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Long Beach Hate Crimes Trial Bares Juvenile Justice Flaws
The ease with which prosecutors in many states can try juveniles as adults puts kids in a legal limbo and denies them fundamental legal rights. In Long Beach, Calif., a high-profile hate crimes trial is spotlighting the need for juvenile justice reform. New America Media Associate Editor Earl Ofari Hutchinson is author of "The Emerging Black GOP Majority" (Middle Passage Press, September 2006).
LOS ANGELES--An accused terrorist, a serial killer or a Mafia hit man is entitled to one, some or all of the following: arraignment, the setting of bail, the immediate appointment of a public defender or the opportunity to retain a private attorney, and a trial by a jury of their peers. An accused juvenile offender, even a 12-year-old, is not automatically entitled to any of the above protections. The Byzantine standard of justice for juveniles is glaringly apparent in the trial of 10 black teens in Long Beach, Calif.
The teens are accused of savagely beating three adult white women on Halloween night in that city. The group, which included a 12-year-old, have been incarcerated since the attack. There is no bail or release (every defense motion for release has been denied). An adult judge and not a jury is trying the teens.
Eight of them have been hit with an added hate crime charge. That has drawn public attention to the case, and tossed an ugly glare on the punitive and archaic way kids are handled in the criminal justice system.
The plight of the Long Beach defendants, however, is hardly unique. A steady bloat of newspaper and television reports of drive-by shootings, drug shootouts and gang wars, most of them involving young blacks, terrified many Americans and convinced them that young people -- especially young black males -- are out of control. The media loosely labeled them teen "super-predators." That ignited loud public protests that the juvenile justice system is far too easy on them. Though juvenile crime has actually taken an nosedive overall in the past decade, state legislators and the federal government jumped in with a slew of get-tough measures that transformed the juvenile justice system from a protective, rehabilitative system into a carbon copy of the punitive, lock-'em-up adult system. But, at the same time, the new laws stripped juveniles of many of the protections that adults have.
During the past decade, more than 30 states have loosened or eliminated laws requiring juveniles be tried and sentenced in juvenile courts. In California, prosecutors have virtually unlimited power to try teens as adults. Latino and black young people have been hit hardest by the crackdown on juveniles. Numerous studies have found that black teens are treated far more harshly than white teens who commit the same crimes. Similar differences were found in Ohio and Texas. In a report in 2001, the Justice Policy Institute, a criminal justice reform advocacy group, found that black youths in California are 12 times more likely to be tried as adults then white youths. According to Justice Department figures, blacks make up nearly 70 percent of juveniles tried in adult courts, and a staggering 75 percent of those tried for drug offenses nationally, even though white and black youths use drugs at about the same rate.
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http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=83ebbc7c8768fac15907718157f185da
The teens are accused of savagely beating three adult white women on Halloween night in that city. The group, which included a 12-year-old, have been incarcerated since the attack. There is no bail or release (every defense motion for release has been denied). An adult judge and not a jury is trying the teens.
Eight of them have been hit with an added hate crime charge. That has drawn public attention to the case, and tossed an ugly glare on the punitive and archaic way kids are handled in the criminal justice system.
The plight of the Long Beach defendants, however, is hardly unique. A steady bloat of newspaper and television reports of drive-by shootings, drug shootouts and gang wars, most of them involving young blacks, terrified many Americans and convinced them that young people -- especially young black males -- are out of control. The media loosely labeled them teen "super-predators." That ignited loud public protests that the juvenile justice system is far too easy on them. Though juvenile crime has actually taken an nosedive overall in the past decade, state legislators and the federal government jumped in with a slew of get-tough measures that transformed the juvenile justice system from a protective, rehabilitative system into a carbon copy of the punitive, lock-'em-up adult system. But, at the same time, the new laws stripped juveniles of many of the protections that adults have.
During the past decade, more than 30 states have loosened or eliminated laws requiring juveniles be tried and sentenced in juvenile courts. In California, prosecutors have virtually unlimited power to try teens as adults. Latino and black young people have been hit hardest by the crackdown on juveniles. Numerous studies have found that black teens are treated far more harshly than white teens who commit the same crimes. Similar differences were found in Ohio and Texas. In a report in 2001, the Justice Policy Institute, a criminal justice reform advocacy group, found that black youths in California are 12 times more likely to be tried as adults then white youths. According to Justice Department figures, blacks make up nearly 70 percent of juveniles tried in adult courts, and a staggering 75 percent of those tried for drug offenses nationally, even though white and black youths use drugs at about the same rate.
