CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – The first time Ty Cooper saw the documentary film “Juvies,” directed by Leslie Neal, in 2005, he had a strong emotional response.
“Tears came out [of] my eyes,” he said. “I was like, ‘Yo, this is crazy,’ and I really had this like moment.”
The film focuses on 12 juveniles in the criminal justice system who have been tried as adults and brought attention to the growing trend of juveniles tried as adults in the United States. Now 22 years after its initial release, Cooper, Festival Director of the Indie Short Film Festival, is screening the film for the Charlottesville community to raise awareness of the issue.
“A lot of people think that when many kids get in trouble, they get this slap on the wrist or they get this light sentence because they know that these kids just need better guidance or they need a chance to get on the right track,” said Cooper. “They just don’t know. They just assume.”
Under Virginia law, a juvenile, defined as a person less than 18 years old, can be prosecuted as an adult under specific circumstances if they were 14 years of age or older at the time of an alleged offense. Certain offenses, such as capital murder, will trigger mandatory transfers to circuit court where they will be tried as an adult, or a request from the prosecution can trigger the transfer.
Based on reactions to “Juvies” at screenings over the years, Cooper believes the subject matter comes as a surprise to many in the audience.
“You hear the gasps from the audience members,” Cooper said. “You hear all these different sounds at different moments.”
The timing of showing the documentary now, less than two months before the November midterm elections and just one week after the start of early voting in Virginia, is not lost on Cooper. He noted that he engaged with politicians after initially viewing the film to some success but is hopeful that bringing the film to the audience in Charlottesville could help spur more conversation and action.
“Watching this film, this is the opportunity to educate, to create more exposure, awareness, and to have people come together to have a discussion at home and say, ‘Hey, we need to find out who we’re voting for for commonwealth attorneys and city councilors and state offices, who we’ll be sending to Congress,” he said. “And we need to have a discussion with these individuals that we don’t like this.”
Following the screening, the event will conclude with a panel discussion featuring Charlottesville Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania, attorney Andrea Edmunds with the Legal Aid Justice Center which is a sponsor of the event, and the founders of the PATH re-entry program Andrea Edmunds and Anthony Gomez.
“An interesting documentary and an interesting discussion afterwards,” Platania said. “It’s Charlottesville. We have these conversations about this sort of stuff. Hopefully people will come out.”
PATH is a Richmond based program that provides transitional housing for individuals released from long term incarceration. The screening will take place at Vinegar Hill Theatre Friday September 25 from 7-9 p.m. Tickets for the event can be found here.
Though the film is still more than 20 years old, Cooper believes the message still holds and the topic should stay in the public eye. “I really wish it wasn’t a relevant film. I really wish it was an old film that meant nothing today, but unfortunately, that’s not the case,” he said.
