White teen burns down family home, gets probation; black teen shoves hall monitor, gets seven years

[babylonsister]

http://newsgrinder.blogspot.com/2007/03/white-teen-burns-down-family-home-gets.html

White teen burns down family home, gets probation; black teen shoves hall monitor, gets seven years.

A couple of weeks ago, a report in the Chicago Tribune brought to light the case of a Texas teen locked up for shoving a hall monitor. Reaction was swift and deep across Cyberspace, and now there are new developments.

To begin at the beginning, follow this link -- where you'll meet 15-year-old Shaquanada. For the past ten months, she's been stuck "inside the Texas Youth Commission prison system, where officials say 95 percent of the 2,500 juveniles in their custody are chronic, serious offenders who already have exhausted county-level programs such as probation and local treatment or detention."

Her offense? Shoving a hall monitor during a dispute over entering the building before the school day had officially begun.

Now read what has happened since that first report appeared: here and here.

Visit a Web site devoted to Shaquanada.

http://freeshaquandacotton.blogspot.com/

[helderheid]

1. Why doesn't this surprise me?!?

GAH!!!

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. kick

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. I know that...

Residents of Texas are quick to defend their state, saying that there are many good people and good things there. They are right, too. I have been there many times and I have met many good folks and enjoyed myself immensely. Luckily, I am extremely white.

That said, I struggle with my perceptions of the Texas of today, now, when I read stories like this.

What the hell is wrong down there and why is this happening? It's like the state has gone quite mad.

[babylonsister]

3. Hey, I live here and I don't 'get it' either. nt

[smiley_glad_hands]

4. Republicans. eom

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

7. A simple answer...

And, there is much truth in it. That said, when I first started going to Texas on a regular basis, nothing like this would have happened. Texas was a laid back, friendly and rather progressive place. Now? It sounds like a lot of people down there want it to be a little slice of hell.

I have a theory, based upon the things I have seen. I predict some might not like it much:

Back in the 70's and 80's, there was a huge migration of northerners to the south. One big destination was Texas, but really, all of the south was affected. A lot of these transplanted northerners, and I knew a number of them, got down there and in what seemed to be an effort to fit in, started acting like "southerners". I use the quotes because what they acted like was the worst charactature of southerners. They got down there and let their bigotries run free, aped traditional southern morality, religion and conservatism and just generally made a mess of things and truthfully, themselves.

Like I said, a theory. I could be very wrong.

[Horse with no Name]

9. I had occasion to go watch a couple of court cases dispensed by Judge Superville

last year for a continuing education class I was taking.
First of all, I will say this. I've met him. He is a nice man. He is a Democrat, but he was flat wrong in this case.
Flat wrong.
Please understand that I don't know the complete stories, just what I saw as an observer.
One was a middle aged white guy. He was lawyered up. He was charged with DUI, public intoxication and breaking and entering. (There was a fourth charge but I do not remember it).
He had spent a couple days in jail before his arraignment. His sentence was time served, a fine, time to be served concurrently and probation for those offenses.
The second was an 18-year old white kid. He had possession of marijuana. He was given 6 months of jail time. No probation.
The third case was a young black girl (not more than 20 at my guess). She was given 6 months jail time for harboring a fugitive. No probation.
Draw your own conclusions. I drew mine long ago.

[hedgehog]

14. I'm sorry about saying this, but not sorry enough not to post;

are you seriously suggesting that Texas was a nice place to live until right wing "outside agitators" moved in?

[Zodiak]

18. I am from Texas, been there since the 70's

I share your hypothesis.

[GOPBasher]

6. Bigots are everywhere.

I lived in dark blue New York for the first 29 years of my life (I'm 30). There were plenty of bigots there, just as there are here in Michigan, where I just moved.

[YOY]

10. Oh you can be white and noncriminal and be hated in Texas easily

Just don't follow the traditional American 'good kid' look...even if your actions show you to be a saint.

Just ask this sweet kid's friends: http://www.briandeneke.org/index.html

Just how easily his murderer got off promarily becasue he fit the 'good kid' look (and his actions showed him to be a real POS) was a crime.

[alarimer]

17. It is a low-service state

Lock them up and throw away the key. It's not the people of Texas that are the problem, it is the government. The social service system is in shambles; there is no help for you if you are down and out. And little effort to save at-risk youth.

[RaleighNCDUer]

21. I'm afraid I've never had much faith in Texas justice, since '71/72

or thereabouts - I read of a kid who got 20 years for transporting drugs; the drugs in question was one roach and three seeds in his car ashtray. The prosecutor spun the "in the car" into "transporting drugs", and away he went.

I've never stayed in Texas longer than a single overnight, on a long cross-country drive. Too damn paranoid. Which is a shame, because as a history buff I would love to see some of the sights.

[MADem]

5. Oh, but it was the FAMILY home, you see. And that hall monitor

wasn't a RELATIVE :sarcasm: ....


But there's more:

That has now happened with a story I wrote two weeks ago, about a 14-year-old black girl from the small Texas town of Paris, who was sent to a youth prison for up to 7 years for shoving a hall monitor at her high school. A 14-year-old white girl, convicted of arson for burning down her family's house, was sentenced by the same Paris judge to probation.....Dozens of talk-radio stations across the nation were buzzing about Shaquanda last week, protests on her behalf were held in Paris, a petition- and letter-drive aimed at Texas Gov. Rick Perry and the judge in the case, Chuck Superville, is under way, and civil rights leaders from the NAACP and the ACLU to the Rev. Al Sharpton are weighing whether to get involved.

