Gang War- Prevention, Intervention and Treatment of Youth Violence Issues

Studies have shown the single biggest indicator of a child becoming involved in the juvenile justice system, is a history of ear

To assist those who want to combat youth violence and its horrible side-effects by sharing valuable resource information and ideas.

To you Arkansans, that's what I do for DHS/DYS. We help to build community collaborations to make our cities and towns safer and healthier for our fellow citizens.

And to those of you out of state, I do consulting work on community response to youth crime/gang issues. Nawojczyk@me.com for info.

To share information on youth issues. Contact Crystal@GangWar.com for more information.

Website
http://www.GangWar.com
http://groups.google.com/group/Gang-War
http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=121343034608721&id=100001981817482&notif_t=like#!/pages/Gang-War-Prevention-Intervention-and-Treatment-of-Youth-Violence-Issues/290425288666?sk=wall

Progress Toward Putting Juveniles Back Into Juvenile Court

Mediator Matthew House, the Teen Rights Guy echoes the Campaign for Youth Justice Report on the 24 states now contemplating changes to their policies of trying juveniles as adults.

Convicted Seattle pimp who fled during trial sentenced to 26 years

Baruti Hopson, the first person in King County convicted under new legislation that made promoting the commercial sex abuse of a minor a Class A felony, was sentenced to 26 1/2 years in prison Tuesday. Hopson, 32, who was out on bail during his trial, fled Seattle in January, two days before a King County Superior Court jury found him guilty on numerous charges involving a 15-year-old girl..

By Sara Jean Green

MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Baruti Hopson is sentenced in King County Superior Court for pimping out a 15-year-old girl. Hopson is among the first in King County to face enhanced penalties for promoting the commercial sex abuse of a minor. At right is Hopson's attorney, Jesse Dubow.

Related

King County Superior Court Judge Michael Hayden chastised convicted pimp Baruti Hopson on Tuesday for minimizing his crimes against a teenage girl and fleeing Seattle before a jury could deliver its guilty verdict in January.
Hayden then handed down the harshest punishment he could, sentencing the 32-year-old Seattle man to 26 1/2 years in prison. The judge noted that evidence presented at trial made it clear that the now-16-year-old girl Hopson pimped out "was not the only person the defendant was prostituting."
"You entrap young girls and you enslave them and you can't minimize it," Hayden told Hopson, who was convicted of two counts of promoting the commercial sex abuse of a minor, three counts of third-degree child rape and one count of second-degree assault, all involving the same girl.
Hopson is the first pimp convicted in King County to face enhanced penalties for pimping out a juvenile since new legislation went into effect in June, making the crime a Class A felony, said King County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Sean O'Donnell, who tried the case against Hopson. Previously, the crime of promoting the commercial sex abuse of a minor carried a roughly two-year prison term.
Hopson, who was out on bail during his trial, fled to California two days before the jury found him guilty Jan. 26. He was captured in San Diego 12 days later.
Hopson also attempted to persuade the girl not to testify against him in messages he sent to the MySpace.com account he'd set up for her, the judge was told Tuesday.
The girl's mother read aloud some of the messages in court: "Jesus Christ our King has ordered your silence" and "Don't show up — that's an order from God," Hopson allegedly wrote.
Though Hopson has not been charged with bail jumping or witness tampering, Hayden said he took both alleged crimes into consideration in sentencing Hopson, whose defense attorney, Jesse Dubow, had requested a 20-year sentence.
Responding to comments from Hopson's parents that Hopson should get a light sentence because he didn't kill or hurt anyone, Hayden said: "All I heard ... is it's not as bad as murder. ... Perhaps it's worse than murder."
The victim was 15 when she met Hopson within 36 hours of running away from her Auburn home in June, according to court records. In a few days, she was working for him as a prostitute, they say.
In July, she was arrested in a sting by Bellevue police, claimed to be 18, and was ultimately released, court records say.
Bellevue Police Officer Tor Kraft, who was convinced the girl had misled police during her brief stint in custody, had taken photos of the girl and for months searched for her in Internet sex ads, the court documents say.
In September, Kraft discovered a photo of the girl posted on backpage.com and contacted the Seattle Police Department's Vice & High Risk Victims Unit for help. The classified-advertising website is owned by Village Voice Media, the parent company of Seattle Weekly.
Hayden characterized the site as "free speech to prostitute young girls."
According to evidence presented at trial, Hopson used a credit card to pay for ads on backpage.com, which included photos of the girl in provocative poses. He was arrested Sept. 24 in a hotel parking lot in Seattle after driving the girl to a "date" with an undercover detective.
On Tuesday, the girl refused to address Hopson in court, telling the judge, "I'm not going to give the defendant any more time from my life."
She thanked her parents "for looking for me so hard and helping me get my life back," and later hugged Kraft and the two Seattle detectives who worked her case.
"I'm just glad she's home. That's ultimately what I was hoping for," Kraft said.
Sara Jean Local News | Convicted Seattle pimp who fled during trial sentenced to 26 years | Seattle Times Newspaper http://t.co/AzHjoFz viGreen: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com

Police: Couple Kept Kids Behind Drywall

A Virginia mother and father were charged with felony child abuse and neglect after their 4-year-old daughter ran to the home of a neighbor who found the girl's siblings naked and trapped in a room covered with feces and urine. (March 29)

I love you, Dad

Sweetheart, I think about you every day, Know always your daddy loves you very much. - Dad

Patriotism, Charity, Bigotry

Mediator Matthew House clarifies terminology in the anti-immigration context

Anchor Babies Don't Exist and Immigrants Grow the Economy

Mediator Matthew House, the Teen Rights, Guy, rebuts ignorant criticism of illegal immigrants.

Illegal Immigrants Should Be Allowed to Work

Mediator Matthew House, the Teen Rights Guy, responds to unfounded criticism of illegal immigrants.

Ignorance Is the Real Problem, Not Immigrants

Mediator Matthew House, the Teen Rights Guy, says we ought to be more worried about ignorance than immigrants

Parental Accountability Needed, So Gov. Scott Walker Is Still Wrong

Mediator Matthew House, the Teen Rights Guy, responds to criticism he received following his condemnation of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. House emphasizes that parents do need to be held accountable for their teens' bad behavior, and parents need to be held to a higher standard, but that incarceration of teenagers is not the answer unless those adolescents are a threat to the community or to themselves.

A New Model for Juvenile Justice

At Missouri detention centers, dorms and therapy replace bars and guards.

Center for Young Women's Development Know Justice Conference 2011 | CJNY...

