Cleveland, Ohio Twelve was the youngest suspected murderer. In a failed robbery of an Amazon driver, he was charged.
For days last year, that case and others involving young people made headlines in Cleveland. However, young individuals accounted for a disproportionately tiny share of those charged with homicide in the city during 2024.
Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer collated data showing that 21 of the 132 individuals charged, or 15%, were under the age of 18.
Suspects’ median age was 24. There were 83 people between the ages of 18 and 35, which was the largest group of people charged. The oldest individual charged was eighty-one.
The data was reviewed by the newspaper as part of a series of stories that looked at the city’s violent deaths to learn more about the crimes, the people who committed them, and the city’s efforts to stop them.
The anecdotes come as campaigners strive to find additional strategies to keep young people away from crime while the city contends with an annual summer uptick in violence.
Although Cleveland’s youth homicide statistics represent a snapshot of violent crimes, they are consistent with national data that indicates a small percentage of murder offenders are younger than 18.
Christopher Mallet, a professor of social work at Cleveland State University who focuses on adolescent misbehavior, finds that surprising, but many others do not.
According to Mallett, there has long been a discrepancy between the statistics and the public’s belief that children are much more dangerous than adults.
According to Mallett, it has been this way for the past 30 years that I have worked with youngsters during the tough-on-crime era.
If it’s a homicide, a serious crime, or a spate of auto thefts involving young people or teens, we always get this more sensationalized reaction which appears to be more of an overreaction. I have no idea why it is still the case.
However, there are certain alarming patterns among youth. In line with national trends, more minors have been charged with carrying weapons here.
Last year, cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer found that the number of felony firearms charges brought in Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court has doubled over the past 20 years.
AdditionalAccording to data from the Ohio Department of Youth Services, more young people in Ohio are being imprisoned on gun-related charges than at any other point since at least 2010.
According to Brett Kyker, head of the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office’s juvenile section, firearms are undoubtedly a common denominator in many of these cases. And occasionally there are several guns, and other times there is just one. Simply said, it appears to be far more prolific now than it was in previous years.
A murder at a gas station
Prosecutors claim that two 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old shot and killed Tyrone Hipps Jr., 32, at a petrol station on East 93rd Street on January 27, 2024.
According to police and court documents, Hipps was enticed to a petrol station by Tallis Moorer, Malik Stewart, and Damarien Brown in order to strike a deal. He was then robbed and shot dead.
According to the incident report, police thought the three individuals were part of a group. To the charges, all three have entered not guilty pleas. A reporter contacted their legal representatives.
Tyrone Hipps Sr. recalls his son as a creative man, a decent parent, humorous, and a travel enthusiast.
The unfortunate problem is that they weren’t mature enough to do it. Tyrone Hipps Sr., Hipps’ father, stated that they were approximately 17 and 16. In addition to taking another person’s life, you have now ruined your own.
According to Hipps, a lot of young individuals who commit these kinds of crimes lack life advice. However, they are equally accountable for their own choices.
According to Hipps Sr., if you don’t make an effort to leave the environment you’re in, you end up becoming a part of it.
I think justice will be done to the young people who are accused of killing his son.
Three young people were charged, which highlights a larger pattern: children who commit murder frequently do so in groups. Multiple defendants were more likely to be involved in homicides involving juvenile suspects in the previous year.
In 15 homicides last year, 21 young people were charged. Compare that to suspects in homicides who are older than 35. According to records, 27 people were charged in 27 homicides involving the alleged killers.
Twelve was the age of one of them.
He was charged with the May 6, 2024, death of 17-year-old Alquin Wells. According to authorities, Wells passed away following a frantic robbery spree. A gang of young people, including Wells, carried out four robberies in Cleveland and one in Brook Park in a two-hour period.
The trio attempted to rob an Amazon driver on West 48th and Franklin Boulevard in the most recent one. Wells was hit by the Amazon driver’s retaliatory shots. The heist led to the 12-year-old and the 17-year-old being charged with murder.
Rehabilitating
The juvenile justice system is more focused on rehabilitation than the adult system, despite the fact that it exists in part to punish offenders.
According to Mallet, one of the main distinctions between adolescents and adults is that the former are more likely to be flexible and adaptable. When you reach your 20s and 30s, it becomes quite challenging to alter your behavior.
The system should ideally step in before a young person commits a violent or serious crime. According to Mallet, there are frequently several chances for a well-functioning system to take advantage of that opportunity.
According to Mallet, it is extremely improbable that a 17-year-old would decide to kill someone one day. Prior to it, there is typically history, participation (with the legal system), and sometimes even arrest records.
The Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Advisory Subcommittee issued a report in the spring that advocated for more programs aimed at helping young people who have been charged with less serious offenses.
Increased money for court advocates, vocational training, therapy, more probation officers, and community-based alternatives to jail, like group homes, were all recommended in that report.
The reason: According to the survey, young people who are detained have a higher likelihood of committing crimes again than those who are housed nearby.
Certainly, incarceration is not the complete solution. Because it would be effective if that were the case, stated retired Cleveland police captain Marvin Cross, a member of the subcommittee. We have a large prison population.
