Panel calls for statewide standards for juvenile punishment and detention

But Assemblywoman Jan Evans, who chairs the panel, said Wednesday that various studies on juvenile crime will bear fruit "probably a couple of years from now."

Juvenile justice officials from around the state, including Carson City's Dave Nielsen, said the important thing is that lawmakers are now working on the needs.

"We finally got their attention and that's what's important," Nielsen said.

Several recommendations will be made to the 1999 Legislature, including one for statewide guidelines on jailing young offenders, assessing their chances of success on probation or in community-based programs, and determining security levels for young prison inmates.

The recommendations will be developed by study groups from the Juvenile Justice Commission, the Nevada Association of Juvenile Justice Administrators and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.

Committee members also called for a statewide survey of gang membership and gang involvement in criminal activity as well as an assessment of school violence in Nevada.

But the panel rejected a plan to require trigger-locking devices on all firearms to keep juveniles from getting and using them.

Sen. Mark James, R-Las Vegas, led the opposition to trigger locks describing those types of laws as "feel-good meddling" that won't decrease the number of shootings by youths.

"I suspect there are other reasons motivating this kind of violence, not the least of which is the media which likes to blow these things up across the front page," he said.

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