Latest / Brian Thomas / Magistrate Susan Luken for Juvenile Court

Transcript

Magistrate Susan Luken for Juvenile Court · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: 805, fast approaching 806 here at 55KRC, the talk station.
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  Speaker 1: Brian Thomas here, host of the 55KRC Morning Show, welcoming
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  Speaker 1: you back to the 55KRC Morning Show. We are on
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  Speaker 1: a mission collectively here in Hamilton County. What we need
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  Speaker 1: to do is replace the current juvenile court judge, Bloom,
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  Speaker 1: with someone better, and that person is Magistrate Susan Lukin.
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  Speaker 1: You can find her online, her website, lukinforjuvenilecourt.com, and she
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  Speaker 1: says it out loud right out front, Hamilton County Juvenile
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  Speaker 1: Court is broken. Welcome back, Susan Lukin. It's a pleasure
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  Speaker 1: to have you back on the morning show.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks, Brian. Thanks so much for having me. It's great
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  Speaker 2: to be back.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we do have a problem with youth violence to
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  Speaker 1: the extent nobody's gotten a memo on that. I find
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  Speaker 1: that hard to believe. But yeah, problem with youth violence. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: my word. And we have a revolving door of justice
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  Speaker 1: in the juvenile court. Apparently, Magistrate Bloom's practice and policies
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  Speaker 1: in her court and as I guess across the entire
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  Speaker 1: juvenile court is to treat these juvenile offenders as if
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  Speaker 1: they have done nothing. Slap on the wrist. I like
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  Speaker 1: to joke about it and saying like you get a
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  Speaker 1: juice in a cookie and you're sent on your way.
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  Speaker 1: So my presumption is that a child who's regularly involved
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  Speaker 1: with juvenile crime apparently doesn't have any discipline, morals, or ethics,
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  Speaker 1: and that comes from the home. So that's where the
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  Speaker 1: juvenile court can come in and save that child from
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  Speaker 1: a devastatingly awful future.
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  Speaker 2: It's really interesting, Brian. So since I was on last,
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  Speaker 2: I've had the occasion to sit across the table from
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  Speaker 2: Judge Blum. So the Cincinnati Bar Association had a judicial
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  Speaker 2: forum following their judicial polling. We had a chance to
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  Speaker 2: talk about those judicial results, which can be found on
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  Speaker 2: the Cincinnati Bar Association's website, which were really interesting. But
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  Speaker 2: one of the questions that the moderator posed to the
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  Speaker 2: judicial candidates was, what are the biggest challenges facing your
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  Speaker 2: court or the court that you're running for? And I,
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  Speaker 2: of course, talked about juvenile crime. And when it was
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  Speaker 2: Judge Bloom's turn to talk about juvenile court, she didn't
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  Speaker 2: even mention juvenile crime. And Channel 12 interviewed both of
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  Speaker 2: us for a segment that they do called Around the Podium.
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  Speaker 2: And they aired a piece of that earlier this week.
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  Speaker 2: And Judge Bloom, in talking about juvenile crime, said that
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  Speaker 2: she thinks that all the criticism that's been directed against
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  Speaker 2: her is really just political rhetoric. she doesn't apparently think
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  Speaker 2: that juvenile crime is really a problem. And even though
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  Speaker 2: she acknowledged that by not detaining these kids, that there
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  Speaker 2: is a possibility, and she acknowledges that when we don't
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  Speaker 2: detain them, that their environment is conducive at times to
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  Speaker 2: committing crimes and even sometimes being victimized, that it's conducive
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  Speaker 2: to finding guns, to having access to guns. And she
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  Speaker 2: would agree that there's pressure for those kids to get
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  Speaker 2: into trouble. So she acknowledges that these kids are in
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  Speaker 2: these environments and that they're returning to these environments where
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  Speaker 2: this is happening, but she just doesn't believe it's a
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  Speaker 2: deterrent and she doesn't believe in, in using detention that way.
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  Speaker 2: And that may, that may be true for, you know,
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  Speaker 2: kids who are committing really low level or first time offenders,
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  Speaker 2: but that's a real problem when we're talking about youth
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  Speaker 2: who are committing repeat violent offenses.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and that's, they're in lines of challenging. Of course you,
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  Speaker 1: You have a terrible environment for the kids. The pressure
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  Speaker 1: that you just mentioned, they're surrounded by a criminal element.
