, are at higher risk if they live in a neighborhood that is rife with drugs and crime or if their neighborhood is highly disorganized.

Common Juvenile Crimes in Connecticut

When risk factors come together and a juvenile becomes caught up in the Connecticut juvenile criminal justice system, it is most often for these three offenses:

Possession of Drugs

This is one of the most common juvenile crimes because when juveniles are searched as a group and just one has drugs, often all people in the group are charged with possession. However, to be convicted of possession, the defendant has to be shown to have known the character of the controlled substance, knew the presence of it and had control over it.

Assault

Assault can be anything from threatening school mates to physically beating up another person. The severity of the crime has a bearing on how it is charged. The most common types of assault charged to juveniles in Connecticut include:

• Assault in the first degree – This is a Class B felony. A person is guilty of this felony when there was intent to do cause serious physical harm to another person and can involve a dangerous instrument or deadly weapon. They can also be charged with this felony if there was intent to disfigure the person or cause permanent damage.
• Assault in the second degree – To be found guilty of assault in the second degree, a Class D felony, the defendant must have intended to inflict serious damage to another, cause damage to another with the use of a deadly weapon, or recklessly cause serious physical damage to another utilizing a deadly weapon or other dangerous instruments.
• Assault in the second degree with a firearm – This is a Class D felony. A person is found guilty of this felony when they commit assault in the second degree and threaten or display a firearm during the assault.

Sex Crimes

Juveniles are also commonly charged with sex crimes such as:

• Sexual assault in the First Degree – This can be a Class A or Class B felony. If they compel another to engage in sexual intercourse with them by use of force or threat of force that causes a reasonable person to fear physical injury. It also applies if the person they engaged in intercourse with was under the age of 13 and the person being charged is more than two years older than they are.
• Sexual assault in the Second Degree – This is a Class B or Class C felony. They are guilty of this degree of sexual assault if they engage in sexual intercourse with another person and the person is 13 years of age but under 16 and the defendant is two years or more older, the victim was not able to consent due to mental defect, or the victim was physically helpless.

Juveniles facing charges need proper representation by an experienced Connecticut criminal attorney in order to have the best chance at getting their charges dropped, dismissed, or reduced.

Being caught in possession of illegal drugs is certainly a crime, but, you can count on being penalized more severely if it’s found you intended to distribute them.

The War on Drugs is the heart of a historic push for high penalties when convicted of selling drugs. It was meant to cut off the supply at its source decades ago, and are still on the law books today.

Connecticut is no different; the War on Drugs affected the laws here, as well. Possession of drugs is uniformly a lesser charge than possession with intent to sell for the same drugs. The difference between the two charges is smaller than you might think.

Connecticut Possession vs. Intent to Sell

In order to be convicted of possession of a controlled substance, it must be proven that the controlled substance was in your control. The prosecutor must also prove that you were aware of the presence of the substance.

Possession doesn’t necessarily mean that you have the substance in your pocket, either. If it’s in your home or vehicle, that is considered under your control and therefore in your possession.

A conviction for possession of narcotics can lead to up to seven years in jail and $50,000 in fines for a first offense.

Possession With Intent to Sell is Harder to Prove

Possession with intent to sell, on the other hand, has two primary conditions. First, this charge requires that you had possession of the substance under the same requirements as a straight possession charge.

Second, and more vaguely, it must be proven that you had the intent to sell. A conviction for intent to sell narcotics can result in a penalty of 15 years in prison and $50,000 in fines for your first offense.

Signs of Intent to Sell Under Connecticut Law

There are a variety of ways that prosecutors might try to prove this condition. Having an excessive amount of a controlled substance is the most likely reason a law enforcement officer might charge you with intent to sell.

Other signs officers look for include whether you possessed packaging, communicated with potential clients, or simply had a lot of money on you.

Defenses Against CT Intent to Sell Charges

Intent to sell is much less clear-cut than possession. That leads to several possibilities when it comes to defending yourself against these charges.

You Weren’t Aware of Possession

The first defense is that you did not have possession of the drugs, or were not aware of them. The legal requirement for a legal conviction is that the likelihood that the crime occurred is beyond a reasonable doubt. If there’s a reasonable doubt, you legally must not be convicted.

Your Possession Was for Personal Use

The next defense is to cast doubt on intent to sell. If there is only a moderate amount of a controlled substance in your possession, you can argue you intended to use all of it yourself. This may reduce penalties to the level of a drug rehabilitation program, instead of decades in jail.

A Connecticut conviction for possession with intent to sell can ruin the rest of your life. With such high penalties, this is a charge that’s worth fighting as hard as you can.

Good representation can be the difference between a conviction of possession or possession with intent. You have the right to make full use of the legal system to defend yourself from these charges.

The War on Drugs is still raging, although the focus of law enforcement officers has shifted over the decades.

With opiate deaths at record highs, more arrests have been made in connection to heroin, fentanyl, and other drugs. If you live in the Waterbury area, you might have heard about one of these big arrests.

New Haven Family Runs Drug Trafficking Ring Throughout County

In late October, 15 people were arrested in connection to a family-run trafficking ring that distributed heroin and fentanyl throughout New Haven County.

Included in the 15 suspects is a man suspected of leading the ring from a cell in prison. He was already in custody during the arrests but may face additional charges.

During raids on the alleged ring, law enforcement officers found 6 kilograms of alleged opiates, an additional 100,000 bags of opiates ready to be sold on the street, over 1,000 pills, a firearm, and approximately $50,000 in cash.

Suspects will be charged with crimes including distribution and possession with intent to distribute heroin and fentanyl.

Distribution and trafficking charges are serious business in the state of Connecticut. Offenders can face decades behind bars but may face different penalties than they would in other states.

