TNB

Abstracted from: Kristin Henning, Criminalizing Normal Adolescent Behavior in Communities of Color: The Role of Prosecutors in Juvenile Justice Reform, 98 Cornell Law Review 383 (January, 2013) (439 Footnotes)

ABSTRACT


Over the last quarter century, psychological research has shown that much of youth crime and delinquency is the product of normal adolescent development. Compared to adults, adolescents often make impetuous and ill-considered decisions, are susceptible to negative influences and outside pressures, and have a limited capacity to identify and weigh the short- and long-term consequences of their choices. As most youth mature, however, they age out of delinquent behavior and rarely persist in a life of crime. Because children and adolescents are more malleable and amenable to rehabilitation than adults, the Supreme Court has recognized youth as a mitigating factor in the disposition of even the most serious criminal behavior by adolescents. Most notably, in Roper v. Simmons in 2005, Graham v. Florida in 2010, and Miller v. Alabama in 2012, the Supreme Court relied upon developmental research to conclude, respectively, that the death penalty is categorically inappropriate for youth under the age of eighteen, the sentence of life without the possibility of parole is too severe for youth convicted in nonhomicide cases, and a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole in homicide cases is impermissible because it denies youth the opportunity to present mitigating evidence concerning their development.
Ironically, the developmental research seems to have had little effect in reversing the pervasive overreliance on law enforcement officials and juvenile courts when responding to typical adolescent behaviors, particularly among youth of color. Whereas school officials were once willing to address normal adolescent misconduct through counseling and other in-school interventions, school officials now routinely rely on police officers to manage student discipline. A typical schoolyard fight is labeled as a felony assault, and students who play “catch” with a teacher’s hat are charged with robbery. While teachers, law enforcement officers, and ultimately prosecutors are rightly concerned about public safety, youth accountability, and compensating victims for their harms, these concerns are too often addressed with law enforcement strategies that ignore scientifically supported conclusions about adolescent offending and diminished culpability. These strategies also disregard more effective, community-based alternatives to prosecution that are more likely to ensure adolescents’ successful transition to adulthood.

There is little dispute that racial disparities pervade the contemporary American juvenile justice system. Although black youth comprised only 16% of all youth in the United States from 2002 to 2004, they accounted for 28% of all juvenile arrests, 37% of detained youth, 34% of youth formally processed by the juvenile court, 35% of youth judicially waived to criminal court, and 58% of youth sent to adult state prison. MORE

http://www.newsnet14.com/?p=121135

A cultural sensitivity training program for United States Department of Agriculture employees asks them to repeat the phrase: “The pilgrims were illegal aliens,” according to conservative activists.

The program also suggests employees replace the word “minorities” with “emerging majorities.” Conservative group Judicial Watch obtained a video of the program led by trainer Samuel Betances through a Freedom of Information Act request. In 2011 and 2012, the USDA paid Betances and his firm about $200,000, the group said.

Clip 2:USDA respecting its "cultural transformation" training session.mp <<YouTube VIDEO<<

Betances tries to help employees relate to undocumented immigrants in the United States by asking them: “I want you to say that America was founded by outsiders – ” say that – ” who are today’s insiders, who are very nervous about today’s outsiders. I want you to say, – The pilgrims were illegal aliens.’ Say, – The pilgrims never gave their passports to the Indians.’”

Judicial Watch is not a fan of the program.

“This USDA diversity training video depicts out-of-control political correctness,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch. “Can someone please explain how any of this helps USDA employees to better serve the American taxpayer? This video further confirms that politically-correct diversity training programs are both offensive and a waste of taxpayer money.” MORE AT Judicial Watch

Thank You Advance
http://www.newsnet14.com/?p=120820 http://www.newsnet14.com/images/pilgrims-120x80.jp...

Lt. General Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877) was a renowned Southern military leader and strategist during the War Between the States. During the Civil War, Forrest’s Confederate cavalry wrecked havoc among Union forces throughout the mid-South. He gained worldwide fame from his many battlefield successes, but the wartime heroics have overshadowed his post-war work as a community leader and civil rights advocate. He fought fiercely on the battlefield, yet was a compassionate man off the field. After the war, Forrest worked tirelessly to build the New South and to promote employment for black Southerners. Forrest was known near and far as a great general, and was a well-respected citizen by both blacks and whites alike.

The Independent Order of Pole-Bearers Association (predecessor to the NAACP) was organized by Southern blacks after the war to promote black voting rights, etc. One of their early conventions was held in Memphis and Mr. Forrest was invited to be the guest speaker, the first white man ever to be invited to speak to the Association.

