Texas to review juveniles' sentences

[Joanne98]

Source: Chicago Tribune


Texas to review juveniles' sentences
By Howard Witt

Chicago Tribune

HOUSTON — The sentences of many of the 4,700 delinquent youths being held in Texas' juvenile prisons might have been arbitrarily and unfairly extended by prison authorities, and thousands could be freed as part of a sweeping overhaul of the scandal-plagued juvenile system, state officials say.

Jay Kimbrough, a special master appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to investigate the system after allegations that some prison officials were coercing imprisoned youths for sex, said he would assemble a special committee of civil-rights leaders, prosecutors and prison officials this week to review the sentence of every youth in the system.

The goal, Kimbrough said, is to release any youth whose sentence was improperly extended without justification or in retaliation for filing complaints. In his initial review of sentences, Kimbrough said, he had found many questionable extensions, adding that some juvenile-justice experts estimate that more than 60 percent of the state's youthful inmates might be languishing under wrongful detention.

Such a mass emptying of a state's juvenile jails would be unprecedented in the country, civil-rights leaders said.



Read more: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003637561_juvenile27.html

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. I hope they are able

to let juveniles go who have been improperly incarcerated. But I hate to think what kind of lesson these youngsters have learned about our system of justice.

[ProudDad]

2. Don't worry

it's the same lesson nearly everyone learns when confronted by our system of "justice"...

Get them before they get you. Screw them before they screw you. He with the gun has the power (and kid, we got the guns).

Etc., etc., etc.

It's a sick, sick, sick, useless system...

[sasquatch]

3. The ATF didn't go far enough in Texas

Hey guys next time you go to Texas just ask yourself "What would General Sherman do?".

Then kick ass and spit broken glass.

[sasquatch]

4. Another thing, how the hell can someone that's not a Judge extend a sentence

I think we need to put Texas on a leash.

[muryan]

5. my guess this would be wardens/guards making false allegations

to lengthen the sentence of the kids they dont like, something thats pretty common here in ohio too. And i wouldnt be surprised if the main motivator was race, just like it is here. For some reason the black kids seem to spending a lot more time in juvi than the white kids who commit the same crimes