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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - State Rep. John Tilley would like to establish a task force to study Kentucky's juvenile code.

Tilley helped lead the overhaul of the state's criminal code last year and sees the need for change to protect the state's children.

"We could see something that ranges from a tune-up to an overhaul of laws that effect our children," Tilley told the Lexington Herald-Leader(http://bit.ly/ym3oY7).

He's introduced a resolution that would open a study into establishing an age of criminal responsibility and whether to modify how certain offenses and offenders are treated.

Under the juvenile code some "status offenders" who aren't guilty of a crime but may be runaways, truants or out of the control of their parents or school officials can be locked up in juvenile detention. Top state juvenile justice and court officials have said that too many children younger than 11 are brought before judges in court.

About 18 percent of all juvenile detentions - or 1,541 - are status offenders.

Some representatives have introduced bills that would deal with some of the problems in the juvenile system. Tilley, a Democrat from Hopkinsville, said he introduced the resolution not to stall those efforts, but to ensure that something's done for the state's children if they fail.

If the task force is created, it would file a report by Nov. 1 and the lawmakers could tackle changes next year.

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Information from: Lexington Herald-Leader, http://www.kentucky.com

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