After the Civil War, General Forrest made a speech to the Memphis City Council (then called the Board of Aldermen). In this speech he said that there was no reason that the black man could not be doctors, store clerks, bankers, or any other job equal to whites. They were part of our community and should be involved and employed as such just like anyone else. In another speech to Federal authorities, Forrest said that many of the ex-slaves were skilled artisans and needed to be employed and that those skills needed to be taught to the younger workers. If not, then the next generation of blacks would have no skills and could not succeed and would become dependent on the welfare of society.

Virginia’s Black Confederates

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One would have to be stupid to think that blacks were fighting in order to preserve slavery. What’s untaught in most history classes is that it is relatively recent that we Americans think of ourselves as citizens of United States. For most of our history, we thought of ourselves as citizens of Virginia, citizens of New York and citizens of whatever state in which we resided. Wesley says, “To the majority of the Negroes, as to all the South, the invading armies of the Union seemed to be ruthlessly attacking independent States, invading the beloved homeland and trampling upon all that these men held dear.” Blacks have fought in all of our wars both before and after slavery, in hopes of better treatment afterwards.

Denying the role, and thereby cheapening the memory, of the Confederacy’s slaves and freemen who fought in a failed war of independence is part of the agenda to cover up Abraham Lincoln’s unconstitutional acts to prevent Southern secession. Did states have a right to secede? At the 1787 Constitutional Convention, James Madison rejected a proposal that would allow the federal government to suppress a seceding state. He said, “A Union of the States containing such an ingredient seemed to provide for its own destruction. The use of force against a State would look more like a declaration of war than an infliction of punishment and would probably be considered by the party attacked as a dissolution of all previous compacts by which it might be bound.” -snip

Forrest’s words went unheeded. The Memphis & Selma Railroad was organized by Forrest after the war to help rebuild the South’s transportation and to build the ‘new South’. Forrest took it upon himself to hire blacks as architects, construction engineers and foremen, train engineers and conductors, and other high level jobs. In the North, blacks were prohibited from holding such jobs. more

CITY REMOVAL OF FORREST PARK MARKER ANGERS SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS
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Sons of Confederate Veterans spokesman Lee Millar, past chairman of the Shelby County Historical Commission, said he noticed on his way to work Tuesday morning that the marker had disappeared. Ten feet long, the marker simply said “Forrest Park.”

Millar said there were no signs of damage to surrounding grass in the park on Union in the heart of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center campus. UT maintains the park, which is owned by the city. Since the grass wasn’t damaged, Millar said it would have taken a crane to cleanly lift the marker and its concrete base from the park. He filed a police report, but said he suspected the city was involved, because it would have been the only one with the equipment to move the 1,000-pound Tennessee granite stone.

Memphis Chief Administrative Officer George Little said he authorized the removal using city General Services equipment on grounds the marker had not been formally approved. Little said he did not notify anyone ahead of time because he had no idea who installed the marker, although Millar said the back side of the marker had an inscription saying it was placed by Memphis Park Services, the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Shelby County Historical Commission. -snip

Columbus police used pepper spray to control and disperse a larger-than-expected crowd of people who had gathered at a Northeast Side church yesterday to sign up for a subsidized-housing waiting list.

Police Dispatched to Quell Civil Unrest over Section 8 Housing in Columbus<<<VIDEO


We now have foreign “gimmiedats” in addition to the population of citizen derelicts who collect welfare because it’s so much easier than working for a living. There was a time when immigrants were legal and they actually assimilated into the American melting pot. Now, they just set up enclaves and expect government handouts.
FYI: The Somali Community Association of Ohio website lists the following facts: 45,000 Somalis live in Ohio; 99.9 percent are Muslim; 40 percent have become U.S. citizens; and 57 percent are eligible to become U.S. citizens, emphasis on the “eligible” part.

Authorities said the crowd that gathered at Mount Hermon Missionary Baptist Church, 2283 Sunbury Rd., numbered more than 1,000 and consisted mostly of local Somalis.

Neighbors of the church started calling police about 6:30 a.m. to complain about loud music, blaring car horns and people parking in private driveways, according to police call logs. Some in the crowd started arguing with neighborhood residents, according to subsequent calls to police.

Eventually, someone from Heritage arrived to set up for the event, and police records indicate that the crowd then rushed the doors. That’s when police officers used chemicals to control the crowd. The event was canceled.

A sign on the rental-office door of the apartment complex said the sign-up was being assisted by My Brother’s Keeper, a social-service ministry of the church.
The apartment complex has 384 units, according to its website. A sign on the door said the sign-up was for a pre-application to get on a waiting list and that only the first 200 people would be accepted.

Hassan Omar, the leader of the Somali Community Association of Ohio, said many Somalis already live at Heritage. Columbus is home to the second-largest Somali community in the United States, and housing is a real problem for them, Omar said. Families are large, and many crowd into too-small apartments. Anytime word of a vacancy spreads, people want in, he said. >>>MORE<<<

thank you MOM