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Eva-Marie Ayala


The state is one of only a few that still do so.

On Monday, the House tentatively approved a bill that included a last-minute amendment that moves the vast majority of 17-year-olds into the juvenile justice system. Courts could still try teens as adults in the most extreme cases, such as murder.

Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, offered the amendment, which was approved, 89-52. The former juvenile prosecutor had worked on similar legislation, but it died in the House this month.

Lawmakers have been trying to re-evaluate the state’s “tough love” approach on many youthful offenses, such as truancy, and look for ways to help teens get past youthful mistakes.

Wu acknowledged, though, that the proposal would be a tough sell when the House and Senate negotiate to iron out differences.

“This would put us in line with the vast majority of the nation,” Wu said. “Every time the Supreme Court hears a case with a 17-year-old, they make a ruling and we have to come back here and make a new law to comply with it because of our current system.”

For example, the high court ruled that states could not sentence anyone younger than 18 to death, an option Texas had long defended.

Wu’s amendment was attached to a bill by Sen John Whitmire, D-Houston, that would move most teens from rural prison settings into facilities closer to their communities. Whitmire has been among those pushing such juvenile justice changes in the wake of a sex scandal in rural youth lockups. But he has said he supports the current law on 17-year-olds.

Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, said that while he supports the idea of moving 17-year-olds to the juvenile system, criminal justice officials in his district were against it because they worried about the cost and lack of resources to accommodate more teens.

Wu noted the measure wouldn’t take effect until September 2017, to give state agencies time to set up procedures and rules and for the Legislature to address funding in two years.

Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, said many widely agree that amending the law on 17-year-olds is what is needed to ensure that they are treated more fairly. For example, he noted that when such teens are charged, their parents don’t have a right to be notified.

“We can’t just bury our heads in the sand anymore,” Larson said.

The bill is expected to come back to the House on Tuesday for final approval and then to a committee to work out the differences between the House and Senate measure.

Whitmire has said he filed the bill so young offenders could be mentored by people in their communities and get specialized counseling if needed. He noted that residential treatment centers for teenagers are much less expensive than the prison-like facilities.

“More importantly, the end product is better,” Whitmire said. “You keep the child in the community.”

Follow Eva-Marie Ayala on Twitter at @evamarieayala.