American Notes HOUSTON

Adult criminals presumably face harsher punishment than do juveniles. But some delinquents in Houston don't believe that. When arrested, scores of Harris County youngsters in the past year have falsely claimed to be at least 17. Those who were not caught in the lie spent less time locked up than they would have if they had admitted being younger.

How can that be? All criminals know that their punishment grows with each conviction. What many youthful offenders have learned is that juvenile records are normally kept apart from those of adults. If they can pass themselves off as older, a search of the adult records will not turn up their previous crimes. Thus, they are sentenced as first offenders and are soon free. Explains Captain Virginia Quinn, who supervises the processing of up to 800 people a day at the Harris County Jail: "We just don't have time to check everybody who looks too young for their claimed age."