By Lauren Jones / Young people describe what they learned at the 2011 Know Justice conference. To get the latest juvenile justice news: follow CJNY at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Community-Justice-Network-for-Youth/1580062642... Or on Twitter: http://twitter.com/cjny

Free Davontae! Davontae Sanford .

You have not logged in. Please click here to login.   Free Davontae! Davontae Sanford rally DIANE BUKOWSKI PHOTO Sentenced at 14 for crime another has confessed toBy Diane Bukowski Michigan Citizen DETROIT — Taminko Sanford led a rally for her son Davontae Sanford outside the offices of Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy on St. Antoine in downtown Detroit, June 29. Sanford was 14 when he was charged and convicted in four slayings to which another man has confessed. “Davontae was sentenced to 37 to 90 years for four counts of second-degree murder,” said his mother. “You can’t put a child in jail for something he didn’t do. He’s in the Thumb Correctional Facility, he lost his grandmother, his ear is damaged and he’s blind in one eye. He’s not doing so well, sometimes he’s talked about killing himself.” Sanford said her son, who is also developmentally disabled and reads at a third-grade level, was held alone by police for 16 hours before signing a confession that his attorney Kim McGinnis termed “coerced.” Davontae is the second oldest of Sanford’s five children. His sisters and brothers, along with other supporters, chanted repeatedly, “Unlock the doors, unlock the doors, free free free Davontae,” as they leapt into the air. Vincent Smothers, 27, has confessed to the four slayings which occurred in a house on Runyon Street where marijuana was being grown, in Sept. 2007. Sanford said Smothers has denied her son participated in the killings, but the prosecutor’s office claims Davontae, who took a plea deal rather than face life in prison, was justifiably convicted. On July 1, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Brian Sullivan ordered the prosecutor to provide statements made by Smothers about the Runyon Street killings. A police officer alluded to the statements during one of Smothers’ preliminary exams. The Michigan Citizen http://t.co/mFshBpq via @AddThis

When A Woman’s Fed Up: The Sara Kruzan Story

When A Woman’s Fed Up: The Sara Kruzan Story

Arguments Against Illegal Immigration and Juvenile Justice are Similarly...

Mediator Matthew House, the Teen Rights Guy, connects illegal immigration with juvenile justice by explaining how it is spiteful and unproductive to oppose each, because providing for the success of the children of illegal immigrants, to enable them to thrive in this country because they likely cannot do so in their country of origin, is in our best interests because it demonstrates American compassion and also allows people to work and become educated to contribute to the tax coffers instead of taking from them.

The Teen Rights Guy Praises Nevada for Supporting Juvenile Justice Reform

Mediator Matthew House, the Teen Rights Guy, praises Nevada for approving legislation complying with a U.S. Supreme Court opinion from May 2010 prohibiting a sentence of life without parole for juveniles who were not involved in a homicide.

A.A.A. Pensylvannia Chapter

Advocates for Abandoned Adolescents (A.A.A.) is to bring National awareness to the Juvenile Justice Laws across the USA.


Our mission is to end the practice of wavering/adjudicating, sentencing and incarcerating youth under 18yrs in the adult Criminal Justice System, to put faces and stories to victims of these laws by exposing the truth of what happens to children when they are held to an adult standard in the Court room and sent to adult prisons, eliminating Life Without Parole for children and to reduce the harm caused to children in the adult system by supporting 2nd Look Legislation.


'2nd Look' means youth serving long sentences get their sentences reviewed at some point in their incarceration. Would you consider 2nd look Legislation?


A.A.A. Mission is to introduce concerned citizens to effective ways of which they can contribute to the reformation of the US irresponsible Juvenile Justice Laws.


To create chapters of A.A.A. in every State coast to coast, to have local minds and hearts within every State endeavouring to bring empathy and responsability to Juvenile Justice Laws and to co-ordinate a National march in every States Capital on the very same day and unified under the A.A.A. banner/agenda


As a society we have reached a level of sophistication which permits us to adjudicate, better educate and protect adolescents in a responsible way.


Our Mission is to do better!
- created at http://animoto.com

Action Needs to be Positive

Mediator Matthew House, the Teen Rights Guy, says we have to act, not merely talk, about juvenile justice reform.

Judge Glenda Hatchett is a Shining Star

Judge Glenda Hatchett's compassion and right judgment both show through in her urging parents to cheer for their children. All of us, not only parents, must do so, particularly for those especially vulnerable kids and teens whose parents do not do so. Kudos to Judge Hatchett for her inspiring work!

Socastee teen to be tried as an adult

Socastee teen to be tried as an adult: "A family court judge ruled Friday that the charges against Christian Helms, 15, are so serious, they outweigh concerns about his age."

South Ga. jail under scrutiny after Fulton inmate found dead | ajc.com

South Ga. jail under scrutiny after Fulton inmate found dead | ajc.com

13-year-olds Deserve Miranda Rights

The U.S. Supreme Court should have an easy time deciding that juveniles deserve Miranda warnings to advise them of their rights.

Is Juvenile Justice really "Just Ice"?

Mediator Matthew House, the Teen Rights Guy, half-jokingly and half-seriously wonders whether justice should be spelled as one word or two

Kitzhaber Doesn't Understand Juvenile Justice

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber needs to read more juvenile court history before he tries to cut money from the juvenile services budget.

Escapes are more than meets they eye

Mediator Matthew House, the Teen Rights Guy, reminds viewers that juvenile justice shows its problems in more than just a kid or two who may escape from the juvenile detention center and are recaptured shortly after. The problems remain.

Colorado's Juvenile Sentencing Modification Doesn't Go Far Enough

Mediator Matthew House, the Teen Rights Guy, sounds off on Colorado's juvenile sentencing modification law, which is not as generous as people might think.

news update 3/23/2011 - JJ Matters | Internet Radio | Blog Talk Radio

news update 3/23/2011 - JJ Matters | Internet Radio | Blog Talk Radio

Juveniles Deserve Miranda Rights

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering, and should grant, a North Carolina teen's appeal of a case in which he was not read his rights after being taken by police out of his school classroom. He confessed to a theft without knowledge of his Miranda rights, and the police don't think they have the obligation to do their job.

Councilman Russell Gilbert is a Fool

Councilman Russell Gilbert of Chattanooga, TN is foolish, in the opinion of Matthew House, the Teen RIghts Guy, for thinking teens deserve boot camp instead of rehabilitation and education.

Luzerne County: Jailed Teens Are Real Victims

The kids locked up in Luzerne County, PA, by corrupt judges are the real victims who deserve money for the harm they have suffered, not the victims of the minor offenses they may not even have committed.

