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Old enough for murder?

admin — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 05:34:39 +0000

The change in the law came following the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Essex. One of the two defendants in that case, James Savage, was 15 and could not be charged as an adult. The public outcry prompted a special session of the Legislature to change the law.

Vermont statutes list 12 crimes for which a minor may be tried as an adult. Those are arson causing death, assault and robbery with a dangerous weapon, assault and robbery causing bodily injury, aggravated assault, murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, maiming, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault and burglary into an occupied dwelling.

Children between the ages of 10 and 15 cannot be charged as adults with other crimes, but the state can petition to have such a youth declared a “delinquent child.”

When a defendant falls within the relevant age and offense categories, the prosecutor has discretion in whether to charge a juvenile as an adult.

October Visa Numbers Open With A Thud: Action Needed Now To Pass

admin — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:41:59 +0000

The heavily backlogged dates for most employment based and family based cases should be redressed now, and the opportunity to do so is presently before Congress in the “Visa Efficiency and E-Verify Extension Act” (S. 3414), introduced by Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) on July 31, 2008 and referred to the Judiciary Committee. This bill would recapture unused employment and family based visa numbers from 1992-2007 for immediate use 60 days after the date that the bill is signed into law. It would also allow for unused numbers in future years to be automatically rolled over to the next fiscal year.

What numbers are involved? Would they be significant enough to make a difference? Annually the family based preferences have a maximum of 480,000 and a minimum of 226,000 visa numbers available.