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http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=83ebbc7c8768fac15907718157f185da
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While all of the above article's generalizations about the injustice system are true, the crime of which the 10 black juveniles are accused of is pretty terrible and inexcusable and raises lots of questions as to what is going on in the homes of these allegedly affluent black communities such as Bixby Knolls in Long Beach? It was so bad that the NAACP refused to take the case. They are each being represented by their own attorney, presumably paid for by their affluent parents (in other words, not the public defender that poor people have to go to). By the time a child is 10 years old, basic behavior should have been taught clearly and decisively. What where these young people doing wasting time (aka "hanging out") instead of studying and cultivating hobbies (anything from piano to athletic activities is what young people commonly study in addition to their school work)? The three young white women, in their late teens and early 20s dressed in Halloween costumes and went to visit a "haunted house" that is apparently a popular thing to do on Halloween, which this year was a week night (Monday), begging the question even more, what were under age 18 children doing on the streets at night at all, much less "hanging out?" Before the 3 young women entered the haunted house, one teenage boy grabbed his crotch as the women walked by. When the women left the haunted house around 9 p.m., they were surrounded by these hoodlums, and viciously kicked and beaten, causing serious damage to the face of one woman. Finally, an 18 year old black woman pulled the young thugs off the woman who was most seriously damaged. For that, and for her testimony in court against the thugs, other thugs deliberately destroyed the 18 year old's car at the time of her testifying. That aspect is described in the 11/29/06 Long Beach Press Telegram at http://www.presstelegram.com/search/ci_4744807 and contains the following pertinent paragraphs on the horrific inexcusable attack on the 3 white women:
"The witness continued to recall what she saw while with her 1-year-old child, her little sister and a friend when they went to the 3800 block of Linden Avenue on Halloween to go trick-or-treating."
"On Tuesday, she testified that the youths used racial slurs and threw pumpkins, lemons and newspapers at the three victims."
"Wednesday's graphic testimony, which described the beatings in detail, clearly upset the families of the victims who were in court."
"The witness described boys and girls, in groups of eight to 10, surrounding all three victims and punching and kicking them until they fell to the ground."
"One victim, she said, appeared unconscious and lay motionless on the sidewalk as boys and girls hit her in the face and body and kicked her in the rib cage."
"Another victim was punched, kicked and hit with a tree branch until she was bloody, the witness testified."
"Her nose was crooked, her left eye was black and swollen and she could barely talk right," she said. "She had blood everywhere - her face, her stockings, but most of it was on the ground."
"The third victim was hit repeatedly in the face and hit and kicked in the ribs, she said."
"The incident didn't stop until a black man, who she said appeared to be in his 30s or 40s, ran up and yelled at the youths to stop. He used his body to shield the bleeding victim from the teens, she said."
""They were trying to snatch her clothing to get to her," the witness said. "
"A woman ran up and hit one of the teens, trying to get her off one of the victims, she said. "
"When the teens finally fled, the witness said that she, the two Good Samaritans and other people in the area began talking to the victims to find out how badly they were hurt. "
"She watched five girls who attacked the victims get in one car, and four girls and one boy get into another car, she said. "
"The boy stopped outside the car and said, "What did I do?" the witness testified."
"That is when, she said, the girls told the boy, "just get in the car."
The 35 year old Good Samaritan's account is at in the same paper dated 12/19/06 at http://www.presstelegram.com/search/ci_4870792
with the following important paragraphs:
"The 19-year-old victim suffered a concussion and numerous contusions and bruises. She is now having problems with her eyesight, her mother said, as is the 21-year-old victim, who had more than a dozen bones in one side of her face shattered by kicks and punches to the head. Doctors have told her they will have to rebuild one side of her face with three metal plates."
"Two of the victims were knocked to the ground, and one appeared to be knocked unconscious, the good Samaritan testified. The victim in the red dress was crouched low to the ground but still fought back, he said. "
"When it looked as though she was about to be completely overcome, he ran toward the melee. "
When they try the perpetrators, they should also try the parents. There was no excuse for any of this behavior at all. It means that the parents are letting the TV babysit the children and the parents are not teaching their children right from wrong. The expensive defense lawyers can play all the legal games they want but the behavior of the perpetrators still needs to be changed, and so far, the parents have not come forward with a plan to change their own children's behavior. These perpetrators have money for cars, yet they have no education, and their parents are now busy doing the same stinking rotten thing the rich white children's parents do when the hoodlums who happen to be white get caught: Paying lawyers to get them off instead of coming up with a program to teach their rotten little darlings how to behave. Hoodlums are despicable regardless of color and regardless of class. They may not receive justice in the criminal justice system, but where were the parents when it came to teaching right from wrong? Where were the parents when it came to making sure their little juniors are studying on school nights, and keeping track of them and their activities at all other times and days, which parents must due for their minor children? One of the sentences should be to send the parents to parental responsibility class, the sooner, the better.