Ohio Right to Close Juvenile Prisons

Ohio is right to close its fourth juvenile prison, but it ought to be celebrated for doing so because it honors juvenile court history and works better, not just because it saves money.

HUTTO: No Child Left Behind - Bars.

This is a remix of the video uploaded by Docublogger, which in itself is the raw video obtained from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, or ICE. Yes, we have young children sitting in prison in Texas. Please check out Docublogger's upload, as it shows how ICE has tried to improve the image of it's Detention Center (I know, the sign at the front says Residential Center, but there's no "residential center" in this country where the residents are locked down for the evening, fed what looks to be a high-starch diet, and forced to wear prison uniforms!) Welcome to Texas.

Davontae Sanford - No child left behind

Amidst the confusion and media black out surrounding the case of Davontae Sanford we must never lose sight of the child caught in the middle. Whilst we wait in anticipation of news from a forth coming court date Davontae waits for the day he can finally go home. We must never forget that he is a child, with learning difficulties, I ask you to open your heart and send him a letter or card, let him know the world/society has not forgotten his fight, and that even though he can not see his supporters they are very much by his side during this ordeal.
The day we become immune to the incarceration and life sentences of children is indeed the day the world finally tuned cold, maybe hell has frozen over, I say ignite the freedom fighting fire and shout in a very loud voice - No more kids behind bars
Davontae Sanford-684070 Michigan Reformatory Correctional Facility l342 West Main St. Ionia, MI 48846

Human Rights Activist, Juvenile Advocate, Elish Delaproser

Advocates for Abandoned Adolescents
California State Co-Ordinator
Darcy Delaprosser
Juvenile Justice Advocate/ Human Rights Activist

A.A.A. Mission is to introduce concerned citizens to effective ways of which they can contribute to the reformation of the US irresponsible Juvenile Justice Laws.


To create chapters of A.A.A. in every State coast to coast, to have local minds and hearts within every State endeavouring to bring empathy and responsability to Juvenile Justice Laws and to co-ordinate a National march in every States Capital on the very same day and unified under the A.A.A. banner/agenda


As a society we have reached a level of sophistication which permits us to adjudicate, better educate and protect adolescents in a responsible way.


Our Mission is to do better!

A.A.A. Call to Duty for Juvenile Justice Reform

Advocates for Abandoned Adolescents (A.A.A.) is to bring National awareness to the Juvenile Justice Laws across the USA.


Our mission is to end the practice of wavering/adjudicating, sentencing and incarcerating youth under 18yrs in the adult Criminal Justice System, to put faces and stories to victims of these laws by exposing the truth of what happens to children when they are held to an adult standard in the Court room and sent to adult prisons, eliminating Life Without Parole for children and to reduce the harm caused to children in the adult system by supporting 2nd Look Legislation.


'2nd Look' means youth serving long sentences get their sentences reviewed at some point in their incarceration. Would you consider 2nd look Legislation?


A.A.A. Mission is to introduce concerned citizens to effective ways of which they can contribute to the reformation of the US irresponsible Juvenile Justice Laws.


To create chapters of A.A.A. in every State coast to coast, to have local minds and hearts within every State endeavouring to bring empathy and responsability to Juvenile Justice Laws and to co-ordinate a National march in every States Capital on the very same day and unified under the A.A.A. banner/agenda


As a society we have reached a level of sophistication which permits us to adjudicate, better educate and protect adolescents in a responsible way.


Our Mission is to do better!

http://advocates-for-abandoned-adolescents.socialgo.com/home.html

A.A.A. All The Lost Children

Message to volunteers

Advocates for Abandoned Adolescents sincerly thank you for your interest in becoming a volunteer. For the hearts, minds and spirits of volunteers create the living force, the pulse of any progressive social movement, So we need you today and of tomorrow need you.

We are currently looking for serious minded people to zealously embrace state coordinator postiions. One per state. Coordinators are responsible for:
1. Raising awareness about the irresponsible juvenile justice laws and polices in their respective states.
2. Recruiting local/statewide volunteers
3. lead local/statewide volunteers in the creation f Advocate for Abandoned Adolescents(AAA) support programs for statewide incarcerated children in adult prisons.
4. Fundraising
5. Organize statewide volunteers in order to particiapte in the AAA national protest/march. (On all 50 state capitals in unison).

If you currently do not have enough spare time to devote into a state coordinator position, please go to Advocatesforabandonedadolescents.com and make a donation, and or help spread the word about AAA's mission. Thank you

The power to transform the irresponsible and oppresive juvenile justice laws across the nation lies within the hands of the people. through unity and organization we can successfully save the unlimited amount of children from the cold and harsh clutches of adult penitentiaries.
~Faith~Hope~Love~Believe~Dream~Imagine~

http://advocates-for-abandoned-adolescents.socialgo.com/

Join us...we have work to do!


* http://www.Advocatesforabandonedadolesce
* http://advocates-for-abandoned-adolescen

The Amber Rose Riley Story

Writen by Amber:5 months after being locked up at age 16

"If I die tomorrow"
If I was on the "outs"and I knew I was going to die tomorrow,I would spend all the time I had with my parents.
I would let them know how much I love them.How much they mean to me.
I would try to write letters to all my family and I would call my good friends and let them know how I feel about them.
I would spend time with my pets too,cause I love them so much.
I hope that before I die I can finish school,get married and have at least one child.
I'm afraid I may not get to go home for many years.
I pray I do not die in jail or prison,and if I do pass away all that matters to me is my mom and pops.
Because I love them so very much.If I were to die tomorrow I wonder if they would let me call home to tell my parents how thankful I am for them,and I hope I still will get to go to Heaven.

Advocates For Abandoned Adolescents
California State Chapter
State Co-ordinator - Darcy Delaproser
http://advocates-for-abandoned-adolescents.socialgo.com/
www.advocatesforabandonedadolescents

The Krista Lynn McDaniel Story

At just turning 16, Krista got caught up with the wrong place, wrong time, with the WRONG ADULTS, tho she did NOT murder or rob anyone, unfortunately she was with those bad people that did, Roper v Simmons had not come into law at the time of this case, Krista was forced to make a decision, take the death penalty or succumb to a plea of 30 years with NO CHANCE of parole, has been in prison now for almost 8 years, and is slowing dying, losing any hope/chance of ever being released before sentence is completed. Her own father has abandoned her, she and I both have written him, he will not even answer, in her appeal to the SC court of appeals, after waiting 2 years, WAS DENIED. She is losing hope, and very much alone, with NO compassion, NO mercy. Juvenile law reform is "imperative" to help save our nation's youth. 30 yrs with NO chance of parole, is barbaric and inhumane and is destroying this child, ONE of many. This sentencing is cold, cruel, for a "mistake" made as a "child".
BEWARE, YOUR child "could" be next, to face such atrocities. Encourage ALL parents/guardians to get educated and involved in juvenile LAW REFORM"


NEVER THERE, DADDY HOW COULD YOU??

