by Taylor Walker
USING PHOTOGRAPHS TO CHANGE MINDS ABOUT LOCKED UP KIDS
The Juvenile-in-Justice project, created by Photographer Richard Ross, documents the conditions youths live in within the juvenile justice system. The project is intended to raise awareness and will include traveling exhibit and a book–both due Fall 2012. The Juvenile-in-Justice book will include over 1000 photos of incarcerated juveniles and over 200 photos of staff and essays from This American Life’s Ira Glass and the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Bart Lubow. The website and blog about the project features amazing images and interviews and is absolutely worth visiting.
Here’s what Ross has to say about the project in a personal statement:
In the past I have photographed for major magazines, newspapers and institutions. At this phase in my career I am turning my lens towards the juvenile justice system and using what I have learned in 40+ years of photography to create a body of work of compelling images to instigate policy reform. My medium is a conscience. My products are photographic and textual evidence of a system that houses, on any given day, over 90,000 kids.
TRAGEDY ALL AROUND WHEN A 14-YEAR OLD LA BOY KILLS HIS ICE AGENT DAD
A 14-year-old was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of shooting and killing his father, a Los Angeles-based ICE agent. Authorities say the boy shot his father, Myron Chism, in the back of the head with Myron’s federal-issued handgun.
AP’s Greg Risling has the story. Here’s a clip:
The father was found dead after the boy called 911 late Wednesday and said the man had been shot in the back of the head by a bullet fired through a window from the backyard of their home in Carson, near Los Angeles, sheriff’s officials said.
“Evidence gained from the scene and statements made by the suspect” led to the arrest, sheriff’s Lt. Holly Francisco said.
The boy was taken into custody at the home and booked for investigation of murder.
No motive for the killing was released.
LA Times’ Matt Stevens and Kim Christensen also covered the story.
Larry Altman of the Long Beach Press-Telegram too has a lengthy report.
Let us hope that prosecutors don’t compound this tragedy by racing to try the boy who killed his dad as an adult so they can give him the usual LWOP sentence.
SPLIT CALIFORNIA APPEALS COURT SAYS 50-TO-LIFE SENTENCE FOR 16-YEAR-OLD SHOULD REMAIN
In a 2-1 split decision this week, a California appeals court upheld a 50-to-life sentence given to a 16-year-old. Quochuy “Tony” Tran was charged in 2007 with killing 15-year-old Ichinkhorloo “Iko” Bayarsaikhan at an Alameda park after two groups of kids yelled insults at each other. Tran’s five friends, who were with him the night of the shooting, were also tried for murder, but in juvenile court, while Tran was tried as an adult for the killing, which appeared to be the result of an angry impulse and a single shot. As a result, a girl is dead and a young man will live out most of his life in prison.
Here’s a clip from the story by Bob Egelko from the SF Chron:
Tran’s sentence was “proportional to his crime,” said Presiding Justice William McGuiness in the ruling by the First District Court of Appeal. He said Tran was the instigator of the killing and an attempted robbery that preceded it. And under legal precedent, McGuiness said, the U.S. Supreme Court has only shielded minors from sentences of death or, in non-homicide cases, of life without the possibility of parole. The high court is considering whether to extend those rulings to a ban against all life-without-parole sentences for juveniles, but McGuiness said that wouldn’t apply to Tran because it’s possible he will be paroled within his lifetime.
But dissenting Justice Stuart Pollak said the logic of the previous rulings should also apply to a youth like Tran whose crime, while “horrible and tragic,” was the result of “a single sudden and impulsive act.”
Pollak said a counselor who worked with Tran after he was jailed described him as ”a child … angry, impulsive, and dangerous,” who matured into “an admirable, independent-minded young man.” Although the crime deserves severe punishment, the justice said, Tran is capable of rehabilitation and should have a chance to live some portion of his adult life outside prison.
The state Supreme Court has already agreed to decide whether another 16-year-old, who was sentenced to 110 years in prison for three attempted murders, is constitutionally entitled to a realistic chance at parole. Tran’s lawyer, Frank McCabe, said he’ll ask the court to review his case as well.
You can read the Bay City story on his conviction here.
EDITOR’S NOTE: AND THERE WAS ALSO THE ALTADENA BEAR STORY…AND A WOLF UPDATE
Okay, admittedly not a juvenile justice story, although there were bear cubs involved…
However, after the often painful stories we deal with here, we figured perhaps some cool bear footage was called for.
And while we’re on the general topic, it looks like OR7, the young male wolf who’s been wandering between Oregon and northern edge of California, is back in our fair state again as of May 1.
For those interested who live in No Cal, wolf biologist Carter Niemeyer (whose work I know from the state of Montana) will be in the Bay area talking about wolfish topics in a four event tour that kicks off on May 6.