Imagine if your child were arrested and interrogated without
your knowledge, without being read his or her rights, or without
being taken before a magistrate. Then imagine if your child were
certified for trial as an adult and sentenced to 30 years in
prison. You're probably thinking, Not my child; only the worst
of the worst—violent gang members, repeat offenders, or
hardened criminals— are certified as adults.
That's what I thought. Then I got a call from a former
colleague, Christene Wood, that began six years of pro bono work
culminating in a decision by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
and significant legislative reforms to the juvenile certification
system.1
The call concerned a 16-year-old boy named Cameron Moon, a
friend of Wood's daughter. Wood had known Moon for a number of
years and described him as "a really nice kid."
Unfortunately, he had gotten in "some trouble," and a few
days earlier the juvenile court had certified him to be tried as an
adult.