Daddy, how could you? Why would you? Leave me by myself, sitting here all alone. Forced to grow up on my own, Do you feel the feelings that I feel? or are you so cold?, to not see that my feelings are real.

How could you leave me, and let your light go on?
I'm your daughter, don't you know it's wrong?

I've cried for you my 21 years on earth, Even the day my mother gave birth. Didn't you hear? or do you even care?

I know now, nothing is fair.
If you're out there listening somewhere, I want you to know, I've loved you regardless.

No matter now, many times, you were never there!

Written by Krista Lynn McDaniel (c)
Age 23(now)-Leah Correctional Facility
Greenwood, SC.

http://www.whoopassforjustice.org/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1008

I continue my "justice fight" for Krista, and ALL of our nation's youth!!!

Student Files Suit for Being Handcuffed to File Cabinet for Day

Student Files Suit for Being Handcuffed to File Cabinet for Day

A.A.A Wisconsin Chapter

The Juvenile Justice in the United States is certainly in dire need of America's undivided focus and attention, for far too many children are being led into the adult court system and discarded into the adult prison system unnecessarily. So I commend and applaud your efforts to bring a degree of responsibility to the juvenile justice Laws. Though I think it's important that America's focus and attention also include the teenagers that were waived and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment in the adult prison system 15/16/17/years ago. I think Justice for these Juvenile offenders would include Liz Ryan, the Director for the campaign for youth justice called the 2nd look Legislation. '2nd Look' means youth serving long sentences get their sentences reviewed at some point in their incarceration. Would you consider 2nd look Legislation?

A.A.A.Misissippi /A.A.A. California /A.A.A Michigan

A.A.A.Misissippi Chapter
http://static.socialgo.com

• 

A.A.A. California Chapter
http://static.socialgo.com/

 

A.A.A Michigan Chapter
http://static.socialgo.com/

Never be afraid to speak out and let your voice be heard, to stand up for what you believe in and fight for your dreams and where you want to be in life. You only need to prove to yourself, not anyone else, exactly how far it is you can go. What's important in life is not what others say or think about you but that you are happy with the person you have become. Stand strong, stand tall, and be proud of who you are!@Jenna Kandyce Linch

California Chapter

www.advocatesforabandonedadolescents.com

                                                                                                                       

              

DARCY DELAPROSER - CALIFORNIA STATE CO-ORDINATOR
A.A.A.
           Child Laws & Juvenile Justice

Results: 1-50 of 625         Show Newest in Child Laws & Juvenile Justice        

• 
  
•               
  
                            
  

  
  Options for Treatment of Juvenile Offenders

  
  

  
  Children may exhibit problem behaviors before they  even start school, which can manifest as verbal and physical  aggression, running away from home, truancy, conflict with authority,  and criminal...

  
  
  
  
• 
  
•               
  
                            
  

  
  Gang Activities in School

  
  

  
  Groups of adolescents with antisocial behavior and  even criminal activity are among the most serious problems for schools,  according to the Department of Justice. Formerly a concern mostly  for...

  
  
  
  
• 
  
•               
  
                            
  

  
  Courses in Anger Management

  
  

  
  Attendance in anger management courses is an  often-used court-imposed sentence when a person has committed  an act of  violence, such as domestic violence. These courses seek to teach the  offender...

  
  
  
  
• 
  
•               
  
                            
  

  
  American Inventions in the Early 20th Century

  
  

  
  A meaningful invention instantly improves the  quality of life and usually plays a significant part in history. The  early 20th century saw a wide variety of innovative creations and  improvements...

  
  
  
  
• 
  
•               
  
                            
  

  
  The Differences Between Juvenile & Adult Court Proceedings

  
  

  
  Juvenile and adult courts have different  proceedings and methods for trials. Juveniles, who are younger than 18  years old, are treated differently than adults when they commit or are  involved with...

  
  
  
  
• 
  
•               
  
                            
  

  
  What Is a CASA in Juvenile Cases in Oregon?

  
  

  
  A Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)  participates in Oregon juvenile court cases by volunteering to represent  children.  When an Oregon court reviews the case of a child who has  experienced...

  
  
  
  
• 
  
•               
  
                            
  

  
  The Reasons for Requesting an In-Camera Hearing in Juvenile Court

  
  

  
  Juvenile court is a diversionary court to prevent  the prosecution of a minor in regular court. Depending on the charge,  the minor may be prosecuted as either a juvenile or an adult. It is...

  
  
  
  
• 
  
•               
  
                            
  

  
  Santa Clara County California Traffic Schools

  
  

  
  If you have been convicted of a moving violation  in Santa Clara County, California, you may have the option to take a  traffic school class to avoid points on your license.  Points on your  driver's...

  
  
  
  
• 
  
•               
  
                            
  

  
  What Are Juvenile Training Schools?

  
  

  
  Juvenile training schools are state-funded  institutions that rehabilitate delinquent and incorrigible youth. Once  known as "reform schools," these correctional institutions are often  referred to...

  
  
  
  
• 
  
•               
  
                            
  

  
  Differences Between Juvenile & Adult Court

  
  

  
  Although adult and juvenile courts vary from state  to state, there are still some important factors that distinguish the  two court systems. For instance, juvenile court is for anyone under the  age...

  
  
  
  
• 
  
•               
  
  

  
  Similarities Between Adult Court & Juvenile Court

  
  

  
  Many differences exist between the adult and  juvenile court systems. At its core, the adult court system focuses on  deterrence and justice as the rationale for prosecuting offenders  whereas the...

