by Chad Campbell – senior producer
Tracy McClard fights for changes to the juvenile justice system in the memory of her son. In January 2008, Jonathan hung himself as he awaited transfer to a maximum security adult prison. He’d just celebrated Christmas and then his 17th birthday a few days earlier while in solitary confinement. In July 2007, Jonathan shot another teenaged boy in an argument over a former girlfriend. Tracy McClard does not dispute her son’s guilt, but believes that he never should have been tried, convicted and sentenced as an adult. For pleading guilty to first degree assault, the judge gave Jonathan the maximum sentence of 30 years. The Department of Justice estimates that every year in the US there are roughly 250,000 youth offenders treated as adults. McClard worked to get “Jonathan’s Law” passed in Missouri which provides new guidelines for sentencing juveniles. You can learn more about McClard’s work at these websites.
http://www.campaignforyouthjustice.org/
http://www.forj-mo.org/
We must fight to change the Juvenile Justice System nationwide. They are not rehabilitating, they are punishing. Especially youth of color that comprise the largest number of people in the juvenile system and the adult system.
Another issue is making laws that hold police, prosecutors, public defenders and judges accountable for their actions: planting evidence on people and in their cars, withholding evidence, fabricating evidence, coercing and making bad plea bargains for those who say they are innocent, etc.
I was outraged at the one sideness of this story. It is always a tragic loss when a parent loses a child. This lady wants to be the grieving mom after all of her failures to her son.
Never once during the story I heard did you ask about the severity of the boy's crime. I would suspect with a first degree assault charge this was more than two boys fighting over a girl. The judge seemed convinced that this was a serious crime.
I heard that a 16 year old boy had been arrested for pot at school and that he had a tattoo on his face. There was more going on here that a poor innocent boy. Already experiencing problems with her son Mrs. McClard chose to leave home to join the army reserve rather than staying home and caring for her family.
There is way too much parenting after the fact. While the justice system may have been too harsh, a good home life could possibly have prevented this.