How Connecticut Defines Drug Trafficking

Many states have separate charges for possession, sale, and trafficking drugs. Connecticut is different. They loop manufacture, distribution, sale, prescription, and dispensing into a single charge with a single set of penalties.

Generally speaking, whether you are making, moving, or selling drugs, offenders often face the same repercussions. Then, “trafficking” is usually a separate charge specifically reserved for moving or possessing large quantities of drugs.

If someone is accused of moving drugs across state borders, they might face federal charges in addition to dealing with Connecticut state laws. Should drugs amount to a quantity large enough to catch federal agents’ interest, they may also take on the case.

In most cases, however, offenders are limited to being the subject of state prosecution (and penalties.)

Penalties for Drug Trafficking in Connecticut

Connecticut determines charges and penalties based on a few factors:

• The type/how much of drug involved (narcotics, hallucinogens, marijuana, etc.)
• Whether the offender was dependent on drugs
• The offender’s criminal record

For example, if you are found guilty of selling narcotics or hallucinogens, you may face up to 15 years behind bars and $50,000 in fines.

Mandatory Minimums

If you are not dependent on the drugs, penalties may increase to 20 years behind bars or even life imprisonment. Mandatory minimum sentences for this charge start with a five-year jail sentence.

Other Controlled Substances

If you are found guilty of trafficking or selling drugs that are not mentioned above (including at least 1 kilogram of marijuana,) you will face up to seven years behind bars and up to $25,000 in fines.

Multiple Convictions

Those penalties will increase if you are charged on similar charges again. Penalties for subsequent offenses include up to 15 years behind bars and up to $100,000 in fines.

Conditional Release

There are alternative sentences available in special circumstances. The court may sentence an offender to up to three years in prison and set them free on conditional release.

This sentence, however, will come with additional terms and requirements that the offender must meet in order to get a conditional release.

Navigating drug trafficking charges through the Connecticut court system can be a complicated task, and certainly one you don’t want to take on alone.

There are strategies for people who are charged with drug crimes and want to avoid prison time. Reach out to a Connecticut drug crimes lawyer for information on how to fight back on charges and regain your freedom.

Although the following seems like eons ago in terms of today’s ever-changing 24 hour news cycle, in 2016 the East Liverpool Police Department in Ohio commanded the American public’s attention by posting the then-viral images of two people sitting in a car, overdosed from heroin, with a four-year-old child sitting alert in the back seat.  Privacy issues set aside, this unfortunate scene had people starkly divided.  Some people viewed the police’s photos as perpetuating stigma, fueling a lynch-mob mentality towards vigilante justice against people afflicted with substance use disorder. Others saw the images as important in context of highlighting the collateral damage caused by the larger public health issue: the opioid epidemic, which is still burgeoning two years later. Others still just saw two people who needed to be punished for putting an innocent child in harm’s way.

If the East Liverpool Police Department’s purpose was to provide a harrowing reminder to the entire world of the collateral damage caused to innocent bystanders by a heroin crisis of epidemic proportions, they seemingly fell short, considering the short-term memory of public sentiment.  Without context, history suggests the photos did little more than contribute to a strict-punishment mentality of addiction via shaming people into the shadows – but change has slowly started to occur on the policy level.

Historically, drug and alcohol addiction has been viewed strictly as a moral issue. The problem is this view has informed public policy, which has created institutional barriers that prevent people from accessing appropriate treatment because they are disproportionately criminalized for what is now considered a very treatable medical issue. This mentality has fueled the failed War-on-Drugs, spanning the past 40 years, and costing us upwards of $1 trillion.

Clearly, we need to take a different approach. When America has 5% of the world’s population, but 20% of the world’s prison population, and with the increase in drug crimes, we clearly need to do a better job at addressing substance use issues. However, ironically, Connecticut’s prison population is the lowest it’s been since 1994, largely due to easing penalties for drug-related crimes.

The War-on-Drugs has done little to curb drug use and has been ineffective in preventing drug-related deaths. In Connecticut, the growing death rate is hard to ignore. 2017 Data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner reported that an average of nearly three Connecticut residents are dying every day from accidental drug intoxication. Connecticut is now on pace to hit more than 1,000 opioid-related deaths by the end of 2017, which would break 2016’s record of 917 deaths.

Fortunately, reform has slowly begun to happen – although the Trump administration has been slow to respond. The Obama administration proposed a $1 billion included more than $1 billion to prevent overdose deaths by expanding treatment programs and options. Although the funding is far from guaranteed, it’s a start in acknowledging the problem.

At the state level, Connecticut has taken a number of measures to address this problem.  In August 2017, Governor Malloy signed a bill that increases oversight of prescriptions for painkillers and requires certain individual and group health insurers to cover medically necessary, inpatient detoxification treatment, although this law is not as wide-reaching as previous bills. In 2016, a bill was passed that requires first responders to carry overdose-reversing drugs, limits initial opioid prescriptions to seven-day supplies in most cases involving acute pain, makes changes to a prescription monitoring program aimed at helping prescribers identify patients who could be misusing drugs, and charged the state’s Alcohol and Drug Policy Council with developing a plan to reduce the number of opioid-induced deaths in the state.

But we still have a long way to go.

The East Liverpool photos briefly invigorated an online discussion around how the criminal justice system addresses crimes involving drugs. The question is whether the photos help or hurt efforts to create a more measured approach toward effectively addressing crimes involving drugs to not only reduce recidivism and protect the innocent but to get people the help they need. The answer: I honestly don’t know. But we need to create a criminal justice system that does not disproportionately penalize those struggling with drug-related issues and a healthcare system that provides access to appropriate services to effectively treat addiction like the medical issue that it is.