Limits for Juvenile Informants

One good piece of legislation produced in Sacramento this year was the restriction on the use of youths as police informants.

The law was prompted by the torture and slaying last March of 17-year-old Chad MacDonald of Yorba Linda. That incident produced a reexamination of the policy and agreement that exposing teenagers to great danger is wrong.

MacDonald was arrested in January for possessing and transporting a small amount of methamphetamine. His mother gave permission for her son to work for Brea police but says she later changed her mind. Her lawyer said MacDonald gave police information that led to two or three arrests.

Police said MacDonald was dropped as an informant after being arrested a second time on suspicion of purchasing narcotics. But in March, he went to a suspected drug house in Norwalk. Soon after, his badly beaten body was found in an alley in South Los Angeles. His girlfriend was raped, shot and left for dead in the Angeles National Forest, but survived the attack.

Three people have been charged with MacDonald’s death. Their lawyer said the three wanted to teach the youth a lesson for being an informer, but did not intend to kill him.

The bill written by Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) and recently signed by Gov. Pete Wilson originally banned all juvenile informants. But as amended, the law prohibits the use of children age 12 and under. Youths age 13 through 17 can be used only after police get permission from a judge, who is required to consider the age and maturity of the teenager as well as other factors.

One exception would let police sidestep a judge’s permission if they were using a juvenile working undercover to catch a merchant selling cigarettes to children.

Police often use adult informants, but adults are old enough to assess the risks of their actions. Teenagers don’t have the same capability. Even before MacDonald’s death, a number of police departments in Orange and Los Angeles counties did not use teens as drug case informers. That indicates that the new law will not impose overly harsh restrictions on law enforcement. But it will spare at least some youngsters unnecessary risks.