NAACP leaders are distressed by this week’s dismissal verdict rendered by Circuit Court Judge Michael M. Galloway in the death of Isaiah Simmons, III at the hands of adults who sought to discipline him at an alternative juvenile justice facility in Carroll County, Md. The civil rights organization is urging the U.S. Department of Justice and other federal officials to conduct a thorough investigation and intervention.
Simmons, 17, lost consciousness and died Jan. 23, 2007 after struggling with five adult staff of the Bowling Brook Prepatory School, a privately run residential program under contract with the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services. Witnesses said the staffers sat on Simmons’ limbs, chest and head. He was subsequently restrained for three hours. Staffers did not call emergency medical services for more than 40 minutes once Simmons was determined unresponsive. The state medical examiner's ruled his death a homicide.
“Children are the most precious gifts we receive, and for that reason, they deserve special protection,” said NAACP Interim President & CEO Dennis Courtland Hayes. “By not protecting them, even mistakenly, we send the terrible message that they are marked for destruction. Tragic incidents of this nature cannot continue to happen and are unacceptable.”
After a grand jury decided against indicting the staffers for manslaughter and other offenses, they were subsequently charged with reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor. On Tuesday Judge Galloway dropped all charges against Jason W. Robinson, Brian G. Kanavy, Shadi Sabbagh, Mark R. Sainato and Dennis Harding, writing in his decision that “the indictment fails to properly allege a crime upon which the defendants maybe convicted” and that the indictment was “constitutionally flawed.” .
Judge Galloway further wrote, that the state’s reckless endangerment law has been "deliberately construed to punish affirmative actions rather than passive inactions."
“The staffers had a moral and legal duty to ensure the safety and well-being of all children at Bowling Brook,” said NAACP Interim General Counsel Angela Ciccolo. “No one’s child should be treated this way.”
The increase in reports of violence and overly aggressive prosecution against African American youth by law enforcement officials symbolized by the Simmons case, the boot camp beating death of Martin Lee Anderson, the assault of Shelwanda Riley by a police officer and countless other recent dehumanizing attacks led the NAACP to declare a ‘State of Emergency’ last October that requires immediate action by local
and state authorities as well as the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Congress.
“The Isaiah Simmons case is a tragic one,” said Maryland NAACP State Conference President Gerald Stansbury. “This young man was at an institution to be rehabilitated. He was a father, a son, a brother and he did not deserve to die. Gross negligence on the part of Bowling Brook staff was clearly the case. The NAACP will not remain silent.
“Speaking out will not bring Isaiah back, or take away the pain or void that the family feels,” Stansbury added, “but it may save the life of another youth. Speaking out may stimulate the creation of new laws to make staffers in these custodial positions rethink the performance of their duties. The demand of the day is for JUSTICE --and we all need to put out that call.”
National reports and statistical data clearly illustrate the criminal justice system’s disparate treatment of African American and other racial and ethnic minority young people.
A report from the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics released last October also amplifies the NAACP and others’ concern. Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia reported 2,002 arrest-related deaths from 2003 through 2005. Homicides by state and local law enforcement officers were the leading cause of such deaths during that time. Most persons who died while being arrested were men (96 percent) between the ages of 18 and 44 (77 percent). Approximately 44 percent were white; 32 percent, African American; 20 percent Hispanic and 4 percent of other or multiple races.
According to the seminal report on racial disparities in the juvenile system, entitled "And Justice For Some," commissioned by the Building Blocks for Youth initiative, prepared by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, the NAACP and other organizations using U.S. Department of Justice and FBI data, although minority youth are one-third of the adolescent population in the U.S., minority youth comprise two -thirds of the more than 100,000 young people confined in local detention and state correctional systems.
Nationally, custody rates were five times greater for African American youth than for white youth. Custody rates for Latino and Native American youth were two times the custody rate of white youth. Among all offense categories, white youth were more likely than minority youth to be placed on probation.
The NAACP has called for hearings not only in Congress but also in every community around the nation in order to clearly understand the scope of this problem and most importantly craft viable solutions.
Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.
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