In North Carolina, a 6-year-old kid was recently tried for injury to real property after he was accused of stealing a tulip from a lawn at a bus stop.
Many people worry that this will have a negative impact on the boy’s life, even if he doesn’t grasp the scenario, as reported in the Winston-Salem Journal on March 14.
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A Young Child
Should a young child who still places faith in the likes of Father Christmas, the Easter Bunny, and the tooth fairy be trusted with major decisions? The chief district judge in New Hanover County, Jay Corpening, was reported as stating.
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The judge went on to cite studies showing that even children ages 10 to 14 are unable to do so. The report states that at the request of the General Assembly, Corpening chairs a state panel investigating the matter.
Atty. Julie Boyer,
The child’s attorney, revealed that she had to provide the young client with a colouring book and crayons to keep him occupied during their time in juvenile court.
According to the article, the 6-year-mother old’s missed the intake meeting, thus the child ended up in juvenile court. After hearing this, the court reportedly dismissed the case, as reported by Boyer.
He’s being served legal documents. “Papers are being served to his mum,” Boyer was quoted as adding. “It was truly horrible.”
While it may be surprising that a 6-year-old is in court, between 2015 and 2018, roughly 7,300 complaints were filed against children aged 6 to 11, according to data from the Juvenile State and reported by the newspaper.
Involved Black Children
The survey found that over half of the reported incidents involved Black children, while a third involved white children, and seven percent involved youngsters of Hispanic or Latino descent. About 22% of the state’s residents are Black, compared to 70% who are white and 10% who are Hispanic.
There have been calls for an investigation into whether or not the boy’s arrest was motivated by his race.
When a white boy is picked up by the police, the officer returns him to his family. Mary Stansell, chief of juvenile services at the Wake County Public Defender’s Office, was cited as saying, “If he’s black, he brings him to the state.”
Rehabilitative Measures Trump Punitive Ones
As WECT News 6 reported on March 18 from the comments of Lyana Hunter of the New Hanover County public defender’s office, “criminalising children at such a young age may just affect their life for the worst.”
To paraphrase: “A child of six…” We’re talking about a first- or second-grader here. Hunter was cited as adding, “They don’t know the procedure, they don’t know what’s going on, and they probably don’t even know their address.”
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She highlighted that the earlier a child is exposed to the criminal justice system, the greater the likelihood that they will remain a part of it.
Hunter, who has represented juveniles for the past 14 years, said that treatment is more effective than the court system for dealing with the kinds of behaviour that bring youngsters younger than 12 into contact with the system.
According to the report, North Carolina has the youngest minimum age to enter the juvenile justice system at just 6. However, moves are afoot to make 10 the entry age requirement.
For its part, the National Juvenile Justice Network suggests increasing the age to 14, while the 2020 North Carolina Task Force for Racial Equity in the United States Criminal Justice Report suggests increasing it to 12.
