Commentary: Arresting young children is cruel, damaging and ineffective
Jane E. Tewksbury
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New York made national news when body camera footage captured police in Rochester handcuffing and pepper-spraying a 9-year-old girl in January. Last month, the state made headlines again when a 7-year-old boy was arrested in St. Lawrence County.
Many were shocked: Do we really treat elementary school children this way in the U.S.?
Yes we do, but we don’t have to.
In Massachusetts, where I was formerly the commissioner of the commonwealth’s youth justice agency, we raised the minimum age for arrest from 7 to 12 years old in 2018, based on what we know is best for young children and community safety. Now, New York is considering a similar bill that, besides raising the minimum age of arrest to 12, also creates pathways to link children and families with services available through local child welfare and social services. The Youth Correctional Leaders for Justice, a n
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When Regulations Attack
Over the years, George Norris, an elderly retiree, had turned his orchid hobby into a part-time business run from the greenhouse behind his Texas home. He would import orchids from abroad South Africa, Brazil, Peru and resell them at plant shows and to local enthusiasts. He never made more than a few thousand dollars a year from his orchid business, but it kept him engaged and provided a little extra money for him and his wife.
George Norris’s life would take a turn for the worse on the bright fall morning of October 28, 2003, when federal agents, armed and clad in protective Kevlar, raided his home, seizing his belongings and setting the gears in motion for a federal prosecution and jail time.