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Warehoused as a juvenile
‘Super predator’ or child?
I was watching the news this morning when I saw a story about Rashaun Weaver, the 14-year-old child charged as an adult for the stabbing death of New York student Tessa Majors. According to the account, Rashaun and two friends tried to rob the young woman and when she refused to give up her mobile phone, the boy stabbed her in the chest.
There’s no doubt about it: This is a tragedy. My heart bleeds for Tessa’s family. As I internalized the story, I realized how easy it is to sympathize with the victim. Very few will think twice about what will happen next to Rashaun. If they do, it will only be to think, “What a little monster! He deserves whatever he gets and more!”
This realization made me reflect on my experience as a child (I was barely 16) charged with murder. It’s been decades since I entered “the system” and the treatment of juveniles has improved. But from what I hear and know, many aspects are depressingly unchanged. Regardless of how troubled he may be today and how reprehensible his actions were, Rashaun still is a child whose brain development is still in flux. Science shows he can “age out” of any tendency toward criminality and thus, he is…
