The Feb. 4 forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of San Jose/Santa Clara and Southwest Santa Clara Valley, drew about 40 people to the Campbell Public Library, where voters had an opportunity to learn more about the candidates running for office.

Three candidates—Lance Burrow, Griffin Bonini and Enrique Colin—are running to fill a seat for Superior Court judge in Office 7. Two candidates, Teresa Guerrero-Daley and William J. Monahan, are running for a seat as Superior Court judge in Office 18. Superior Court judges are elected at large to serve the entire county.

At issue were how best to improve conditions for inmates in the county's juvenile hall and who should make the decision to try juveniles charged with serious felonies as adults.

The first issue will go before the voters on March 2 in the form of Measure A, which if passed would transfer the power to appoint chief probation officers for both adult and juvenile court from the juvenile court judge to the county board of supervisors. County supervisors crafted this measure in response to a recent independent audit, which harshly criticized conditions and treatment of prisoners at juvenile hall.

While William Monahan, one of two candidates for Seat 18, said the court should retain its power of appointment, his opponent, Teresa Guerrero-Daley, said either body could do the job equally well.

"The issue is not who's in control but the mechanisms that need to be in place [to effect change]," Guerrero-Daley added. "It's important to rebuild public confidence [in the juvenile justice system]."

Two of the three candidates running for Seat 7 agreed with Guerrero-Daley's assessment.

"I don't care who does it as long as it gets fixed," said Griffin Bonini. "I think Measure A will do that."

Enrique Colin, a public defender who has trained and supervised attorneys in his office's juvenile division, said the issue isn't who appoints the probation officers but who trains them. "I've seen inmates whose arms were broken from being placed in the hold position incorrectly," he said, twisting one arm behind his back to demonstrate the move. "Whoever handles the officers' appointments needs to consider the health and safety of the juveniles."

Lance Burrow said transferring control of the appointments won't necessarily solve the problems facing the county's juvenile justice system. "I tend to think that the courts are in a better position than the legislative branch to make the appointments," he added.

Burrow said judges are also better positioned than prosecutors to make the decision as to whether to try juveniles as adults. This year, the county district attorney's office has charged two juvenile murder suspects as adults in separate cases.

"I'd much prefer an impartial third party make the decision," Burrow said. "I'm concerned about the rush to prosecute kids as adults just to make a point."

According to Colin, before the law changed to give prosecutors the power to move juveniles to adult court, judges transferred about one youthful defendant per month. "The level is still about the same," Colin said.

The candidates' backgrounds are as varied as their opinions. Monahan is a partner at Burriss & Monahan, a business and civil litigation firm in Mountain View. As San Jose's independent police auditor, Guerrero-Daley arbitrates in cases of alleged misconduct by an officer. As an attorney, she had a criminal defense practice for six years.

Colin is the only defense attorney running for Seat 7. Bonini is a deputy DA who can also claim civil law experience with firms in San Francisco and Oakland.

Burrow has been a civil trial lawyer for 23 years. "Some people refer to me as an insurance defense lawyer," he said half-jokingly.