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  Speaker 1: So a child choosing whether to succumb to the pressure
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  Speaker 1: to engage in criminal activity or not also is dealing
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  Speaker 1: with the painful reality. And they all apparently know about
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  Speaker 1: these young people that there's not going to be any
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  Speaker 1: harm befallen them. There's not going to be any punishment.
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  Speaker 1: There aren't going to be any consequences should they get
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  Speaker 1: caught by the authorities.
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  Speaker 2: Right. There are no consequences. There are no consequences at home.
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  Speaker 2: No consequences, no accountability in the system. There's no check
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  Speaker 2: on it. And it just, and again, the real problem
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  Speaker 2: is where it comes to these repeat violent offenders. And
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  Speaker 2: we're seeing these tragic consequences. I mean, just this week,
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  Speaker 2: there was another juvenile shot in Clifton. And I haven't
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  Speaker 2: seen any reports in terms of who was charged with
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  Speaker 2: that or if anyone was charged with that. So I
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  Speaker 2: don't know who was responsible and what their ages were,
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  Speaker 2: but we know that it was a juvenile victim.
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  Speaker 1: Well, the idea that they have guns and, you know,
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  Speaker 1: quite often the response from the left is get rid
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  Speaker 1: of the guns, but juveniles, it's not lawful for a
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  Speaker 1: juvenile to possess a gun in the first place. How
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  Speaker 1: would you transform the court? I mean, you note that
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  Speaker 1: it's broken. We need to stop the revolving door, as
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  Speaker 1: you pointed out. We need to get these children involved
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  Speaker 1: in a system that is hopefully going to help them
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  Speaker 1: and take them out of that cycle of violence. So
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  Speaker 1: what are the primary challenges you face when, I hope,
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  Speaker 1: you get elected for this role?
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  Speaker 2: Well, we've talked about this before. When I was there
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  Speaker 2: as a magistrate, all cases involving firearms were put on
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  Speaker 2: the judge's docket. And so we have got to start
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  Speaker 2: treating cases involving firearms more seriously. Cases involving serious, you know,
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  Speaker 2: repeat violent offenses, cases involving Repeat probation violations need to
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  Speaker 2: be placed on the judge's docket. I would also review
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  Speaker 2: what's called the unofficial docket or a diversion docket. And
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  Speaker 2: those policies, whatever is going on there, the process needs
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  Speaker 2: to be transparent. People need to understand what's going on.
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  Speaker 2: Victims and law enforcement need to have a voice in that.
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  Speaker 2: And there's no reason why the process shouldn't be transparent.
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  Speaker 2: So cases in juvenile court are typically not open to
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  Speaker 2: the public. Individual cases aren't, but there's absolutely no reason
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  Speaker 2: why that shouldn't be a transparent process. So there is
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  Speaker 2: a place for diversion, but that process needs to be
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  Speaker 2: understood and scrutinized. So there are a number of different
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  Speaker 2: things that need to happen. We've talked about the abuse
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  Speaker 2: and neglect cases too. Children should not be languishing in
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  Speaker 2: foster care. And she did acknowledge that. and the CBA
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  Speaker 2: forum that there may be an issue with that. Of course,
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  Speaker 2: she blamed, I think she blamed chain, you know, problems
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  Speaker 2: at the federal level for that.
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  Speaker 1: Did Trump's name come up by any chance?
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  Speaker 2: She didn't actually bring up Trump's name, but she said,
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  Speaker 2: because of cuts in Medicaid or Medicare, she said, essentially
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  Speaker 2: families are really struggling and therefore, you know, there's more
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  Speaker 2: abuse happening in homes. So, That was essentially the line
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  Speaker 2: of thinking. And that's what she said. And I suppose
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  Speaker 2: that in her mind that has resulted in an increase
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  Speaker 2: in abuse and neglect cases. And so they're struggling with
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  Speaker 2: the caseload over there. I had an adoption where the magistrate,
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  Speaker 2: one of the magistrates that was appointed in her administration,
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  Speaker 2: under her administration, had gotten the case law wrong twice
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  Speaker 2: in an abuse and neglect case. And it was held
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  Speaker 2: up in the Court of Appeals twice. So it wasn't
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  Speaker 2: because of cuts, federal cuts. It's because a magistrate got
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  Speaker 2: the case all wrong. Wow. An abuse and neglect case
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  Speaker 2: was held up and couldn't get over to probate court
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  Speaker 2: for an adoption. So, you know, and again, we're seeing
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  Speaker 2: cases that are being held up just a crazy amount
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  Speaker 2: of time, four to six years before they can come over.
