1999 case of 13-year-old convicted on adult murder charges: Nathaniel Abraham released from state custody in Michigan

The media used the occasion of Abraham’s release to rekindle its right-wing witch-hunt against the youth and attack the very concept that society has the responsibility to try to rehabilitate, not incarcerate, troubled children. Not only was Abraham 11 years old at the time of the shooting—far too young to form “intent,” according to child development specialists—but he was also mentally impaired, with an IQ of 75 and the functional age of a six- or seven-year-old.

“Is Young Murderer Ready for Freedom?” screamed one headline from an article in the Detroit News, where readers were told that nearly $1 million had been spent on Abraham, clearly implying that money is wasted on rehabilitating a youth who should be locked away in prison.

On January 19 the News followed up with an inflammatory article charging that Abraham was receiving unwarranted assistance from the state with help for housing and education. It continued by publishing a series of letters under the subhead, “Young killer’s release evokes amazement . . . Society pays; kid doesn’t.”

The Oakland Press, for its part, ran the story under this headline: “Cost to rehabilitate Nate—$1 million.” “People are still talking about Nathaniel’s fur coat, hot pink shirt and shoes,” the newspaper wrote. “Even more shocking to some is that the taxpayers might foot the bill for his apartment and college tuition after about $1 million has already been spent to rehabilitate the convicted killer.”

Why the visceral hatred for this young man?

The Nathanial Abraham case came to symbolize the desperate plight of poor children in America’s cities—and just how far state authorities and the media will go to blame them for the tragedies that inevitably result from poverty and official neglect.

What has particularly incensed the right-wing ideologues is the notion that they were thwarted in this high-profile case and that their law-and-order demagogy is increasingly being seen for what it is: a justification for the social inequality that plagues the US.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2007/jan2007/nath-j24.shtml