  
  
  
  
• 
  

Read more:  Child Laws & Juvenile Justice - How To Information | eHow.co.uk http://www.ehow.co.uk/child-laws-and-juvenile-justice/#ixzz1FL5y4jSl

 

Kim Deanna - Advocate for Sara Kruzan -

He was 14 yrs. 6mos. and 5 days old --- and the youngest person executed in the United States

He was 14 yrs. 6mos. and 5 days old --- and the youngest person executed in the United States

www.flickr.com

George Junius Stinney, Jr., [b. 1929 - d. 1944] In a South Carolina prison sixty-six years ago, guards walked a 14-year-old boy, bible tucked under his arm, to the electric chair. At 5' 1" and 95 pounds, the straps didn’t fit, and an electrode was too big for his leg. The switch was pulled

truth

When one is frightened of the truth then it is never the whole truth that one has an inkling of. ~ Wittgenstein

BE A VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS

http://socialaction2014.wordpress.com/
http://cyntoiabrown.wordpress.com/
http://detroitforgottonchild.wordpress.com/
http://www.pinterest.com/irishgreeneyes2/terrance-bowman-taylor/
http://www.pinterest.com/irishgreeneyes2/christy-phillips/

A.A.A CHAPTERS OF CALIFORNIA AND MICHIGAN

Advocates Forabandonedadolescents (Triple AAA)

There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings.

please help paul henry now

Setting up the mechanisms to facilitate help being provided to kids in crisis is always a little more complicated than I’d like.
Getting Jordan Brown’s website online was delayed by eight or nine months by his lawyers. Getting a bank account set up for Derek’s trust took three weeks for the bank to complete. Linking PayPal accounts to these kids’ bank accounts took much longer at first than it does now. I’m learning lots of things with experience, as are those with whom I’m working.

It’s been eleven days since Paul Henry Gingerich’s website went live, and finally we are now able to begin receiving gifts to support his legal and other needs. Slow and excruciating as it has been for me, this delay nevertheless represents progress.
We must become much better—not only faster—at responding to the needs of these kids. Too many children are being defended by someone’s divorce lawyer. Too many kids are being convicted in the media based only on a prosecutor’s allegations and without any information about the true background of a case. Too many kids’ lives are being ruined by the ignorance, inexperience, and negligence of adults who are supposed to be helping them. The futures of too many kids are being sacrificed to the self-interests of others.
Please take a moment now to return to Paul Henry’s website at www.freepaulhenrygingerich.com and give our newly-activated PayPal link a workout.
Thank you!

CASE HISTORY Davontae Sanford

Cop: No link between alleged hit man, imprisoned teen

BY BEN SCHMITT and SUZETTE HACKNEY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

A seasoned Detroit cop testified today that he has found no link between an imprisoned 17-year-old, serving time for a quadruple murder, and an alleged hit man who lawyers say confessed to the same killings.

The defense lawyer, Kim McGinnis, is trying to convince a Wayne County circuit judge that alleged hit man Vincent Smothers is actually responsible for the 2007 killings on Runyon Street.

Smothers, who has already confessed to killing at least 10 people, including the wife of a Detroit police sergeant, also has admitted to being responsible for the killings on Runyon, according to McGinnis.

McGinnis represents Davontae Sanford, who is in prison for the Sept. 7, 2007 killings of Michael Robinson, 33; D'Angelo McNoriell and Brian Dixon, who were in their early 20s, and Nicole Chapman, 25. Valerie Glover, 30, was critically wounded but survived the attack. A 7-year-old boy was found unharmed.

Sanford, who was 14 at the time of the killings, accepted a deal and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and felony firearm. In April 2008, he was sentenced to 37 to 90 years in prison.

This morning, Detroit Police Detective Ira Todd testified during an evidentiary hearing in front of Judge Brian Sullivan. Sanford was in court for the hearing.

Todd said he interrogated Smothers for five hours after his arrest in connection with other slayings on April 19, 2008. He said he again questioned him on May 6, 2008, along with some Kentucky police officers who were investigating a possible connection to killings in their jurisdiction.

“He was very intelligent, professional,” Todd said of Smothers.

He said Smothers admitted responsibility to the Runyon killings during the second meeting.

“He said that he had done four other murders on Runyon Street,” Todd said, adding Smothers told him he had an accomplice named Ernest Davis, nicknamed “Nemo.”

Todd said he never found a link between Smothers and Sanford, as prosecutors have alleged.

Davis has not been charged in the Runyon killings.

Smothers has been in jail since the time of his arrest. He has yet to go to trial on any of the multiple murders he is charged with, including Rose Cobb, the wife of former Detroit Police Sgt. David Cobb. He is not charged in the Runyon case.

Cobb, 38, was arrested April 20, 2008, but the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office declined to charge him, citing a lack of evidence. Cobb remained suspended without pay from the Detroit Police Department when he hanged himself in a public park in 

 

Commentary- Davontae Sanford conviction medieval justice

March 17,
Detroit Crime Examiner
Robert Brignall

I follow a simple rule when writing a column for Examiner.com- I avoid working up a piece when I’m cheesed off about the subject matter. Yet one of the points to be made here is that there are exceptions to every rule, particularly the notion that a confession to a criminal act is sacrosanct, including Davontae Sanford’s confession to the Runyon Street murders.

Let’s put it this way- if Sanford had claimed to be a witness to the killings I doubt if the police or the prosecution would have put much stock in what he said. He was young and developmentally disabled, enough to cast considerable doubt on the credibility of his testimony. The prosecution would not have wanted to put him on the witness stand because a defense counsel would have riddled him on cross-x.

Yet because Sanford gave a confession it was a different ball game. Confessions have a different stature from eyewitness testimony because they are admissions against legal interest- why would someone confess to a crime, knowing he would face nasty consequences, if the confession isn’t the real deal? Never mind that the ballistics don’t match the weapon Sanford said he used, or other sundry variances between the confession and the forensics. And forget that the confessor was two young to drive, drink, vote or even have consensual sex. Ignore also the teen’s obvious disabilities and apparent desire to please the police. And ignore the fact that Sanford had no attorney or even his mother present, and that he probably could not read the written confession.

False confessions by dysfunctional people are a fact of life. Sanford’s confession is about as probative as those given under torture during the Spanish Inquisition, so what gave it enough legs to land Sanford in prison on a guilty plea? The sorry answer is that it made things easy for the criminal justice system.

If a homicide detective can clear four murder cases in one day, it’s Miller time. And if the prosecutor’s office can use the confession to get a plea deal that puts a teen away until he’s 53, that’s damn near as easy. Like water flowing downhill, the criminal justice system took the line of least resistance, and in no time Davontae Sanford was doing hard time at the Thumb Correctional Facility, this without the benefit of a full and fair trial on the merits.

There is hope for Sanford, though, in the form of a most unlikely trio: a confessed hit man, a relentless defense lawyer, and a retired cop.

Two of the three Sanford protagonists came along shortly after his misbegotten confession. One was a man in his late 20s named Vincent Smothers, the second a seasoned investigator, considered by his peers to be a superior interrogator, Ira Todd.

The pair sat in a room at 1300 Beaubien. Todd wanted to talk murder, and used his skills to identify Smothers’ weaknesses while establishing a rapport with him. Todd opened Smothers up like a sardine can. Smothers was talking murders and many of them, each a paid hit for which he claimed to have made a total of $60,000.

