Still numbed by the experience of blogging the injustice of the Conrad Black trial, Mark Steyn takes up the appalling lack of judgment behind the McMinnville, Oregon district attorney’s prosecution of two 7th grade boys as sex offenders. The alleged criminal act? The egregious offense of participating at school with their classmates in a juvenile greeting ritual on Fridays called “Slap Butt Fridays.” Steyn concludes as follows:
A world that requires handcuffs and judges and district attorneys for what took place that Friday in February is not just a failed education system but an entire society that’s losing any sense of proportion. Without which, civilized life becomes impossible. So we legalize more and more aspects of life and demand that district attorneys prosecute ever more aggressively what were once routine areas of social interaction.
A society that looses the state to criminalize schoolroom horseplay is guilty not only of punishing children as grown-ups but of the infantilization of the entire citizenry.
The WSJ’s George Melloan expressed similar sentiments a couple of years ago.
Either people have no idea or those who find themselves involved with the juvenile ìjusticeî system, and The Lubbock County Juvenile Justice Center (in Texas) more specifically, donít understand their children do have some rights and there is recourse when they are violated.
My 10 year old boy had to experience these abuses first hand and he hadnít even been investigated,indicted,charged or convicted with a crime. He was kept at the LCJJC for 10 days before we could get a hearing to get him out. During his time there my little boy was given a shot without our consent or notification. He was deprived of his ìpromisedî 10 minute phone call allowed each Wednesday. Despite their claim ( on their website and handout) to be a safe and secure environment my son was hazed and tormented multiple times by the probation officers and guards.
The first night one guard took him out in front of all the older offenders and with a pair of electric clippers said he would be cutting his hair. When he began to cry the guard said ìI always love hazing the new kids they always fall for it.î All the other kids laughed. The next day while my son was playing checkers the same guard told my boy to go to his pod and get on his knees with his hands against the wall for a drug/cavity search. Of course he did because heís only 10 and believed he really was being checked. The guard came in , acted like he was patting my son down and then began laughing again. He told Richard that if he mentioned this to me, my husband, or his attorney that another 2 months would be added to his ìsentenceî. Luckily he chose to tell me regardless.
On 2 separate occasions, after not ìclasping his hands properly behind his backî he was confined to his pod alone with his electricity and water turned off and the door locked. One time he was left there for 2 hours, the other time 3 hours plus his bed was stripped and everything removed but his mattress. Apparently the employees donít care that besides being a scared little child they were also violating the Texas Administrative Code (TAC 343.7 d) that specifically states a child may not be confined longer than 1 hour. They also failed to give us the legally required handout titled, ìTexas Juvenile Probation Commission on abuse, neglect and exploitation of children and its grievance policy.î
Despite multiple complaints to Director Les Brown he did not do anything, but he did make the following comment to me, ìOK, Iíll investigate this but you wonít like my findings.î .This is hardly the level of objectivity that should be demanded from someone entrusted with the responsibility of investigating allegations of abuse by his staff. When I continued to complain he had me banished from the facility permanently. I would hope that LCJJC wouldnít condone such behaviors and abuses but the sheer number of humiliations and hazing against just my child makes me suspicious.
I believe that this was not an isolated case, we just happen to be well educated and able to afford proper representation for our boy,.. Most kids (and by extension most parents) are ignorant of what remedies are available to them. Parents who complain are ignored since they obviously ìcant fight city hallî and their kids suffer hazing by those in authority because what choice is there? Many are housed there for extremely long periods because their court appointed attorneys are too busy, uninterested or under funded. If they cause any disturbance or trouble they lose any remote activity that causes them pleasure. And you can forget about due process or innocent until proven guilty in juvenile justice. Those rights only apply to adults. The whole process is more frightening than a Steven King novel.
My hope is someone with conviction and tenacity will help us expose this travesty. Apathy will only ensure other less fortunate kids will continue to be mistreated and ignored. I contacted both my State Representative and State Senator who both seemed appalled but nothing was ever done.Gov. Perry said he would have the DOJ investigate but we never heard from either. I hope you are as shocked as I was about how we treat our children.
Thank you,
Dionne