11 NEWS:  When a teenager is accused of murder, should they be tried as adult?  One such case come to an end last week: Ashley Benton getting probation after her murder trial ended in a hung jury.  Harris County is the toughest in Texas on teen criminals, but some question whether it’s the right approach, or just passing the buck.  It is a case that symbolizes kids becoming criminals: a city park where baseball bats were used not for a game, but for a gang fight.

Supreme Court Says Crack Sentences Can Be Reduced; 12/10/2007

NEW YORK TIMES: The Supreme Court on Monday said judges may impose shorter prison terms for crack cocaine crimes, enhancing judicial discretion to reduce the disparity between sentences for crack and cocaine powder. By a 7-2 vote, the court said that a 15-year sentence given to Derrick Kimbrough, a black veteran of the 1991 war with Iraq, was acceptable, even though federal sentencing guidelines called for Kimbrough to receive 19 to 22 years.

Officals disagree on teens in adult prisons; 12/08/2007

THE FACTS: Ashton Carmen said he tried to run away from home and his father. The 14-year-old Pearland teen was waiting for his father to come home Dec. 8, 2005, so he could talk to him. The talk turned into an argument. When Reginald Carmen, 50, tried to charge his son, Ashton Carmen said he pulled out his father’s pistol and fired, killing him. “When I first stumbled upon the gun, I was going to take it with me for protection” on the streets, Carmen, now 16, said Monday through a glass window at the Clemens Unit near Brazoria. “The first thing I thought to do was to try and scare him. I didn’t have any true intentions of hurting him.”

The Ex-Con Next Door; 12/06/2007

US & WORLD REPORT NEWS: Getting cons to stay ex-cons has long been one of the most vexing challenges of the criminal justice system. One out of every 31 American adults is in jail, on parole, or on probation, and the central reality is this: Nearly everyone who enters the prison system eventually gets out. The problem is, most of those ex-offenders quickly find themselves back inside. Today, ending the cycle of recidivism has become an increasingly urgent problem as communities nationwide are forced to absorb record numbers of prisoners who also often struggle with addiction and other illness.