Sunday 11 September 2011

Indiana's children at risk

by Steve Sydebotham
 
This is a quote from Blade Reed's public defender, made in July of 2009 outside the Brown County, Indiana courthouse.
" I’m saddened for Blade and to some extent I’m saddened for the community,” said Roberts. “I feel that if this community is to be judged by how it treats its children then this doesn’t really speak very well for the county.  And that’s bad.  I believe that Blade is much more of a victim then he is a perpetrator.” It's not just Brown County, it's all of the state of Indiana. 
Blade was never given a chance in court, everyone's mind was already made up-just like in all other cases involving juveniles within the state of Indiana. If the courts truly cared about children, they would have taken their time and seen that Blade and even Colt Lundy, Paul Gingerich, and others, were mere children-not hardened criminals, and deserved a second chance. They should have been deemed juveniles and charged in juvenile court period.
Children (anyone under the age of 18) deserves every chance to get it right, as they are children, and should be treated as such.
Kids in the system deserve far better than they are getting. We advocates will not stop until the battle is won, and all children are treated by the courts as juveniles....not adults.
My fight for Blade Reed will not cease, until the day he walks out a free individual. Brown County made a serious mistake in judging Blade as they did, that has started to come to light, by the disabilites we have found that Blade has. That error in judgment will shortly be able to be rectafied.

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