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Satanica

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http://www.tennessean.com/story/new...kids-not-isolated-murfreesboro-case/83295834/
Shock reverberated through Middle Tennessee in April when Murfreesboro police arrested 10 elementary-age students for not stopping a fight that occurred off campus days earlier.

Lawmakers, church leaders and social justice experts across the country questioned the rationale behind handcuffing and booking children that young. They pointed to the scarring effects on the student and their peers, as well as the societal pattern of pushing kids, especially the most at-risk, out of classrooms and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems.

When it comes to the arrests of young children in Tennessee, what happened in Murfreesboro is not an isolated incident.

Last year, Tennessee law enforcement made 24,843 juvenile arrests. Of those, 1,960 were of children ages 6 to 12 — the same ages of the children arrested in the Murfreesboro case.
[....]
"It seems like a small percentage, but still, 2,000 children that age arrested — that’s just mind-blowing," said Craig Hargrow, director of juvenile justice for the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth. "Arresting children of that age is just not appropriate, except in extreme circumstances. They are young, they have poor impulse control, and their brains are not fully developed."
[....]
Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth works to implement the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act — legislation established in 1974 to support local and state efforts to prevent delinquency and improve the juvenile justice system.

The intent is to make kids appropriately accountable and to ensure their contact with the juvenile justice system is rare and fair.

Nationally, juvenile arrest rates have been on the decline since 2006. Similar trends appear in Tennessee. An analysis of juvenile arrest statistics maintained by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigationshows that over a 15-year period, arrests reached a high of 39,018 in 2007. They reached a 15-year low of 24,843 in 2015.

Metro Nashville Police Department juvenile arrest numbers show a similar trajectory.

In the juvenile justice realm, Capt. Gordon Howey, who heads Metro Nashville Police Department's Youth Services Division, said there is increased attention on alternatives to detention — but not necessarily alternatives to arrests.
[....]
The focus, instead, is on reducing the occurrence of crimes. In Nashville many types of crimes have shown a decrease over the past several years, and Howey believes that may correlate to the reduction in arrests.

Despite the decline, Nashville has experienced an increase in youth violence. During the past five years, 16,955 violent incidents in Nashville involved youth, according toa March report released by Mayor Megan Barry’s office. Last year, among the country's 50 largest cities, Nashville ranked second in the highest percentage increase in homicides — from 41 in 2014 to 78 in 2015. Of those, 55 percent of the perpetrators were 25 years old or younger.

A juvenile justice system that diverts minors from jail ranks among six goals in the mayor's report.

Juvenile justice experts say that, except in extraordinary cases, the focus needs to remain on alternative restorative practices instead of punitive police action.

"Courts have become a repository of discipline and the courts are not geared to do that," said Michael A. Corriero, a former New York state judge[....]
Three weeks ago, on April 15, Murfreesboro police arrested 10 children ranging in age from 6 to 12 years old at Hobgood Elementary School and other locations, handcuffing some and transporting them to the juvenile detention center in connection with a bullying and assault incident that happened earlier off campus.

Arrest records show the children alleged to have witnessed the fight were charged with "criminal responsibility for conduct of another," which according to Tennessee criminal offense code includes incidents when a "person fails to make a reasonable effort to prevent" an offense. The offense was assault.

In Tennessee, police departments set their own policies and procedures for detaining a student, according to Maggi Duncan, executive director of the [URL='http://www.tacp.org/']Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police
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Arresting little kids, shooting restrained dogs left and right... and cops wonder why they've got a PR problem?

It'd be laughable if it weren't so disgusting.
 
Holy Cow! What happened to just chasing off the watchers and talking to the ones fighting. These are just babies, ffs.
 
My kid is almost 6, the same age as some of the kids arrested. She would have no clue how to stop a fight. She would either scream and cry, or be completely oblivious that the fight even happened.

She cant even put a straw in a capri sun!
 
Last year, Tennessee law enforcement made 24,843 juvenile arrests. Of those, 1,960 were of children ages 6 to 12


Six year olds do not belong in hand cuffs...that is revolting. The mothers and fathers that made them maybe, but not the six year old.
 
This police dept better NEVER complain about being undermanned or not having enough resources to best do the job. If they can afford to waste shit on nonsense like this, they're likely over staffed and funded.
 
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