Christian Rominger knows too well the consequences of making a rash decision as a teenager.
Four years ago, when the Asheville resident was 17, a friend's mother asked him to help buy a keg of beer for her underage son's birthday party, a handoff that landed him in legal trouble that hampers him today.
Now, as Rominger tries to make his way in the adult world, job hunting in this recession and contemplating a career in law or law enforcement, he has added his voice to those trying to change North Carolina law so teens under 18 can be tried in the juvenile courts instead of the adult courts.
Other advocates of the change rallied in the state legislature Tuesday.
In Rominger's case, his legal troubles stemmed from the traffic death of an underage teen who had been at the party planned by his friend's mother. Because Rominger had handed money from a 45-year-old to a 21-year-old who was old enough to buy the keg, prosecutors charged him with 14counts of aiding and abetting in the purchase of alcohol for people under 21 -- misdemeanors of which he was convicted.
"The way this has affected me has been horrible," Rominger said. "The thing is, I am guilty of what I got charged with -- I am sorry about what happened -- but it's just impossible to tell someone, in short, what was going on."
Had Rominger gone through the juvenile justice system instead of the adult courts that treated him as an adult before he could vote or legally drink, his life might be different.
Juvenile justice systems, set up to give young offenders a chance for a clean slate, typically shield criminal records from public scrutiny. Seventeen-year-olds from other states charged and convicted of the same crimes but tried in juvenile justice systems do not have to disclose records sealed from public view.
"You have a person who's 16 or 17, and even if they do get their life together, they're going up against people from other states who might have done the same thing, but their records are shielded," said Rep. Alice Bordsen, a Democrat from Alamance County. "We're being totally unforgiving to our own and putting them at a disadvantage."
Bordsen and others are pushing for a stepped six-year plan that calls for a task-force study and thorough cost accounting of the proposed changes. A consultant's report ordered last year is due in weeks.
North Carolina has been trying 16- and 17-year-olds as adults since 1919. The law enacted then set the age threshold with little explanation of how it was decided.
North Carolina, New York and Connecticut are the only states that automatically treat 16-year-olds as adults. New York has youthful offender programs. Connecticut's laws are set to change next year to send 16- and 17-year-olds back into the juvenile system.
Bordsen and state Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, a Democrat from Carrboro, introduced legislation two years ago to study whether North Carolina should give juvenile courts jurisdiction over anyone younger than 18.
Suspects as young as 13 charged with particularly violent offenses still could be tried as adults, as is the case now.
Supporters say the age change would give troubled teens a legal tether to psychologists, alcohol and drug counselors, family, guardians and others invested in helping them turn their lives around. Judges could decide to close trials to the public. Punishments would not include prison time, and records largely would remain confidential
Critics, though, cite money as one reason for not wanting to bring more teens into the juvenile justice system.
The N.C. Conference of District Attorneys and the N.C. Sheriffs' Association have opposed the change, saying adding thousands of new cases to the juvenile system would burden judges, court officials and rehabilitation programs and detention centers that can barely handle the current load.
Juvenile court judges would continue to assess whether a case should be transferred to adult court.
