Robert V. Boeshaar
ATTORNEY AT LAW | LL.M., PLLC
206.866.2276 | boeshaarlaw.com
1000 Second Avenue, Suite 3000 | Seattle, WA 98104
Masters of Laws (LL.M.) in Taxation
Over 14 years experience with the IRS O;ce of Chief Counsel
I help individuals and businesses find the best
resolution to their disputes with the IRS.
continues throughout adolescence; last
to develop are the areas of the brain
that govern the higher functions like
judgment, appreciation of consequences,
long-term planning, and impulse control.
Kids are different at the most basic,
neurological level. Even without all the
evidence available now, our juvenile
justice system was created over 100 years
ago with the unique purpose of rehabilitation rather than punishment. 13 So why
have we continued to allow the most
desperately troubled of our youth to be
automatically excluded from our juvenile
courts? Washington must bring back its
defense attorneys and judges in every
case for a rational system that treats kids
like kids and ensures checks and balances
before condemning someone under the
age of 18 to an adult sentence. NWL
HILLARY MADSEN, NICK
ALLEN, and TRAVIS ANDREWS
work as advocates on
the Institutions Project at
Columbia Legal Services
on behalf of people
confined in Washington's
jails, prisons, juvenile
detention facilities, mental
health facilities, immigrant
detention centers, and fa-
cilities for individuals with
developmental disabilities. Their work
focuses on institutional conditions of
confinement, discrimination, sentenc-
ing and placement, alternatives to in-
stitutionalization, access to courts, and
issues related to rehabilitation, reentry,
and reductions in recidivism. They are
especially interested in policies that
change the way youth are transferred
to and sentenced in the adult criminal
justice system. They can be reached
at Hillary.Madsen@ColumbiaLegal.org;
Nick.Allen@ColumbiaLegal.org; or
Travis.Andrews@ColumbiaLegal.org.
NOTES
1. Lisa W. Foderaro, “Angered by Attack,
Trump Urges Return of the Death Penalty,”
New York Times, May 1, 1989, nytimes.
com/1989/05/01/nyregion/angered-by-
attack-trump-urges-return-of-the-death-penalty.html (In the advertisement, Donald
Trump said “[t]hey should be forced to
suffer and, when they kill, they should be
executed for their crimes”). During his
2018 presidential campaign, Trump refused
to retract his harsh rush to judgment even
after the boys’ sentences were vacated
based on DNA evidence and the confession of the actual perpetrator, a serial
rapist. Benju Sarlin, “Donald Trump Says
Central Park Five Are Guilty, Despite
DNA Evidence,” Oct. 7, 2016, nbcnews.
com/politics/2016-election/donald-
trump-says-central-park-five-are-guilty-
despite-dna-n661941 (refusing to retract
condemnation).
2. Bennett, William J., John J. DiIulio, and
John P. Walters, Body Count: Moral Poverty
. . . and How to Win America’s War against
Crime and Drugs. (Simon & Schuster 1996).
3. For example, in her 2018 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton admitted following
the superpredator theory and apologized
for using the term in speeches she gave
on crime. Katie Reilly, “Hillary Clinton
Apologizes for ‘Superpredator’ Remark,”
Time Magazine (Feb. 25, 2016), time.
com/4238230/hillary-clinton-
black-lives-matter-superpredator/.
4. Kenneth B. Nun, “The End Of Adolescence: The Child As Other: Race And
Differential Treatment In The Juvenile
Justice System,” 51 DePaul L. Rev. 679, 712
(Spring 2002) (discussing the myth of the
“superpredator” is its reliance on racist
imagery and stereotypes; noting “[t]here
is little difference between the description
of mainly inner city African American
youth as ‘superpredators’ and the historic
representations of African Americans as
violence-prone, criminal, and savage.”);
Perry L. Moriearty, “Framing Justice: Media, Bias, And Legal Decisionmaking,” 69
Md. L. Rev. 849, 851 (2010) (arguing the
ascendance of the superpredator discourse
may have contributed to the presence of
racial bias in the administration of juvenile
justice during the postmodern era).
5. Elizabeth Becker, “As Ex-Theorist on
Young ‘Superpredators’ Bush Aide Has
Regrets,” New York Times, Feb. 9, 2001,
nytimes.com/2001/02/09/us/as-ex-
theorist-on-young-superpredators-bush-aide-has-regrets.html
6. National juvenile arrest rates for all
offenses peaked in 1996 and by 2011 had
declined by 54 percent. (“Law Enforcement
& Juvenile Crime: Juvenile Arrest Rate
Trends,” OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book,
http://tinyurl.com/n6bu6y9 (last updated
Dec. 9, 2015).)
