Juvenile Justice
The Long Beach Press-Telegram has produced an excellent series, "Kids and Crime: Inside Juvenile Justice." The sections, written by Wendy Thomas Russell, Greg Mellen, Tracy Manzer and Kevin Butler, cover local neighborhoods, schools, police, courts and detention centers. In the following excerpt, Russell takes us into the courtroom of Long Beach Juvenile Court Judge Gibson Lee who deals with some heartbreaking cases.
Billy is a skinny kid, and small. As he enters Lee's courtroom from an adjacent holding cell, his hands are shackled. He sits before the judge, looking scared, his shoulders barely visible above the back of his chair.
On request from his attorney, Lee postpones the case to another day. The court's bailiff prepares to escort Billy back to the holding cell.
But Billy's aunt, sitting in the audience behind him, pipes up: "Can I give him a hug?" she asks.
"That is solely up to the discretion of the security officer," Lee answers.
The aunt stands, just feet from her nephew, whose back is still facing her. She is hopeful and nervous as she looks to the uniformed bailiff for permission.
The bailiff walks over to the boy, who is still seated, pulls him up and glances at his face.
He turns the boy around and gives the aunt a nod, allowing the rare embrace.
As the aunt takes the slight boy in her arms, tears stream down both their faces. They hold the embrace for a moment before the aunt lets go. The bailiff escorts Billy toward the door again. He looks back at his aunt one last time. His lip is quivering.
As is often the case, the brief proceeding takes place without a mention of Billy's alleged crime. Later, when asked what the boy had done to get arrested, Lee answers directly.
"He is accused of raping his younger sisters," he says.
The last section, "Lots of Answers, but No Easy Fixes," discusses eight ways to reduce juvenile crime.
http://www.presstelegram.com/justice/