During one session with Todd, Smothers confessed to doing the Runyon Street job, using an accomplice who was not Davontae Sanford. Smothers would later move to have the confessions thrown out, but that was denied. Smothers is in pretrial detention awaiting multiple trials for first degree murder.

Smothers is almost thirty, has been described by Todd as being of above average intelligence, and used weapons like the ones used to execute the Runyon Street four. Stack that up against Sanford’s confession and it’s no contest which is the more believable.

Even so, neither Smothers nor has accomplice has been charged with those four murders. Why not? Because the prosecutor already has someone behind bars for the same killings; to now indict Smothers would be to admit that they put the wrong person away.

Enter Kim McGinnis, a State Appellate Defenders Office (SADO) attorney who is trying to get Sanford’s confession tossed and win him a new trial. Over the past months, McGinnis has put on a number of witnesses that have cast doubt over the teen’s confession and involvement in the crime, and have raised defenses, including an alibi, which could be asserted at a new trial.

McGinnis wanted to call Vincent Smothers but he took the fifth. And why not? He knows that he will eventually be doing life without parole, no one can or will offer him anything, and helping Sanford will just get him four more murder cases to defend. Yet he has said enough already and McGinnis is using that, most recently by calling Ira Todd as a witness.

I won’t summarize Todd’s testimony which has had plenty of media coverage already, but there was a watershed moment during the prosecutor’s cross-x when Joseph Puleo asked Todd to recall a conversation the two men had had about the case. “I don’t want an innocent man locked up in jail,” Todd answered, quoting Puleo.

Well Mr. Puleo, neither do I.

Chaplain: Shooter was taller
BY SUZETTE HACKNEY FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
December 12, 2009

A Detroit police chaplain testified during a court hearing Friday that the person who fired a gun at him moments after a shooting on his street was at least 6 inches taller than a teen who is imprisoned for the 2007 quadruple killings.

The Rev. Jesse King testified that he saw two people wearing long black coats and ski masks seconds after four people were killed Sept. 17, 2007, in a drug house on Runyon on Detroit's east side.

King said the taller of the two men, whom he described as being at least 5 feet 11, used a rifle to fire three rounds into King's house as he watched from his porch. "When I seen them coming up, I knew something wasn't right," said King, 60.

King's testimony came in a hearing as an attorney for Davontae Sanford seeks to overturn a conviction in the slayings and get a new trial.

Police have said Sanford, who was 14 at the time of the shooting in the 19700 block of Runyon, told them he and his friends plotted to rob a drug house and wound up shooting those inside. But Sanford's appellate attorney said investigators in both written reports and in court testimony have acknowledged that Sanford is only 5 feet 5.

"This is just further evidence that Davontae could not have committed these shootings," attorney Kim McGinnis said after Friday's hearing in Wayne County Circuit Court.

In October, a retired Detroit homicide commander provided an alibi for Sanford. William Rice, a 25-year veteran, testified that Sanford was with him at Sanford's aunt's house at the time of the shooting.

Vincent Smothers, suspected of being a hit man, also has confessed to the Runyon Street killings but has not been charged.

According to Sanford's confession, he and three other suspects had guns, and he used an M14 rifle that he tossed after the shooting. Sanford also confessed that he fired the rifle at King after the shooting.

King said he could not describe the shooter other than his outerwear and height.

McGinnis has argued that Sanford, now 17, was likely fed information by homicide investigators and later included those details in his confession. Sanford has a learning disability and was reading at a third-grade level at the time of the incident.

After a two-day bench trial in March 2008, Sanford accepted a deal and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and using a firearm during a felony. He was sentenced to 37 to 90 years in prison.


Contact SUZETTE HACKNEY: 313-222-6678 or shackney@freepress.com

 

Retired cop offers alibi for teen in quadruple slaying


BY BEN SCHMITT and SUZETTE HACKNEY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
October 29,
A retired Detroit police homicide commander provided an alibi during a court hearing today for a teen who is imprisoned for a 2007 quadruple killing.

William Rice, a 25-year veteran, testified that Davontae Sanford was with him at a family member's house for dinner when four people were killed on Sept. 17, 2007, in a drug house on Runyon on Detroit's east side.

"He was there with me at the time the alleged crime took place," Rice said today during an appellate hearing for Sanford in front of Wayne County Circuit Judge Brian Sullivan.

Alleged hit man Vincent Smothers confessed to the killings but he has not been charged and police believe he may have acted in connection with Sanford.


The killings occurred around 11:30 p.m., but Rice said he didn't leave the home on Teppert until 11:45 p.m. to drive Sanford back to his home on Beland.

Prosecutors challenged Rice and warned him about perjury.

"Do you know the penalty for committing perjury," Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Joseph Puleo asked.

"I'm familiar with it, yes," Rice answered, undaunted.

Rice described Sanford, now 16, as a "foster or step-nephew" who he has known for more than 10 years. He testified that Sanford stayed in the basement of the home on Teppert for hours playing on the computer while the adults cooked a roast dinner and conversed.

Rice said the adults would have noticed if Sanford left the home through a back door on the first floor.


"No there's no way," Rice said, when asked if Sanford could have slipped out the door.

On the night of the killings, neighbors said they heard a succession of 30 gunshots coming from the house. Killed were Michael Robinson, 33; D'Angelo McNoriell and Brian Dixon, who were in their early 20s, and Nicole Chapman, 25. Valerie Glover, 30, was critically wounded but survived the attack. A 7-year-old boy was found unharmed.

Police said Sanford, who was 14 at the time of the shooting in the 19700 block of Runyon, told them he and his friends plotted to rob a drug house and wound up shooting the occupants once inside.

According to his confession, Sanford said all four suspects had guns, and he used an M14 rifle that he tossed after the shooting. He said the gun did not belong to him.


After a two-day bench trial in March 2008, Sanford accepted a deal and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and felony firearm. In April, he was sentenced to 37 to 90 years in prison. His mother, Taminko Sanford, said she was advised by their attorney Robert Slameka that there was too much evidence with the teen's confession to continue the trial.

Smothers, who police say confessed to killing at least eight people, including the wife of a Detroit police sergeant, also has admitted to being responsible for the September 2007 drug house killings on Runyon.

Smothers is currently charged with eight counts of first-degree murder, but has yet to go to trial on any of them.


Sanford's lawyer, Kimberly McGinnis, called Smothers to testify before Judge Sullivan in July. Smothers asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege and refused to answer questions under oath.

Puleo has previously said there also is evidence - including gunshot residue - that points to Sanford's participation in the 2007 killings inside the Runyon Street home.

