Baltimore unrest: 49 children were arrested and detained during protests

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Baltimore unrest: 49 children were arrested and detained during protests

Oliver Laughland in New York
Thursday 7 May 2015 23.27 BST

At least 49 children were arrested during three days of civil unrest and protest that engulfed Baltimore last week, nearly half of whom were never charged with an offence, the city’s Office of the Public Defender (OPD) has said.

The public defender office stated that all 49, arrested between 27-29 April, were detained for up to 48 hours by the Maryland department of juvenile services (DJS), despite 39 of them meeting standards for release.

Baltimore is part of the Annie E Casey Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative (JDAI), which aims to reduce juvenile detention by measuring an arrested child’s risk level and producing an objective recommendation on whether they should remain detained. The OPD has accused the DJS, tasked with making release recommendations to the juvenile court, of ignoring the JDAI procedures and keeping all 49 children detained.

In one stark example, an elementary school fifth grader was arrested in an incident described by the public defender’s office as “protest related”. He received a low JDAI score and was recommended for release, but instead, was kept in juvenile jail for a night. In a statement the OPD continued: “The young boy was then brought to court in chains - hands and feet shackled - before finally being released to his parents.”

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/07/baltimore-children-arrests-freddie-gray-protests

[AuntPatsy]

1. It's imperative the police departments are investigated by outside forces..

Way to go, for some of those kids getting over the trauma some surely suffered could last ages...

[libdem4life]

2. K & R for relevance ... "The times, they are a'changin' "

[okaawhatever]

3. Seriously, a 5th grader in leg shackles? That very disturbing nt

[Downwinder]

4. Wonder how many were just

trying to get a bus to go home from school.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

5. Just another example of outrageous police behavior. This has to end, now. Bring it Bernie!

[gratuitous]

6. Now what would we hear if this was 49 kids from, say, the Upper West Side?

Of course, these kids in Baltimore will be expected to just shrug this off and harbor no ill will toward the cops. I sure hope we can hear from Fox about what a bunch of thugs these 49 kids are. They all have criminal records now, you know. So if any of them get gunned down in the months to come, some enterprising and opportunistic asshole will be quick to condemn the deceased.