Republicans including state Rep. Craig Fishbein, R-Wallingford, and House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, again made the case that juvenile crime has become a serious issue requiring criminal justice reform during a forum in Hamden on Monday.

Speakers at Monday’s forum pushed back on Democrats who say the GOP is “manufacturing outrage” and stoking fear about crime among the electorate.

On Monday, Fishbein ran through a list of examples of how Connecticut has relaxed its laws on juvenile crime in the past decade.

“Just last year, that minimum age was raised to 10. The bill that came to us originally, the proposal was 12, but we did push back, we got it to 10, so right now, anyone 10 years or younger in Connecticut cannot be arrested for a crime,” he said.

Fishbein went through the current Republican proposal on crime. Senate Republican Leader Kevin Kelly, R-Stratford, and Senate Republican Leader Pro Tempore Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, met with The Day editorial board in October, when they walked the board through the Republican plan to reduce crime in Connecticut, especially among juveniles. 

The plan would reverse or alter key provisions in the 2020 emergency session’s police accountability bill. That bill, passed into law as a response to a crisis in American policing following the murder of George Floyd by Minnesota police, has been decried by Republicans as unnecessarily hamstringing police.

The law better defines use of force parameters, boosts training requirements, and improves the chances that officers will be held culpable for negligent conduct, including creating a position of inspector general to investigate police shootings.

Gov. Ned Lamont and Democrats have rejected calls from Republicans for a special session to work on legislation regarding the juvenile justice system. Republicans and Democrats in the state legislature voted almost entirely along party lines with the police accountability bill, and Democrats have not since backpedaled on the issue, though some, such as state Sen. Norm Needleman, D-Essex, struggled with it, calling it a “heartbreaking decision” at the time.

Residents of southeastern Connecticut have had issues with car vandalism and theft, and local police have also complained about lax laws. The Republican push on the issue of criminal justice reform began in the summer, as Candelora mentioned on Monday.

“Sadly, that was the best opportunity for us to act. I don’t expect that we will be in for a special session to address the issue,” Candelora said. “We need to keep these forums going and the conversation going because even if we don’t have a special session before February, going in, this is the first issue that we need to address.”

s.spinella@theday.com