Arresting Children Under 12 In Florida

What happened to Ja'eisha Scott in St. Petersburg, Florida is part of a statewide trend, which was studied and documented in a special report to the St. Petersburg Times in the year 2000. That's right—five years ago.

Here are some of the relevant statistics:

Pinellas [which includes St. Petersburg] and Hillsborough counties lead the state in cases of children 11 and younger being charged with crimes.

Meanwhile, statewide, there is a stark difference among arrests of children by race -- one that gets sharper as the children get younger. . . .

It's not unexpected that Pinellas and Hillsborough would rank high on the list, because each county is home to more than 100,000 school-age children. Hillsborough County has the third-highest number of schoolchildren in the state, and Pinellas has the seventh-highest number, according to 1998 state Department of Education figures. . . .

The data show 40.5 percent of juveniles 12 and older charged with crimes are African-American. But for children under 12, the percentage jumps to 55 percent African-American.

And for youths in detention centers, the juvenile version of jails, 57.2 percent were African-American.

This is in spite of the fact that roughly 21 percent of school-age children are African-American, according to state Department of Education figures. (Emphasis added.)

Of course the statewide statistics don't necessarily tell us anything about what occurs in Ja'eisha's school system. But information gathered about the Pinellas County school system is grim:

[W]hen the St. Petersburg Times asked the Pinellas school system for felony police reports of kids age 11 and under, it handed over 71 reports for a 16-month period. In other words, more than one per week, and that didn't include misdemeanors.

"We are seeing, from year to year, more things happening in the elementary division," said Joe Feraca, chief of the Pinellas schools' campus police.

Five years ago in Pinellas County, eight kids under 12 went through "juvenile arbitration," a counseling program mostly for young, first-time offenders. Last year the number grew to 139.

Remember these numbers are from 2000, and the incidents were then on the increase since the mid-nineties. I would hazard a guess that the numbers are much worse now.

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Photo: A 8-year-old is fingerprinted at the Juvenile Assessment Center in Largo after he was arrested on charges including battery on a law enforcement officer. (Cherie Diez)

Comments

[Anon]

And of course, that's all due to racism, right? Couldn't possibly be because there's a nasty trend in certain lower class African-American neighborhoods to glorify gangsta rap and the gangsta crimes celebrated on those CDs...

I don't know if you saw the video, but the kid launched a full physical assault on a school principal. A few minutes in handcuffs is, frankly, exactly what she needed -- and might have reduced the chances she spends more time in cuffs when she reached 15. Suing the city is exactly the wrong message. Mom should send the city a warm thank-you for disciplining a kid gone out of control.

[mmm]

what a very dumb person you are {Anon}!!!!

[Jonathan David Jackson]

Sadly, "Anon" and "Marquita" seem to believe that violence and constraint deserves violence and constraint. Indeed, "Anon," is correct: a lot of inner city blacks AS WELL AS COUNTLESS MIDDLE CLASS OR EVEN RICH WHITE SUBURBAN YOUTHS WHO BUY EMIMEN'S MUSIC AND OTHER RAP implicitly if not explicitly glorify rap. (Where would the black (and fewer white) rappers be without the predominately white buying public?) But, when do we break the cycle of violence. Handcuffing a five-year old actually teaches them to go on being ANGRY and surly and rageful. These are in fact the images and messages that they're getting in so many places--from black and white producers alike...let's face it: all of the mass media and entertainment's hands are DIRTY. MTV, BET and VH1 promote the rap industry. And, for that matter, white-consumed rock music and heavy metal and grunge is equally as violent and look what's happening in white enclaves with shootings.

The problems are:

* the matching of violence with violence with young children; hence they learn and repeat such acts

* the disproportionate amount of Florida school handcuffings and police arrests that involve very young black children.

I actually respect these two anonymous posts (with the exception of the mean-spirited attack on your person...ad hominem attacks weren't even warranted in the school yard). I respect them because the reality is that MOST people in this country glorify and condone violence among *and* towards the supposedly pathological black inner city and rural poor.

...but have mercy: when your child has an EXTREME tandrum, see how it feels when SOME BODY ELSE--especially a cop--man handles them and shackles them.

About seven months ago I saw a white mother in the super market endure a ballistic-as-all-hell-tandrum by her toddler who knocked over food products in the aisle and kicked security. But the cops who came DID NOT hand cuff the child. What did they do? They ignored this child and waited with the patience of Jesus Christ and the priests of the temple for the child to calm down and realize that the earth does not revolve around him and eventually the child got it together and even helped to pick up the mess.

REGARDLESS OF RACE, THEY'RE CHILDREN.

[mm]

I noticed that the school district was placing a lot of emphasis on the fact that the mother of this child would not allow school employees to "discipline" her child and so this was their only option. I'm sure the primary reason that they are bringing this up is to CYA but I wonder if implicitly it is warning to other parents who do not want school officials manhandling their children.

[gilda]

what are you people talking about? This is a five year-old child. As soon as I see the treatment for blue-eyed "Billy" then we can have a discussion. Look at the facts people, the numbers tell me and any other reasonable person that these administrators over-reacted. Had the seem tantrum been thrown by "Billy" he would've been sent to the offce for a time-out period!!!!

GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS...THIS IS RACISM PLAIN AND SIMPLE...DEAL WITH IT!!!! YOU WONDER WHY THERE IS "BLACK RAGE". LET'S SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN IT'S "BILLY".

[marissa]

why are kids under the age of 12 bening aressted they should be charged but not but in jail!!! if u have anything to say to me then u can contact me at [email protected]

~ marissa of DB FL ~