Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Jahmir Ricks: Not A Free "Man"

After almost a year, Jahmir Ricks, 14, is being released from one prison and put in another.

He is accused of killing his older brother. Over a video game. The DAs office wanted to try him as an adult, not so much to punish him for committing an "adult" crime but so he would be under court jurisdiction for the next couple of decades instead of having the slate wiped clean when he was 21 (or is it 18?).

As it is, he will be transferred to the county juvenile facility in Lima, to be with kids accused of lesser crimes. He will spend less time alone in a jail cell and more time in the company of his peers.

From there he will probably go to another secure facility, possibly Pine Grove SCI for boys.

The county's handling of this case has been reasonable. It is not every day 13-year-old boys stand accused of murder. And making sure the community is protected from individuals capable of such violence is the job of cops, prosecutors and judges.

But the facts of the case suggest the violent act committed by this 13-year-old was the result of years of "toughening up" at the hands of brother. Anwan Ricks had told others he slapped his little brother around just for that purpose. He got back what he dished out in spades.

Whether Jahmir will ever recover from what he did that day and all that followed remains to be seen. Certainly, his brother won't.

As it does, the system and our society, will give this young man a second chance. He would have also gotten it had he been charged as an adult, just with more strings attached.

I met him a few months ago in the juvenile wing of the adult county prison. In his cell. He was not the stereotypical tough street kid. He was shy, docile and small.

Kids change. For better and for worse. We'll see.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

We keep hear from the Daily Times Lib Editorial Board with their misplaced sympathies how this kid is some chubby faced angel victim. Missing –omitted- from the discussion is an early report that this junior thug was himself a school yard bully predator. He was headed to prison sooner or later anyway. The DT Libs have omitted this little factoid from all subsequent stories in their efforts to slant public and court opinion to the kid’s favor.
Lying Libs and their misplaced sympathies misusing their holdings in the Press strike again…

May 20, 2008 at 10:44 AM 
Blogger Spencerblog said...

Now, Spencerblog is a "lying lib" too?
That hurts.

May 20, 2008 at 12:34 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe you've been sucked in from spending too much time with your filthy Lib coworkers. Maybe you also forgot -due to calculated Lib omission- that this thug is where he belongs.

May 20, 2008 at 12:52 PM 

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