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  Speaker 2: And we've talked about this before. When those abuse and
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  Speaker 2: neglect cases are held up in juvenile court, that results
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  Speaker 2: in just all kinds of harm to children. That results
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  Speaker 2: in more services for mental health, for behavioral issues. That's
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  Speaker 2: just so damaging to children when they can't be placed
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  Speaker 2: in homes that they should be placed in.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, and might send them on their own future
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  Speaker 1: cycle of violence. We know that this happens generationally, don't we?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, exactly, exactly. Yeah, and it results in an increase
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  Speaker 2: in cost to the children's services levy, which is on
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  Speaker 2: the ballot.
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  Speaker 1: And there's that as well. Magistrate Lukin, it's lukinforjuvenilecourt.com. My
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  Speaker 1: wife and I gave you a check. We were supportive
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  Speaker 1: of your campaign.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, you did.
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  Speaker 1: I really appreciate that. No, I'm not looking for adulation
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  Speaker 1: or praise. I'm just reminding my listening audience, is it
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  Speaker 1: too late for yard sign? Is it too late for
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  Speaker 1: campaign contributions? We're tick-tock. The clock is running down, Magistrate Lukin.
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  Speaker 2: No, it's not. In fact, there are some yard signs.
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  Speaker 2: If folks go to vote early, there are a number
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  Speaker 2: of people who are working at the BOE, so at
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  Speaker 2: the Board of Elections. There are some wonderful people who
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  Speaker 2: are helping out, working there every day. They have yard
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  Speaker 2: signs there. So if you stop by, you can pick
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  Speaker 2: up the pink sample ballot. You can pick up the
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  Speaker 2: yard sign. They are working there every day. It's beautiful
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  Speaker 2: weather to go and vote early if that's what you're
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  Speaker 2: inclined to do. Um, and you know, it's, I, I
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  Speaker 2: did that yesterday. I thought it, I know I'm going
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  Speaker 2: to be really, really busy on election day. So yeah. Yeah. So,
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  Speaker 2: and the party is working really hard on trying to
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  Speaker 2: get the sample ballot out. So, um, you're going to
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  Speaker 2: see hopefully some of that stuff coming either through the
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  Speaker 2: mail or, um, possibly I think through some text messages too.
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  Speaker 2: So Josh Gerth, our party chair has done a tremendous
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  Speaker 2: job on working really hard for Our local slate, he's
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  Speaker 2: just done a great job.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and my listening audience can take it upon themselves.
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  Speaker 1: Just go to the Hamilton County Republican Party website, print
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  Speaker 1: out the sample ballot, print out your pink slip, and
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  Speaker 1: make sure you vote for the judges on the Hamilton
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  Speaker 1: County Republican Party pink slip. It includes, of course, magistrate
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  Speaker 1: looking for juvenile court so we can stop the revolving door,
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  Speaker 1: protect the most vulnerable children, and, of course, bring about
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  Speaker 1: some safety through accountability. Where did I read those words? Oh,
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  Speaker 1: that's right. Lookingforjuvenilecourt.com is where I read them. Magistrate Lucan,
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  Speaker 1: I wish you all the luck in the world, the best.
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  Speaker 1: I hope you win the election on behalf of the
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  Speaker 1: city of Cincinnati. and Hamilton County for the benefit of
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  Speaker 1: the children in our community and our safety at large.
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  Speaker 1: You're a safe bet in that, and I'm really hoping
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  Speaker 1: we have that result when we wake up on Wednesday
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  Speaker 1: morning in November.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Brian. I really appreciate it.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you. Stay strong and fingers crossed. Vivek Ramachandran.