Detroit homicide Sgt. Michael Russell testified over the summer that Sanford gave investigators a description of the clothes he was wearing the night of the killings. The black jeans and PayDay candy bar T-shirt he said he wore tested positive for gunshot residue, Russell said.

But Rice testified that Sanford wore light-colored pajama pants to the house on the night in question.

 

Not Enough Money Or Time To Defend Detroit's Poor
by Ailsa Chang

The right has been enshrined in the Constitution: Anyone accused of a crime has the right to a lawyer, no matter how poor they are. Public defenders are supposed to represent the people who can't afford lawyers. But they've been so overworked and underpaid for decades, the system is in crisis. And the recession has made the situation worse.

Groups of lawyers and advocates have filed lawsuits in states from New York to Florida to Arizona charging that low-income people can't get a fair trial. Public defenders in Kansas and Minnesota are refusing cases outright.

In Michigan, the system has been broken for decades. Detroit public defenders face abysmal pay, unmanageable caseloads and flimsy oversight.

A Product of the System

A lot of lawyers in Detroit say if you want to see what's wrong with this country's public defender system, just take a look at Bob Slameka: He has gotten into trouble a lot during his 40 years as a public defender, but the county still appoints him to cases.

Records show the state Supreme Court reprimanded him for misconduct involving more than 16 clients. In most of those cases, he filed briefs late and didn't keep his clients adequately informed. And then one of his clients, Eddie Joe Lloyd, made national headlines in 2002. He was exonerated by DNA evidence after serving 17 years in prison for rape and murder.

Slameka had taken on Lloyd's appeal. In the two years he handled the case, Slameka never once met with his client or accepted any of his phone calls. The appeal failed. Lloyd didn't get out of prison until a national advocacy group took on the case. Slameka says he couldn't do more for Lloyd because of one important reason: the government didn't pay him enough.

"I don't get paid for his long-distance phone calls from Jackson prison," Slameka says. "My God, they run about how much money and you don't get paid for that stuff. Nothing. I did the best I could given what I had. That's all I could do."

Critics say Slameka is right. He might sound extreme, but Slameka reflects widespread problems across the country. In New York City, because there aren't enough defenders, overworked lawyers say they show up for trials ready to tell the judge they've done nothing on the case. In Miami, they say the only way they can squeeze in jail visits is if they work every weekend. And in Detroit, public defenders haven't seen a raise in more than 30 years. Slameka has to take on 50 clients at a time to earn a living.

One former public defender, Frank Eaman, is now suing the state of Michigan to get more money for the system.

"I know I have friends who work in that court who break their backs trying to defend people to the utmost in doing whatever they can do," Eaman says. "They're constantly expressing their frustration to me of how hard it is to do that."

No Pay For Keeping In Touch

Eaman says one significant problem is the fact that public defenders in Detroit don't get paid for some of the most basic things — like communicating with their clients. They don't get paid for their time making phone calls or for writing letters. And, in most cases, they get paid for only one jail visit. They get $50 for that. As a result, when a client is in jail, one of the few times Bob Slameka ends up talking to him or her is just minutes before court appearances.

Often those conferences take place in the "bullpen." It's a cell next to the judge's chambers where they cart defendants over from the county jail. On a recent day, Slameka meets with one of his clients there.

He calls out to her: "Kelly! How you doing?"

Slameka has silver hair down to his shoulders. He's peering into a small window in a steel door at Kelly. She's been accused of assaulting a woman with a knife.

"We're here today in front of Judge Strong," he tells her, "and they're going to make the same offer like I said downstairs. One to four [years], or go to trial. And that decision is yours."

Kelly asks him if she should plead guilty. He doesn't tell her what to do, but it's very clear he has little interest in taking this case to trial. Critics of the system say a lot of appointed defenders, at this point, will urge their clients to plead guilty because they aren't paid enough to really prepare for trial. A defender in Detroit receives $180 for a basic full-day felony trial. Eaman says that doesn't even come close to covering trial costs.

"The system does not provide the lawyers with the tools they need to defend their clients," Eaman says. "Investigators are very important, expert witnesses are very important. In an appointed case, you need permission of the court. You don't always get permission of the court, or if you do, you get such a small amount of money that you can't find anybody to do the work for you."

Public Defense As A Volume Business

Eaman says defenders also try to avoid trials because they don't have the time for them. They make so little money per case, they have to take on an extremely high caseload just to stay afloat. If a lawyer can avoid trial and plead a client out, he or she can take on more cases.

And that's another problem: Public defense has become a volume business. Some lawyers take on dozens — even hundreds — of cases at a time.

It's difficult to say how much public defenders in Michigan make a year. Each appointed counsel takes on a different mix of public defense and private retainer cases. But everyone agrees the public system doesn't pay enough.

Slameka says he never leans on his clients to plead guilty, but he's not shy about trying to get a case over with.

For example, one of his clients wants to claim self-defense after he was charged with shooting and killing an unarmed man. Slameka thinks they wouldn't have a chance in front of a jury. So, he pulls the prosecutor into the hallway when his client isn't around.

"Lookit, between you and I, we should resolve this case," Slameka tells the prosecutor. "You just can't just shoot people on the street."

"Yeah," says the prosecutor, "when I was reading it, I was thinking the same thing as well."

"And he's trying to claim self-defense," says Slameka, "and I don't think it's viable."

"Not with multiple gunshots at close range like that," the prosecutor says.

"Yeah, about five [gunshots]? Yeah. Doesn't fly. I understand," Slameka says. "But he's of a different mind. But I think if you make some kind of reasonable offer, we can resolve it."

A System With Little Oversight

Critics like Eaman, the former defender who's now suing the state, say public defenders should do everything they possibly can for their clients. The whole system is based on the idea that a lawyer must remain a vigorous advocate.

"Robert Slameka and other lawyers of his type — there are too many of them in the court system," Eaman says. "There are too many that take shortcuts."

He and other legal advocates say it's the system that encourages those shortcuts. Judge Cynthia Stephens of the Michigan Court of Appeals says that's the root of the problem. Stephens presided over trials in Detroit for more than 20 years. More than 90 percent of all criminal defendants in Wayne County can't afford their own lawyers. She says the defenders appointed to those people get away with shoddy work.

"I've seen some appellate briefs that have worried me," Stephens says. "They seem like they came out of a can. I mean, so much so that they're citing a principle of law that probably had to do with the last two cases, but doesn't fit into this one."