"The witness continued to recall what she saw while with her 1-year-old child, her little sister and a friend when they went to the 3800 block of Linden Avenue on Halloween to go trick-or-treating."
"On Tuesday, she testified that the youths used racial slurs and threw pumpkins, lemons and newspapers at the three victims."
"Wednesday's graphic testimony, which described the beatings in detail, clearly upset the families of the victims who were in court."
"The witness described boys and girls, in groups of eight to 10, surrounding all three victims and punching and kicking them until they fell to the ground."
"One victim, she said, appeared unconscious and lay motionless on the sidewalk as boys and girls hit her in the face and body and kicked her in the rib cage."
"Another victim was punched, kicked and hit with a tree branch until she was bloody, the witness testified."
"Her nose was crooked, her left eye was black and swollen and she could barely talk right," she said. "She had blood everywhere - her face, her stockings, but most of it was on the ground."
"The third victim was hit repeatedly in the face and hit and kicked in the ribs, she said."
"The incident didn't stop until a black man, who she said appeared to be in his 30s or 40s, ran up and yelled at the youths to stop. He used his body to shield the bleeding victim from the teens, she said."
""They were trying to snatch her clothing to get to her," the witness said. "
"A woman ran up and hit one of the teens, trying to get her off one of the victims, she said. "
"When the teens finally fled, the witness said that she, the two Good Samaritans and other people in the area began talking to the victims to find out how badly they were hurt. "
"She watched five girls who attacked the victims get in one car, and four girls and one boy get into another car, she said. "
"The boy stopped outside the car and said, "What did I do?" the witness testified."
"That is when, she said, the girls told the boy, "just get in the car."
The 35 year old Good Samaritan's account is at in the same paper dated 12/19/06 at http://www.presstelegram.com/search/ci_4870792
with the following important paragraphs:
"The 19-year-old victim suffered a concussion and numerous contusions and bruises. She is now having problems with her eyesight, her mother said, as is the 21-year-old victim, who had more than a dozen bones in one side of her face shattered by kicks and punches to the head. Doctors have told her they will have to rebuild one side of her face with three metal plates."
"Two of the victims were knocked to the ground, and one appeared to be knocked unconscious, the good Samaritan testified. The victim in the red dress was crouched low to the ground but still fought back, he said. "
"When it looked as though she was about to be completely overcome, he ran toward the melee. "
When they try the perpetrators, they should also try the parents. There was no excuse for any of this behavior at all. It means that the parents are letting the TV babysit the children and the parents are not teaching their children right from wrong. The expensive defense lawyers can play all the legal games they want but the behavior of the perpetrators still needs to be changed, and so far, the parents have not come forward with a plan to change their own children's behavior. These perpetrators have money for cars, yet they have no education, and their parents are now busy doing the same stinking rotten thing the rich white children's parents do when the hoodlums who happen to be white get caught: Paying lawyers to get them off instead of coming up with a program to teach their rotten little darlings how to behave. Hoodlums are despicable regardless of color and regardless of class. They may not receive justice in the criminal justice system, but where were the parents when it came to teaching right from wrong? Where were the parents when it came to making sure their little juniors are studying on school nights, and keeping track of them and their activities at all other times and days, which parents must due for their minor children? One of the sentences should be to send the parents to parental responsibility class, the sooner, the better.
Bixby Knolls is not a wealthy black neighborhood. It is a wealthy white neighborhood. Most of the black defendants are from North Long Beach, a darker, poorer part of town. Also, the 18 year old witness who testified was not the one who rescued the victims from the senseless attack. A good samaritan named Maurice (don't recall his last name) did.
Anyway, I'm sure they'll be convicted. The evidence against them is quite damning: Witnesses (including the victims) fingering them as the attackers approximately an hour after the beatings, a cell phone belonging to one of the victims in the car of the defendants, and blood from one of the victims on the pant leg of one defendant.
Anyway, I'm sure they'll be convicted. The evidence against them is quite damning: Witnesses (including the victims) fingering them as the attackers approximately an hour after the beatings, a cell phone belonging to one of the victims in the car of the defendants, and blood from one of the victims on the pant leg of one defendant.
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