Nebraska kids could be detained for serious crimes younger, at age 11, charged as adults at 12

LINCOLN — The age at which a Nebraska child could be detained for an alleged crime would be lowered, from 13 to 11, under a new bill expected to be in front of state lawmakers this year at the urging of Gov. Jim Pillen.
State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston said he plans to introduce the measure, which also would drop the age, from 14 to 12, at which a minor can be charged as an adult for the “most serious” felonies.
The legislation was briefly outlined in Pillen’s proposed budget distributed Wednesday to lawmakers. Riepe said he plans soon to formally introduce the legislation, which is being refined.

According to the budget document, the gubernatorial initiative aims to change detention criteria “to give greater authority to the courts to detain juveniles in a physically restrictive facility for the safety of juveniles and the community.”
The proposed legislation calls for a court hearing and a judge’s review to determine juvenile placement unless waived by both parties.
Riepe told the Nebraska Examiner that his primary intent was not “punitive.” He believes that detaining kids who get in trouble could trigger intervention that might help them and others in the long run.
He said the legislation was driven also by Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine, whose office in the last couple of years has handled prosecutions of a few 13 year olds and, more recently, an 11 year old.
‘Strongly’ opposed
State Sen. Terrell McKinney of North Omaha, who has championed other juvenile and criminal justice reform efforts, said he “strongly” disagrees with the premise of the Pillen-Riepe initiative.
“I would not support locking kids up,” he said, adding that he believed such a law also would disproportionately harm youths of color.
“If we think about the safety of juveniles in the community, we should be talking about why have these juveniles been neglected for so long by the system,” McKinney said.
He said many youths who wind up in the criminal justice system are wards of the state or under the watch of a state agency. “Why have they dropped the ball?” he asked.
Kleine said Thursday that he had not seen the bill’s final language, but he said a goal is to ensure that a Juvenile Court judge reviews a serious arrest involving children as young as 11 to determine whether detention is warranted. Under current law, he said, a detention hearing can be waived for that age group.

“Unfortunately every time we think we have gotten to the youngest age, another comes along like this 11-year-old,” said Kleine.
He referred to an 11-year-old Omaha boy who faced a dozen felony charges, including first-degree murder, in the fatal shooting last summer of a man returning home from his shift as an Uber driver.
All charges were dismissed last week after the youth was found incompetent to stand trial, and the court records have been sealed, the Omaha World-Herald reported this week.
The boy, who was not the suspected shooter, is the youngest of six juveniles accused in the carjacking and fatal shooting of the 64-year-old man who was pulling into his apartment complex around midnight.
“We’re saying that if something like that occurs, the judge should be able to detain that person in a supervised, secure facility … until we decide what to do,” Kleine said.
Kleine said he has had parents plead with him to hold their child in custody to avoid the possibility of them getting harmed.
Nebraska AG priorities
Also Thursday, Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers announced his legislative priorities in a pair of measures led by State Sens. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha and Tanya Storer of Whitman.
Legislative Bill 316, sponsored by Kauth, continues Hilgers’ effort to outlaw delta-8 and what he described as “dangerous” synthetic products “masquerading as hemp” that contain THC, the compound in the cannabis plant most commonly associated with getting a person high.
A similar legislative effort pushed by Hilgers stalled last year.

Hilgers also has filed lawsuits against vape shops and retailers in multiple counties alleging violations of consumer protection and deceptive trade practices laws. Several stores negotiated settlements, agreeing not to sell prohibited hemp products that contain synthetic THC or or have been modified through chemical processes.
Hilgers said he is counting on the Kauth bill to “finally put an end to the synthetic delta-8 crisis we have in this state.”
In 2018, Congress legalized the cultivation and sale of hemp as an agricultural commodity that could be grown under a state program, Hilgers said. He said he was among state senators at the time who voted to adopt the Nebraska Hemp Farming Act — though, he said, he was unaware it would lead to a growing market for products containing synthetic cannabinoids his office now targets.
“There will always be kind of this effort called the Whac-A-Mole of bad actors coming up with ways to get around the system,” said Kauth. “This is a way we can best protect the citizens of Nebraska.”
There will always be kind of this effort called the Whac-A-Mole of bad actors coming up with ways to get around the system.
If the bill does not pass, Hilgers said, his office would step up his litigation campaign against retailers — “which will unfortunately cost more taxpayer dollars … and create more pain for the stores themselves.”
Mental health
Storer’s bill, yet to be introduced in the Legislature, would create a pilot program authorizing a still-to-be-determined rural Nebraska law enforcement agency to add mental health beds to its existing jail or another local facility to temporarily house a person in an active mental health crisis.
Hilgers said the short-term stay for the civilly committed individual is not intended to be an incarcerated environment. Telehealth services would be available, Storer said.
Hilgers and Storer, a former Cherry County commissioner who worked on behavioral health matters, said the legislative effort was driven by accounts from rural law enforcement officers who said they sometimes spend hours escorting a person in “emergency protective custody” to the nearest available mental health facility.
The pilot program would offer a secure space — “before they get to the break,” or cause harm to themselves or someone else, said Hilgers.
The program would be funded with grants, perhaps through the Nebraska Crime Commission.
“It’s a pilot program we’re hoping catches on,” Storer said.
“This is going to take the burden off of our small local law enforcement agencies and first and foremost put the individual in need of care as a priority in finding a safe place for them.”
