Current Events > NC sends 6 year olds to court. Some say that should change

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://journalnow.com/north-carolina-sends-6-year-olds-to-court-why-some-say-its-time-for-change/article_e2a15a82-8383-11eb-91ee-43ce7c88753b.html

The 6-year-old dangled his legs above the floor as he sat at the table with his defense attorney, before a North Carolina judge.

He was accused of picking a tulip from a yard at his bus stop, his attorney Julie Boyer said, and he was on trial in juvenile court for injury to real property.

The boy's attention span was too short to follow the proceedings, Boyer said, so she handed him crayons and a coloring book.

"I asked him to color a picture," she said, "so he did."

He didn't know it, but no matter what the judge decided, the experience could change the boy's life, experts say, from how he sees the court system to increasing his chance of getting into trouble again and being sent to alternative school.

Boyer and others say children that age don't have the mental capacity to understand the juvenile justice process and its consequences. They can't make informed decisions, like whether to talk to police and what to tell them, whether to go to trial and whether to admit to the accusations against them, which are called complaints.

The N.C. Juvenile Justice section, part of the state Department of Public Safety, requires parents' involvement, but the accused child is the defendant and is expected to assist in his or her defense.

"Should a child that believes in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy be making life-altering decisions?" asked New Hanover County Chief District Court Judge Jay Corpening.

The research says no, "even at 10, 11 and some 14-year-olds," said Corpening, who chairs a state subcommittee studying this issue at the General Assembly's request.

Advocates for raising the age for juvenile proceedings include Gov. Roy Cooper's Task Force on Racial Equity in Criminal Justice, which recommends the age be raised to 12. A subcommittee of the Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee, which was established by the state legislature, recommends 10. The National Juvenile Justice Network recommends 14.

William Lassiter, deputy secretary of North Carolina's Juvenile Justice section, said he supports raising the age to 10 and having competency evaluations for 11- and 12-year-olds.

Whether the proposal becomes law could hinge on the response from the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys and law enforcement. The N.C. Sheriff's Association and N.C. Association of Chiefs of Police haven't taken a stand, officials said.
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From 2015 through 2018 nearly 7,300 complaints were filed against children age 6 to 11 years old, according to numbers from the state Juvenile Justice section.

Of those complaints, 47% were against Black children, 40% were against white children and 7% against Hispanic or Latino children.

In general, 22% of the state's population is Black, 70% is white and 10% is Hispanic.
Roughly 82% percent of the complaints were against boys.

"It is a suspected statistic," said Yakob Lemma, 17, an Enloe High senior and co-founder of the Wake County Black Student Coalition, a student-led organization that wants to remove school resource officers from schools and make other changes. "This is just proof that we have been criminalized since we're young, since we are little kids, and we have to grow up all our lives like that, with being criminalized and being actively targeted."

Once children are in the system, the disparities continue. The process can penalize children whose parents can't take time off during a workday or who lack transportation to go to an intake meeting or drive their children to other programs, attorneys said.
About a third of the total cases in the system last year had parents that were either unwilling or unable to cooperate, Lassiter said.

Normal country

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In the US property is more important than life

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Everyone who made this decision needs to be fired from their jobs.

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Doe posted...

In the US property is more important than life

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They need to send some peaceful protesters to that narcs house.

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You know your laws are fucked when you're sending 6 year olds to court because they picked a flower.

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Who is the piece of shit homeowner who called the cops on a kid for picking a flower?

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Attorney: "I motion to dismiss over frivolous charges, it's unthinkable that we would literally put a 6 year old child on trial for picking a flower."

Homeowner: "So you admit he did it!!!"

What a fucking Scrooge.

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That cop that apprehended for that kid should be fired.

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Flamer_Blue posted...

That cop that apprehended for that kid should be fired.

Its way deeper than 1 cop or 1 homeowner. It's inherent to the system. These cases pass through the desks of countless elected officials and bureaucrats and every one rubber stamps it

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Any goddamned body that took a CHILD to COURT deserves a goddamned mailbox embedded into their fucking skull

I want to highlight this sentence
Antifar posted...

From 2015 through 2018 nearly 7,300 complaints were filed against children age 6 to 11 years old, according to numbers from the state Juvenile Justice section.

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Antifar posted...

I want to highlight this sentence

How fucking petty do people have to be to levy charges against children?

Unless it's in response to the loss of life, limb, or extreme property damage (talking full totalling of a vehicle or burning down of a house), you shouldn't charge a child for any fucking thing.

They're kids

Lock him up and throw away the key.

Is there a tl;dr version?

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bT-p_q-Td posted...

Is there a tl;dr version?

Kid picked a flower
Homeowner called in a Pavelow

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bT-p_q-Td posted...

Is there a tl;dr version?

Kid picks flower
Swat takes down the menace

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Antifar posted...

Of those complaints, 47% were against Black children, 40% were against white children and 7% against Hispanic or Latino children

gee

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The US when a 6 year old picks a flower
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRpbIaTRZ-g


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I know a kid who got dragged into juvie court back in the 90s for drawing on his bedroom wall.

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