Detroit judge who threatened sleepy teen with jail sends message to Black community

It’s bad enough that young Black folks nationally are disproportionately jailed. Now Detroit has a judge who threatened a teen with jail time for falling asleep.

And now we wonder why Black teenagers — and their older peers — don’t trust the court system to deliver justice. We wonder why so many don’t believe law enforcement will deal fairly with them, and why they run from police.

The Black Lives Matter movement is not only about abuse during arrests, but extends to justice in courtrooms throughout America, both the punishment of criminal cops and justice for those unfairly imprisoned alike.

And I’m sure that many Black folks, watching this kangaroo court on YouTube, couldn’t have faith in our justice system.

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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        4 months ago

        This is an easy question, if you were to ask it.

        If - while he’s still innocent and not yet proved guilty - they didnt pay him, and either he appealed or something reversed or delayed the charges, he’d have a case that they tried to make him quit or that lawsuits - even the frivolous ones - are punitive.

        So paying a guy while he’s removed from duty pending an investigation is 99% shitty and also the least-worse thing to do at the same time.

        • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          My point is that they will investigate themselves and find no wrongdoing, and all that will come of it will be his paid vacation.

    • DoctorButts@kbin.melroy.org
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      4 months ago

      He was temporarily removed from his criminal cases while he undergoes training. Technically yes, he was “removed from the bench” but that is misleading as it makes it seem like he was fired, which he was not.

    • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      No he is ordered to undergo “additional training”.
      This is just a tiny slap, and he’ll be back. Privileged people are privileged.

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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    4 months ago

    And now it turns out that the 15-year-old girl is homeless, the Free Press reported Thursday. Eva Goodman’s mother, Latoreya Till, told a reporter that the family does not have a permanent residence.

    What an asshole.

    I’d recommend listening to S3 of the Serial podcast. They spent a year in the Cleveland criminal justice system to really understand the American justice system. It was grim.

    • Empricorn@feddit.nl
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      4 months ago

      I imagine an unhoused teenager might be just a little bit more tired than most.

      Big red flag anytime someone says they don’t like someone’s “attitude”. He didn’t feel she gave him enough respect, so he abused his authority to humiliate and punish her. He should be permanently removed from the bench.

      • Samvega@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        4 months ago

        I imagine an unhoused teenager might be just a little bit more tired than most.

        “Just work three jobs. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps!”

    • SirSamuel@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I had to stop listening to Serial. My mental health is not where it needs to be to hear the realities of life right now, unfortunately.

      It’s a really good podcast tho

    • darvocet@infosec.pub
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      4 months ago

      That season pissed me off so bad. So fucking crazy that shit is happening and nothing is being done about it. I highly advise anyone who hasn’t heard it to go play - i couldn’t stop listening once i started.

  • sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz
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    4 months ago

    I’ve known many fellow teachers who would get so mad about kids falling asleep in their class. I found that if you just asked the kids what was going on, 90% of the time it was some awful home-life issue. 10% lame teaching.

  • hark@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I don’t understand authority figures that get angry when someone is falling asleep in their presence. They’re not falling asleep out of spite. This reminds me of teachers who’d say “if you want to sleep, then do it at home” as if the student had a choice of catching up on sleep instead of having to get up early and sit through class, barely able to keep their head up.

    • MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml
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      4 months ago

      They feel disrespected. In the “I’m talking with you!” way. And people who build their whole ego on their position, feel offended by that.

      Which is an indicator that they are boring people, btw.

    • El_guapazo@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Teachers get points docked on their evaluations if more than 3 kids are not paying attention, or if more than 10% of the students fail. I wish that I could have a safe environment where a student could get what they needed, but I have to meet the metrics. Please don’t denigrate teachers without getting the full picture that these are policies are from the district and not necessarily the personal vendetta of a rogue teacher.

  • njm1314@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Honestly nobody should trust the American court system. Maybe if you’re obscenely wealthy. That’s about it though. We all know it’s a system designed to fail us. Designed to destroy us.

  • grubbyweasel@sh.itjust.works
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    4 months ago

    King told WXYZ that he spoke to the girl’s parents and offered to be a mentor.

    this guy really thinks he’s smartest, wisest guy in the room doesn’t he

  • primrosepathspeedrun@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    believing in the american legal system is profoundly racist, misogynist, homophobic, transphobic, and generally fucked in the head.

  • Media Bias Fact Checker@lemmy.worldB
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    4 months ago
    Detroit Free Press - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)

    Information for Detroit Free Press:

    MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: High - United States of America
    Wikipedia about this source

    Search topics on Ground.News

    https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2024/08/15/detroit-judge-sleeping-teen-jail-court-field-trip/74810494007/

    Media Bias Fact Check | bot support

  • solsangraal@lemmy.zip
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    4 months ago

    so many don’t believe law enforcement will deal fairly with them

    i haven’t dug deep into this, but maybe that’s exactly the point he’s trying to illustrate?

    • mosiacmango@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      He used the justice system to treat her unfairly to make a point that the justice system will treat her unfairly?