Stephens says what worries her most aren't the lawyers getting F grades. Those lawyers are so incompetent, they get caught. She's more worried about the mediocre lawyers — the ones she says get Cs and Ds. And that's another problem with the public defender system: the state will slap lawyers on the wrist, but will allow them to keep representing some of the most vulnerable members of society, like Eddie Joe Lloyd.

Remember, Slameka lost Lloyd's appeal even though it turned out years later he was innocent. Yet the national notoriety of that case didn't hurt Slameka's business one bit.

Lloyd died just two years after his exoneration. His sister, Ruth Harlin, says if someone close to her needed a defense lawyer today, she would do whatever it took to pay for a lawyer.

"I'd mortgage the house," Harlin says. "I would not let a public defender defend anyone in my family ever again. Ever, ever again."

After his appeal had failed and before he was exonerated, Lloyd filed a complaint with the state. He told them Slameka never gave him the time of day. Harlin still has a copy of Slameka's rebuttal, which she read out loud:

"This is a sick individual who raped, kidnapped and strangled a young woman on her way to school. His claim of my wrongdoing is frivolous, just as is his existence. Both should be terminated."

When asked if he really thought his own client should be executed, Slameka said yes, that's what he wrote at the time and that's how he felt.

"That's exactly what I wrote. That's exactly how I felt," he said. "You know something? Because of people's actions, a lot of people don't deserve to live. OK? You take people's lives — I'm not saying, an eye for an eye — but because of the nature of your behavior, sometimes maybe you don't deserve to live on this Earth."

When reminded that Lloyd was exonerated and never actually killed anyone, Slameka brushed it off. He said he didn't have DNA evidence at the time, and criminal defense is a very different job now.

Well, except for a few things. Crushing caseloads and skimpy pay have strained public defenders for more than 40 years. And year after year, prosecutors in Detroit get twice the funding defenders do.

Davontae Sanford Court Date

 

Davontae new court date is april 27,2010 at frank murphy hall of justice,

 FREE DAVONTAE SANFORD

 

Commentary- Davontae Sanford conviction medieval justice, part 2 of 2

• 
  

Smothers and Sanford. Which man's confession would you believe?

Photo: DFP/Mich.Dept. of Corrections photos

Two of the three Sanford protagonists came along shortly after his misbegotten confession. One was a man in his late 20s named Vincent Smothers, the second a seasoned investigator, considered by his peers to be a superior interrogator, Ira Todd.
The pair sat in a room at 1300 Beaubien. Todd wanted to talk murder, and used his skills to identify Smothers’ weaknesses while establishing a rapport with him. Todd opened Smothers up like a sardine can. Smothers was talking murders and many of them, each a paid hit for which he claimed to have made a total of $60,000.
During one session with Todd, Smothers confessed to doing the Runyon Street job, using an accomplice who was not Davontae Sanford. Smothers would later move to have the confessions thrown out, but that was denied. Smothers is in pretrial detention awaiting multiple trials for first degree murder.
Smothers is almost thirty, has been described by Todd as being of above average intelligence, and used weapons like the ones used to execute the Runyon Street four. Stack that up against Sanford’s confession and it’s no contest which is the more believable.
Even so, neither Smothers nor has accomplice has been charged with those four murders. Why not? Because the prosecutor already has someone behind bars for the same killings; to now indict Smothers would be to admit that they put the wrong person away.
Enter Kim McGinnis, a State Appellate Defenders Office (SADO) attorney who is trying to get Sanford’s confession tossed and win him a new trial. Over the past months, McGinnis has put on a number of witnesses that have cast doubt over the teen’s confession and involvement in the crime, and have raised defenses, including an alibi, which could be asserted at a new trial.
McGinnis wanted to call Vincent Smothers but he took the fifth. And why not? He knows that he will eventually be doing life without parole, no one can or will offer him anything, and helping Sanford will just get him four more murder cases to defend. Yet he has said enough already and McGinnis is using that, most recently by calling Ira Todd as a witness.
I won’t summarize Todd’s testimony which has had plenty of media coverage already, but there was a watershed moment during the prosecutor’s cross-x when Joseph Puleo asked Todd to recall a conversation the two men had had about the case. “I don’t want an innocent man locked up in jail,” Todd answered, quoting Puleo.
Well Mr. Puleo, neither do I.

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Commentary- Davontae Sanford conviction medieval justice, part 2 of 2 - Detroit Crime | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/crime-in-detroit/commentary-davontae-sanford-conviction-medieval-justice-part-2-of-2#ixzz1G2HNEVI5

believing-in-blade

Home Page

believing-in-blade.org

Trying Kids as Adults: Is this Justice?

Trying Kids as Adults: Is This Justice?~~A must read!

Trying Kids as Adults: Is this Justice?

www.divinecaroline.com

“Tony was the prettiest serial killer I ever met. Sixteen years old, with long blond hair, creamy white skin, and a slim, trim figure,

Children in Lockdown: Solitary Confinement of Teens in Adult Prisons

Some of 'our kids' have undergone the same treatment. Please, get informed, get involved. www.childrens-hopeandvoice.org

Children in Lockdown: Solitary Confinement of Teens in Adult Prisons « Solitary Watch

solitarywatch.com

While there are no concrete numbers, it’s safe to say that hundreds, if not thousands of children are in solitary confinement in the United States–some in juvenile detention facilities, and some in adult prisons. Short bouts of solitary confinement are even viewed as a legitimate form of punishment

Davontae Sanford - Time To Come Home

Davontae Sanford - Home is getting closer - Free Davontae Now!!
For The SANFORD FAMILY !

ADVOCATES FOR ABANDONED ADOLESCENTS - Advocates for Abandoned Adolescents (A.A.A.)

ADVOCATES FOR ABANDONED ADOLESCENTS - Advocates for Abandoned Adolescents (A.A.A.) is to bring National awareness to the Juvenile Justice Laws across the USA. Our mission is to end the practice of wavering/adjudicating, sentencing and incarcerating youth under 18yrs in the adult Crimina

Should Teens be Tried as Adults?

Song: Locked Up-Akon

This video was made for my A.P. English Class. The topic chosen by me was whether children and teens should be tried as adults in a court of law. At first I was all for it, til I found evidence against it.
Teens are much more indecisive because of their maturing brains. They use a different part of their brain for decision making,while adults use the prefrontal cortex. Children are much more impulsive and tend to be more impulsively, not thinking long term.
I thanks the Associated Press for the two videos I incorporated into my video of the 8 year old killer.
The two images in the end are of the maturing brain, and prove that gray matter dissolves as we age. Gray matter is made up of the cell bodies of nerve cells and white matter is the "telephone wires" of the neural network. They transmit electrical signals that carry the messages between neurons.

STAND UP FOR THE CHILDREN