.....What's driving the attention to this story is outrage—most people who come across it say they are upset at what they believe was an excessive sentence imposed on a teenager for a moment of reckless behavior. Many perceive racial discrimination, because, as the story explained, Shaquanda's case occurred against a backdrop of other discrimination complaints in the town.

"This sentence is unexplainable. Where is the justice in this?" wrote one man in a posting typical of many others.....There's been some outrage in the other direction, as well: A number of residents of Paris have contended, in e-mails and articles in the local Paris newspaper, that the Tribune story unfairly portrayed their town as racist.

"Paris is being burned at the media stake by a journalist that didn't get the whole story poking the hot irons and igniting the fire," wrote Phillip Hamilton, a columnist for the Paris News. "...Does racism exist in Paris? Yes, but not nearly to the extent the Tribune reporter would have readers believe."

Now it appears all of this ferment might affect Shaquanda's case. Hers will be among the first cases to be examined by a special commission being established this week to review the sentence of every youth being held inside Texas' youth prisons, because of concerns that many inmates might have had their sentences arbitrarily extended by prison officials....

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/070326paris-letter,0,5932965.story?coll=chi-newsspecials-hed&?track=sto-relcon


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

Jay Kimbrough, a special master appointed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry to investigate the system after allegations surfaced that some prison officials were coercing imprisoned youths for sex, said he would assemble a committee 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 experts estimate that more 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, experts said.

Among the leading candidates for early release is Shaquanda Cotton, a 14-year-old black girl from the small east Texas town of Paris, who was sent to prison for up to 7 years for shoving a hall monitor at her high school while other young white offenders convicted of more serious crimes received probation in the town's courts.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-070326juveniles,0,702743.story?coll=chi-newsspecials-hed&?track=sto-relcon

[Horse with no Name]

8. Thank you . K&R

The light of day needs to be shined on this.:hug:

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Horse%20with%20no%20Name/32
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Horse%20with%20no%20Name/31

[NNN0LHI]

11. Great post. Glad I seen it and recommended n/t

[pampango]

12. Anecdotal evidence, anyone?

I didn't see any information on the white teen at the link in the OP.

That's not real relevant, though, because the treatment of Shaquanada is wrong not matter what her race. The fact that another teen may or may not (can't tell) have received lenient treatment doesn't change the fact that Shaquandada did not receive fair treatment.

[NNN0LHI]

13. The same judge sentenced them both so the lenient treatment is pertinent

Look at post #5.

Don

[babylonsister]

15. Here's the link to the story from the Tribune about the white teen, which

was imbedded in the OP original link referenced:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703120170mar12,0,1435953.story?page=1&coll=chi-newsspecials-hed

[LiberalHeart]

24. It's in the News Grinder link...

Go to http://newsgrinder.blogspot.com ... then click on the first hot link in the story and it will take you to a story where the part about the white teenager is cited. Same judge is both cases. You have to move a bit down in the story at that hot link to see the mention. It's also in the sub-head.

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. Was a missing blonde involved?

:evilgrin:

[Sick_of_Rethuggery]

19. Here is another one, much larger in scope:

All but one of the well-publicized school shootings so far have been by white kids: there was never a mention of the culpability of their parents, much less legal proceedings against them.

There was just one (SIX year old) who accidentally shot off; the FOSTER uncle got thrown in jail. What color do you think this kid was?

[Solo_in_MD]

22. This got tossed around here at DU a week or so back

I for one am wondering if there was more to it that was not discussed in public due to family court records being sealed. Others are convinced its a judge issue

[Horse with no Name]

23. There was nothing else that wasn't released.

The girl had no prior record. The Judge broke his silence and said this:
http://theparisnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=702edc9fc0ed587d

[ecstatic]

25. The judge must be shocked at finally being called on his non-color blind justice

This type of thing has gone on for many many years but I think people are finally waking up and will continue to demand equal justice.

[Solo_in_MD]

26. But he did not really say anything

Call me naive, but I still have some faith in the courts, especially the Juvenile Courts. That is why I wonder what else is there.

If I recall the previous discussions here and elsewhere on this the child was sent to whatever they call Juvenile Hall with an indeterminate sentence with a max of 7 years. That gives the Juvi/DCS discretion on release, or at least would in places I have lived.

That doesn't mean it doesn't smell bad, I just wonder what is the rest of the story.

[VelmaD]

27. she was not sentenced to 7 years

That's not how the system works for juveniles in Texas...I know because I work in it. She was sent to TYC with an indeterminate sentence. The way it currently works she was likely given a 9 month Minimum Length of Stay as a general offender. What that means is that if she works the program and doesn't get into any trouble...she'd be out in 9 months. On the other hand, if she does not work the program and is assaultive...she won't get out. And she could be kept til her 21st birthday if her behavior in TYC indicates that she is a threat to others if released. But it is highly unlikely that she will be in TYC til she turns 21. And to say she was sentenced to 7 years is disingenuous at best. But I guess the truth isn't inflammatory enough.

That said, whether or not you get sent to TYC can vary quite a bit depending on what judge you get and where you are in the state...and that's a bad bad thing.

[Tsiyu]

28. The judge in this case is a bigot

i have said it before and i will say it again; when a cop or a judge raises his own bigotry to a level equal with law, we are NOT in America anymore and our Constitution is worthless.

[kdpeters]

29. How are these two crimes related?

The article posted makes no mention of the arson referred to in the title. What happened and how is it related?