'You Are Not Alone': DA Tucker On Danvers Youth Crime, Law Reform Challenges

DANVERS, MA — Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker talked about challenges and frustrations with the increase in juvenile criminal behavior across the North Shore amid state law reform efforts to keep youths out of the court and detention system following the charging of six youths in the Danvers attack of a special needs man this fall that drew the ire of residents who said it part of a pattern of delinquent behavior in the town.

An Essex County grand jury indicted four teens in the beating of Danvers resident Christopher "Ducky" Anderson in the woods near a town park last month, while warrants were issued for two other juveniles under age 14, according to Danvers Police Chief James Lovell and DA Tucker in November.

• 4 Teens Indicted In Danvers Beating Of Special Needs Resident

Tucker praised the work of Danvers police to bring those charges given the suspects' ages, while allowing that recent judicial reforms can be a barrier to getting youth offenders into diversion programs before their activity rises to the level of what most would consider a serious criminal offense.

"I know there was a lot of public information out there — some true, some not," Tucker said of the November attack. "One of the things I heard that reached my level was: 'Why did it take so long (for charges to be filed)?' I will tell you that what appears to be, on the surface, oftentimes people think is a very simple case — we just connect the dots from A to B — is not so simple.

"The amount of work that was done by Danvers PD, and my office, and another piece of my office, which is our video person, trying to put videos together — and Danvers police did an extraordinary job getting Ring cameras, business cameras, to go step by step by step, to be able to show that we can prove the case ... oftentimes people expect that we should be expedient rather than careful, I never want to do that.

"I would rather take the extra time to be sure we can do it right."

• Danvers Police Chief: 'We Will Not Tolerate Acts Of Violence'

Tucker allowed that juvenile delinquent behavior has become a growing issue across the North Shore and Merrimack Valley with some of the reforms making it challenging for police and law enforcement to intervene before that behavior escalates.

"Some of these young people who are coming up on our radar have been known to the police," Tucker said. "They have committed some offenses. But because of some of these changes, it's made it difficult for us and by the time they do come up on our radar oftentimes it's too late.

"I know there's been a lot of talk in Danvers about the square and kids after school. You are not alone. I just attended a meeting three weeks ago in Salem where we met with the superintendent of schools (Steve Zrike) and stakeholders. The number of disorderly behavior (incidents) after school is staggering. And it's been leading to some really serious crimes as well."

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Tucker said that while his office has what he called a very effective juvenile diversion program for youth offenders, the crimes that do not reach his office — or are dismissed as first offenses at the judicial level — allow some concerning cases to fall through the cracks and are "very frustrating."

He added that another reform causing issues has been the inability of the police to intervene with criminal activities in schools among children ages 7 to 12 that would be considered for charges if those crimes had been committed in any other area of society.

Tucker said one exception to the reforms that have gone the other way in youth criminal offense is the ability to charge youths committing some violent crimes in adult court with names released to the public — as was the case in the Danvers attack at Plains Park.

"You saw the names of four of these individuals in the (press)," Tucker said. "Two were under the age of 14 so they are still going to fall under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. But the four that we did indict, that the Chief mentioned, we indicted them as youthful offenders in a way that moves the case to superior court. The media can cover the case.

"And they will receive, according to the judge's decisions, potentially the same punishment as an adult."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)