Some Questions About The Ja'eisha Scott Case (II)

The St Petersburg Times, which was first to make the video of Ja'eisha publicly available and has provided some of the most detailed coverage of the story, is the same newspaper that in the year 2000 ran a six article series on the epidemic proportions of police arrests of children under twelve years old.

Six-year-olds in handcuffs are taken in police cars to assessment centers, where they often wait for hours. Kids as young as 7 spend the night in detention centers. Kids as young as 10 are sent away for a year or more.

And in a very few cases, children enter the justice system at even younger ages, such as a 5-year-old St. Petersburg boy charged this year with burglary; and incredibly, a preschool arson suspect who went through a pretrial diversion program in South Florida at age 3.

More than 4,500 kids 11 and under were charged with crimes in Florida during the fiscal year that ended in June -- including 413 in Pinellas County, 372 in Hillsborough, 61 in Pasco, 23 in Citrus and 17 in Hernando -- and many were arrested more than once.

In fact, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties lead the state in cases of under-12-year-olds charged with a crime (emphasis added).

Another article from the same series emphasizes that African American children are disproportionately represented among those who are arrested at these young ages.

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.

Pinellas County, where Ja'eisha's school, Fairmount Park Elementary School, is located, leads the state with Hillsborough county in these incidents.

Why hasn't the St. Petersburg Times mentioned any of these trends—which it reported on in its own pages—as part of the context for what happened to Ja'eisha Scott?

We have a great deal of information about bad conduct of police towards very young children inside and outside of Pinellas County Schools and zero information about the causes of Ja'eisha's behavior and the nature of Inga Akins' parenting.

Why is there such a rush to blame a vulnerable African American girl, who is ONLY FIVE YEARS OLD and "by reason of . . . physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care" (Unicef Convention on the Rights of the Child, via Marian Douglas)?

Why are there so few questions being asked about the role of the responsible adults who were present at the time of the incident?

Why is there so little acknowledgment of the age- and race-related power imbalances?

Why is it so little acknowledged that the only person who was ever in any genuine physical danger was Ja'eisha Scott?

Why have none of the reporters in the mainstream press bothered to seek expert opinions on the traumatic effects of such police behavior on small children?

Why have none of the news reports discussed what prevention resources are, in fact, available for children in Pinellas County, Florida?

Why have none of the news reports acknowledged the lack of funding for mental health treatment for children in Florida?

"This is what kids need. They need to be engaged," said Panacek, executive director of the Hillsborough Children's Board and a specialist in special education.

Panacek is a strong critic of the "real idiotic, knee-jerk response" she believes schools and police display by arresting young children who don't intend to hurt anyone.

So what would she do?

Find ways to prevent kids from being so disruptive that they wind up in handcuffs.

It sounds easier said than done, but several experts on children say there are ways to accomplish it. Here are some of their suggestions:

Provide more mental health treatment for children. Funding for some mental services is so low that children are virtually required to commit crimes before they qualify for certain programs, some say (emphasis added). "In general, the solution to decreasing the arrests of school-aged children is to provide a much better funded, more comprehensive mental health service to the community," said Dr. Mark Cavitt, medical director of psychiatry at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg.

RELATED POSTS:
Arresting Children Under 12 In Florida
It's a statewide epidemic, and Pinellas County, which includes St. Petersburg, leads the state, along with Hillsborough County, in arresting children under 11 years old.

What's Race Got To Do With It?

Focus On Pinellas County Schools
• "Black kids are mistreated every day in Pinellas County schools"

• Class Action Suit: "the district has failed to narrow a yawning achievement gap between black and white students, in violation of the equal protection clause in the state Constitution."

• Criminalizing Children In Florida

Things You May Not Have Read About The Ja'eisha Scott Case
• Accounts Of Police Involvement In Ja'eisha Scott Case Raise New Questions About Assist. Principal Dibenedetto's Intent

• "I think they were good people . . . [Ja'eisha] didn't act like that over here."

Comments

[Genuine]

Great post Mr. Greenberg thank you for reporting.

[Greg Giles]

From what I can see there was not a hint of racism and the "Man" was nowhere to be found. What we had here was a brat with a temper tantrum. In another time (not too long ago), this child would have been lovingly, but firmly, escorted out and admonished verbally and physically that they ARE NOT ALLOWED TO ACT THAT WAY, their feelings notwithstanding.

Had I EVER acted up that long and been that destructive at school, the response from my mother and father would have been swift and sure (and appropriate to a 5 year old butt). I would then have been made to apologize to the teacher for my bad behavior. I was not, nor is Ja'eisha, the most important person in the world. Basic rules of decent behavior are more important, as are learning impulse control.

Allow me to respond to Mr. Greenberg's questions in the above article:

Why are there so few questions being asked about the role of the responsible adults who were present at the time of the incident? The adult's role was to calm if possible, and discipline if necessary, an unruly child. However, with the current litigious environment, I can fully understand a teacher not wanting to risk a lawsuit by "mistreating" a child. She couldn't spank her, she couldn't restrain her, the child would not calm down. She did the only thing she could.

Why is there so little acknowledgment of the age- and race-related power imbalances? Teachers are by definition adults and students in elementary school are by definition children. That would account for the age disparity. I see race in this particular situation as irrelevant. Teachers are typically slightly liberal minded and usually kindly disposed toward children. This was a brat vs. teacher, not an oppressed minority vs. THE MAN (or WOMAN in this case).

Why is it so little acknowledged that the only person who was ever in any genuine physical danger was Ja'eisha Scott? The physical risk to the child or adult was not the issue. I don't care one bit if all parties involved were absolutely protected from harm. The behavior was the acting out, not the damage she might inflict. She should not be allowed to act this way because such behavior is inherently wrong.

Why have none of the reporters in the mainstream press bothered to seek expert opinions on the traumatic effects of such police behavior on small children? Simply put, the experts are very often wrong, PhD's notwithstanding. Any premise, no matter how well developed or academic sounding is flawed if you proceed from an incorrect starting point. If the teacher and parents had been inclined and/or permitted to teach this child that she is not the center of the universe, police involvement would not be required for typical child issues. Firm and loving discipline is always better than getting children to emote and get in touch with their feelings. See Dr. Spock's mea culpa.

Why have none of the news reports discussed what prevention resources are, in fact, available for children in Pinellas County, Florida? The first line of defense was proper parenting. That, of course did not happen in this case.

Why have none of the news reports acknowledged the lack of funding for mental health treatment for children in Florida? Separate issue. From my admittedly distant perspective, this particular child has a discipline problem, not a mental health problem.

This mother should be admonished as well as the child. The black community should stop defending bad parents and destructive behavior. Stop finding lawyers to excuse bad parenting.

Greg Giles