By Benjamin Chambers, March 04 2009
Malika Calhoun, now 16, was detained in November 2008 by sheriff's deputies in King County, Washington on charges of stealing a car. When asked to remove her shoes, she kicked one of them off and it reportedly struck the deputy in the shin. His response is recorded above. He's been on administrative leave since December; this week, he pleaded innocent to charges of fourth-degree assault. He pleaded innocent.
This is a horrifying case; one hopes it's also an isolated incident. But it underscores the degree to which youth in the justice system are unprotected and vulnerable. Without a video camera in the cell, this would never have come to light.
I was appalled by some of the comments responding to this news story about the incident. While many commenters seemed to understand that the deputy's response was out of all proportion to the teen's offense, there were a few who felt that Calhoun only got what she deserved: in their eyes, she was guilty because she'd been detained; and worse, they thought that beating her up would teach her a lesson.
When are we going to get past the idea (which is unsupported by research) that detention and corporal punishment are effective deterrents? Or that teens in the justice system deserve whatever happens to them?
They're not throwaways, to be literally or metaphorically punched and thrown to the ground. These are our kids, kids the community should care about, because they can and do change. (That's what being a teenager is all about.)
That's one reason why Reclaiming Futures makes a point of trying to involve the community at all levels of its work, and consciously doing outreach to the community to tell the story of teens who are successful -- because it reminds people that however frightening these youth may want to appear, they need our help, steady support and attention.
But what do you think?
Topics: Juvenile Justice Reform, News, No bio box
Updated: February 08 2018