Brain development partly explains juvenile crime uptick in El Paso County

Juvenile crime is decreasing state-wide and locally, but the severity of the crimes are not. Over the past year, data shows more teens are being charged with serious felonies, such as murder and attempted murder.

“It’s terribly tragic that we’re seeing this loss of life,” said Attorney Patrick Mika. “This lack of sensitivity and compassion for human life.”

About 15 percent of Mika’s cases involve juveniles. He explains there’s a biological component that helps explain the problem.

“It’s that lack of frontal lobe development and biological development that has younger kids understanding there are serious cause and effects of their behavior,” he said.

Most recently, a 13-year-old was sentenced to 6 and a half years after pleading guilty to felony murder and aggravated robbery in Colorado Springs last year. Months before, Endo Velarde, 17, was charged in connection with the double murder of the two El Paso County teens, Natalie Partida and Derek Greer.

The Colorado Youth Detention Continuum reports more young criminals are being charged with murder, attempted murder, first-degree assault, among other serious felonies.

“A lot of it has to do with the individuals upbringing,” said Mika. “There need to be boundaries set in place at a young age to establish the ground rules for behavior.”

Within a span of four months last year, 31 teenagers were charged as adults for felony crimes. That’s up from 14 in the previous year.

“It’s easy to punish somebody, that’s the easiest thing to do,” Mika said. “But it’s not really getting to the source of the problem.”

Studies predict the number of youth pushed to adult court will likely reach into the 70s by the end of this fiscal year. The 4th Judicial District hasn’t seen this amount of juvenile cases moving to adult court in more than eight years.