Nebraska Youth, 14, Given Prison Term

A 14-year-old was sent to the state penitentiary because he is a smart youth who wants to be a criminal when he grows up, the judge who sentenced him said.

The teen-ager, the youngest person ever held at the prison, received a sentence of up to four years but could be paroled in nine months.

Buffalo County Judge DeWayne Wolf decided Thursday to send Richard Boswell to the penitentiary after he was convicted as an adult of auto theft and of escaping from a state institution.

“I sat and stared at this kid,” Wolf said Friday. “He’s a smart person. He knows what he wants, and, unfortunately, what he apparently wants is to be a criminal.”

Public Defender Gary Hogg, who represented Boswell, said the judge’s only choices were to send Boswell to the Youth Development Center in Kearney, from which the boy had escaped at least twice, or the state penitentiary.