Youthful Offender Under Evaluation for Possible Insanity
A fifteen-year-old boy remains in custody following a series of assaults, with court officials weighing the prospect of psychiatric care over criminal prosecution.
Oliver Hopper, the 15-year-old boy who assaulted three prominent Tacoma women recently, was bound over to the superior court yesterday afternoon by Judge Arntson of the police court. He will be held at the county jail for several days for investigation pending his trial. The county attorneys are of the belief that in young Hopper they have a form of adolescent insanity, but wish to investigate further before deciding whether to place him before an insanity commission or a criminal court.
“The county attorneys are of the belief that in young Hopper they have a form of adolescent insanity.”
This case highlights the enduring struggle of how the criminal justice system processes juvenile mental health crises—a conversation that remains active in Pierce County's modern juvenile detention and reform initiatives.
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