Franz Kafka wrote The Trial in the mid twenties about a secret court, inaccessible to the common man, who would arrest and proceed against citizens without giving them the information as to what they have done to cause this procedure. The theory, the defendant knows what he has done wrong, it is not necessary that the court spell things out. The Defendant in this work....of fiction?...is forced to proceed from disbelief that he could be charged such, on towards fear and desperation, and finally is forced to defend himself against any and every possible wrong he may have committed in his life. The razor edge of this is, of course, that he had to defend himself without incriminating himself of the crime the court has in mind as well as others. It is a story of the power of the state run amok.
I was just on the Justice4Juveniles.com page, reading some of the topics under consideration for little Jordan. I read the official court documents spelling out the denial of Jordan's application for juvenile court adjudication for his alleged - and I stress, alleged crime of murder. The court denied his application to juvenile court because "his failure to take responsibility for his crime" calls into question the rehabilitative ability of the juvenile system for someone who denies the crime. Of course, this is all pretrial and fails to point out that the defendant has the right to not incriminate himself, be considered innocent until proven guilty, and assumes that should he incriminate himself that would send him on toward the juvenile system. You see, as an adult, he faces life in prison, as a juvenile he is looking at 21 years of age as a max. Seems a fair gamble. Right?
What was something I wondered if could have possibly been true, has come out as fact: The state has decided to try an eleven year old as an adult, and since he refuses to incriminate himself and admit the crime, will not consider this eleven year old as a child. I don't know what more to say on this. I'm lost for words as how this could continue in this country where simple logic ought to win out. I'm dumbfounded as to how this is allowed to continue. And I'm frightened that this sort of foolishness is done by a judge - who we can only presume didn't get his position as a Cracker Jack prize.
Good Luck, America.
