A few states have banned the practice of indiscriminately shackling juveniles. But that's not true for the majority.
Bryan Schatz reports A Court Put a 9-Year-Old in Shackles for Stealing Chewing Gum—an Outrage That Happens Every Single Day:
The nine-year-old stole a 14-stick pack of Trident "Layers" chewing gum, Orchard Peach and Ripe Mango flavor, worth $1.48. He'd lingered by the beverage isle of the Super 1 Foods in Post Falls, Idaho, for a while before bailing out the front door. The theft led to a missed court appearance, which led to an arrest and a night spent in a juvenile jail. The next day, the third-grader appeared in court, chained and shackled.
At least 100,000 children are shackled in the US every year, according to estimates by David Shapiro, a campaign manager at the Campaign Against Indiscriminate Juvenile Shackling. (Formal data on numbers of shackled kids does not exist.) As juvenile justice practices have grown more punitive over the past several decades, shackling has become far more common. This month, the American Bar Association (ABA) passed a resolution calling for an end to this practice because it is harmful to juveniles, largely unnecessary for courtroom safety—and contradicts existing law. "We're not just talking handcuffs here. These kids are virtually hog-tied," says John D. Elliott, a South Carolina defense attorney who worked on the resolution. "The only difference is their hands are in front."
The restraints—which include handcuffs, belly chains, and leg irons—are used on kids of all ages and often don't fit the severity of their crime: The majority of kids are in court for non-violent offenses, like shoplifting or truancy.
The ABA says that this practice is contrary to law because it undermines the accused's right to be presumed innocent. In adult criminal court, if the defendant is seen by the jury in any sort of restraint, that's almost always considered a mistrial, explains Judge Jay Blitzman from Massachusetts, who worked on the ABA's resolution and helped pass anti-shackling policy for juveniles in his state. "You're sending a message, and it's not subliminal. It's: 'This guy is dangerous.'" The ABA argues that these anti-shackling principles observed in adult court should apply with equal, if not greater, force for children. [...]
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2014—Woman in debunked Obamacare horror story finally speaks ... to Fox News:
The subject of the latest debunked Obamacare horror story is finally talking, and of course it's to Fox News. Julie Boonstra is a Michigan resident with leukemia, and she appeared in an Americans For Prosperity ad against Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Gary Peters, saying that Obamacare made her cancer treatment unaffordable because of out of pocket spending. Subsequent fact checking, though, found that her monthly premium payments were essentially cut in half, and the limits the law imposes on out of pocket expenses means that at worse, she'd break even between those costs and her premium saving. The ad also implied she lost access to her doctor, though fact checking determined that her doctor is included in the plan she picked on the exchange.
So with no real basis to the story she presented in the ad, how does Boonstra respond? The only way she can, the way Republicans always go, playing the victim.
"They're not scaring me. Cancer scares me," she said. "I battle cancer every day. They're not going to intimidate me." [...]
"Under my old policy, I knew what I could afford every single month because I wasn't hit with extra charges. Now I don't know what I have to pay month to month," she said. "Leukemia tests are extremely expensive."
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Just to set the record straight, pointing out factual inconsistencies is not intimidation.
Tweets of the Day
kenyan born dictator issues illegal veto
— @Atrios
@Atrios adds signing statement declaring he doesn't love America
— @wilw
On
today's Kagro in the Morning show,
Greg Dworkin notes how O'Reilly & his allies are making things worse. Jeb crowds out Marco. Christie: still toast. Wingnut debate to be "moderated" by... a wingnut. Why Walker might look better on paper than in real life. Mitch McConnell pitches caving on DHS as a masterstroke, and Joe Manchin buys in. Another "sharing economy" idea that sounds like it depends on "disrupting" some otherwise sensible regulations: package delivery. Small government conservatives use ALEC to call "no backsies" on devolution. In the closing minutes: teasing
Armando's favorite constitutional hardball idea, court-packing.
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