TWIN FALLS, Idaho—When police arrest a man suspected of robbing a bank, you see his name in breaking news alerts. When a woman gets a prison sentence, you see her mug shot on the newspaper’s front page.
But when the suspect in an assault or a theft is a juvenile, you may learn almost nothing about the case.
As Magic Valley’s recent high-profile juveniles cases have shown, Idaho’s juvenile justice system is far different than the adult criminal justice system and often much more secretive, reported The Times-News.
When three Dietrich High School football players were charged in March in connection with the sexual assault of a teammate, only the names of the two players charged as adults were made public, while the third boy’s case was completely sealed. When a gun went off at Robert Stuart Middle School in May, officials released very limited information, saying only that three juveniles had been detained; their names and the results of their cases remain sealed. And when allegations began to swirl around the reported sexual assault of a young girl at the Fawnbrook Apartments in June, officials spoke out only to dispel rumors about the case.
