689
Texas cops arrest 11-year-old honors student and put him in solitary confinement for three days
(www.texasobserver.org)
this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2023
689 points (98.6% liked)
THE POLICE PROBLEM
2462 readers
295 users here now
The police problem is that police are policed by the police. Cops are accountable only to other cops, which is no accountability at all.
99.9999% of police brutality, corruption, and misconduct is never investigated, never punished, never makes the news, so it's not on this page.
When cops are caught breaking the law, they're investigated by other cops. Details are kept quiet, the officers' names are withheld from public knowledge, and what info is eventually released is only what police choose to release — often nothing at all.
When police are fired — which is all too rare — they leave with 'law enforcement experience' and can easily find work in another police department nearby. It's called "Wandering Cops."
When police testify under oath, they lie so frequently that cops themselves have a joking term for it: "testilying." Yet it's almost unheard of for police to be punished or prosecuted for perjury.
Cops can and do get away with lawlessness, because cops protect other cops. If they don't, they aren't cops for long.
The legal doctrine of "qualified immunity" renders police officers invulnerable to lawsuits for almost anything they do. In practice, getting past 'qualified immunity' is so unlikely, it makes headlines when it happens.
All this is a path to a police state.
In a free society, police must always be under serious and skeptical public oversight, with non-cops and non-cronies in charge, issuing genuine punishment when warranted.
Police who break the law must be prosecuted like anyone else, promptly fired if guilty, and barred from ever working in law-enforcement again.
That's the solution.
♦ ♦ ♦
Our definition of ‘cops’ is broad, and includes prison guards, probation officers, shitty DAs and judges, etc — anyone who has the authority to fuck over people’s lives, with minimal or no oversight.
♦ ♦ ♦
RULES
① Real-life decorum is expected. Please don't say things only a child or a jackass would say in person.
② If you're here to support the police, you're trolling. Please exercise your right to remain silent.
③ Saying ~~cops~~ ANYONE should be killed lowers the IQ in any conversation. They're about killing people; we're not.
④ Please don't dox or post calls for harassment, vigilantism, tar & feather attacks, etc.
Please also abide by the instance rules.
It you've been banned but don't know why, check the moderator's log. If you feel you didn't deserve it, hey, I'm new at this and maybe you're right. Send a cordial PM, for a second chance.
♦ ♦ ♦
ALLIES
• r/ACAB
♦ ♦ ♦
INFO
• A demonstrator's guide to understanding riot munitions
• Cops aren't supposed to be smart
• Killings by law enforcement in Canada
• Killings by law enforcement in the United Kingdom
• Killings by law enforcement in the United States
• Know your rights: Filming the police
• Three words. 70 cases. The tragic history of 'I can’t breathe' (as of 2020)
• Police aren't primarily about helping you or solving crimes.
• Police lie under oath, a lot
• Police spin: An object lesson in Copspeak
• Police unions and arbitrators keep abusive cops on the street
• Shielded from Justice: Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States
• When the police knock on your door
♦ ♦ ♦
ORGANIZATIONS
• NAACP
• National Police Accountability Project
• Vera: Ending Mass Incarceration
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
He should be fucking arrested. He ruined that boy's life. He'll never be the same after three days in solitary for asking for mental help.
The principal is a woman. She should be fired but the real issue is how the police handled it. Instead of arresting a 5th grader they could have told the principal to kick rocks and that they would investigate the threat. Which was literally hearsay and after investigation they'd have found nothing.
Turning off body cam to bully a child....sounds exactly like what a bastard would do.
I feel so bad for that child. His father died less than a year ago and he was kept in solitary confinement for 3 days. I hope he and his mother find a good lawyer that gets true justice for him. And I hope the people of Brownsville stand up for justice and get the principal fired. I hope they pressure the police to change policy on no longer allowing body cams to be turned off. And I hope the arresting officer dies sad, miserable, alone, and soon.
That's.....
I mean, this shit principal and the cops that put handcuffs on an 11 year old boy should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
But saying he'll NEVER be the same again after three days in solitary, and the boy's life is ruined is too much of a stretch. A little dramatic
People are resilient, especially kids.
he’ll never trust authority the same again
probably for the best
Not even close to a stretch. This study is with adults, and not with an already fragile child dealing with trauma.
https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/March-2023/How-Solitary-Confinement-Contributes-to-the-Mental-Health-Crisis#:~:text=Among%20many%20other%20mental%20health,of%20an%20acute%20mental%20illness.
|Mental Illness And Solitary Confinement
Those with mental illness are overrepresented in solitary confinement, despite the vulnerability and threats to the mental health of those incarcerated. Research shows that the effects of solitary confinement on mental health are often fatal, both during and after incarceration. Half of all suicides in prisons and jails occur in solitary confinement. A recent study shows the long-lasting effects; that any amount of time spent in solitary increases the risk of death in the first year after release.
Individuals were overall 24% more likely to die in the first year after release, including from suicide (78% more likely) and homicide (54% more likely). They were also 127% more likely to die of an opioid overdose in the first two weeks after release.
Among many other mental health experts, Dr. Stuart Grassian, a psychiatrist, observed the devastating mental health consequences of the practice. Solitary confinement, he found, caused either (1) the exacerbation or recurrence of preexisting mental health issues, or (2) the onset of an acute mental illness. He is also credited for identifying a specific psychiatric syndrome associated with solitary confinement, termed the SHU Syndrome.
Well TIL
Yeah it's pretty fucked honestly, a lot of people that have never been to jail or prison don't really have the perspective how just how horrible it is. Time moves differently in there and your sense of control you have with autonomous movement is gone. 1 week in jail goes by quite a bit slower than 1 week in regular life. Add solitary to it and it's a straight up nightmare.
Yup and my comment was more as to hoping the kid wouldn't suffer permanent damages but clearly that's not the case. I didn't know the stats