What's Causing Juvenile Crime In Fairfield? Legal Experts Unpack Complex Problem

FAIRFIELD, CT — A sparsely attended panel Monday evening sought to bring clarity to the community about juvenile crime — in particular a rash of car thefts in the area, which officials said are largely linked to gang-related turf wars in Bridgeport and other cities.

Organized by state Rep. Laura Devlin, R-134, the Juvenile Crime Public Forum, held at the SHU Community Theatre, featured a panel of professionals in police and criminal justice, including Fairfield Chief Robert Kalamaras.

Kalamaras described his primary role as trying to make the community feel safe, as he said sometimes one incident can cause a chain reaction of fear.

He noted, however, that his force is frustrated with seeing the same suspects turning up over and over after crimes — something he and others noted is tied to juvenile justice laws.

“We are only one part of the puzzle … There needs to be involvement from everyone,” Kalamaras said, highlighting basics such as locking car doors and not leaving keys or fobs in cars.

Two Fairfield detectives — George Buckmir and Beth Leetch — spoke about their ongoing work with the multi-municipality Auto Theft Task Force and their experiences with diversionary programs.

“The challenge is dealing with the more serious crimes of kids coming into our town,” Leetch said, noting that the drawn-out layers of relatively small consequences send a message that it’s OK to commit crimes.

Buckmir explained how authorities' hands are tied by certain regulations, such as a law prohibiting police from pursuing stolen vehicles.

Further, short of extreme cases and sometimes even in those, the justice system does not prosecute juveniles under age 17.

“Juveniles laugh at us because they know they’re going to be out in a few hours,” Buckmir said.

John Capozzi, an assistant state’s attorney and juvenile prosecutor, concurred.

“Eighteen months of probation is the maximum sentence for all crimes … whether it’s shoplifting or murder,” he said.

Joe Corradino, state’s attorney for the Fairfield Judicial District, pointed out that the definitions of “serious” crimes that might warrant harsher punishments are few and far between, with things like possession of firearms not considered viable to bring harsher consequences.

“There are very few sanctions we can impose on juvenile offenders,” he said, with a multitude of diversionary programs available before convictions draw jail time.

“We can’t do anything about it,” Corradino said. “We need the legislature to give us some tools to ratchet up the consequences.”

Corradino explained that cars stolen from towns like Fairfield are often used for drive-by shootings in gang wars that are underway in cities.

Other thefts have been orchestrated by adult-led crime rings, which profit from national and international sales of the cars, making use of the juveniles in the pipeline.

Speaking as a veteran detective, Buckmir said he doesn’t blame the court system, which he said does the best it can with the laws as they stand.

The problem, he pointed out, is that young people who commit crimes know how far they can push the envelope without consequences.

Many of these young people, he and others said, operate with a blind personal regard for their own — or anyone else’s — safety or health.

Buckmir described — and showed a short video — of one 14-year-old boy’s fatal car crash on the Post Road in Fairfield as his and another vehicle fled at more than 100 miles an hour after the two cars were stolen in Westport, and he lost control of the vehicle.

“These juveniles don’t usually have much fear for their own, or somebody else’s (safety),” he said.

At the heart of the problem, he and others said, are choices made by young people who lack a healthy or stable home life.

Joe Bruckmann, a public defender in Bridgeport, said many of these children don’t have parents in their lives, and are cared for by grandmothers, who are overwhelmed.

“They gravitate toward something that has structure,” he said, which a gang will provide.

While he said diversion programs have their merit, Bruckmann would like to see more such programs put in place in schools, including those that allow children to have mentor-like interactions with adults who were once juvenile offenders themselves.

“If we can put that sort of thing in the schools … because in a lot of ways the schools have taken the place of the parents,” he said, emphasizing that it’s important not to lump all juveniles into the same category, as every case is different.

“While statistics say that juvenile crime is down, it doesn’t feel that way,” Devlin noted at the opening of the forum.

“There doesn’t seem to be any consequences for actions,” First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick said in her opening remarks.

“I don’t think anybody’s suggesting we should be locking juveniles up, but there should be some consequences,” she said.