In the 1990s, California saw a disturbing increase in the number of kids committing murder. In 1994, 250 juveniles under the age of fifteen were in juvenile detention centers for murder. This increase was shown to be closely related to California’s gang violence. So in 1995 a new state law went into effect that lowered the age a minor can be tried as an adult from 16 to 14. Tony Hicks became the first person to be tried and convicted under the new state law. But no one involved in the case could have predicted what would happen next.
