Youth Radio - Topic: richmond

Suspensions Don't Work, But They're My Only Tool, Says School Counselor

rgee — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:19:53 -0600

Over the past thirty years, school discipline tactics have hanged drastically. According to a study out of Texas called, Breaking School Rules, the number of student suspensions in the U.S. increased from 1.7 million in 1974 to 3.3 million in 2006.

Part of the increase is due to legislation, like the Drug Free Schools and Communities Act, and the Gun Free School Zones Act. Both went into effect in the 90's, and schools saw a rise of zero-tolerance discipline policies in schools. However, researchers, educators, and policymakers are looking at the current suspension numbers and seeing problems with the population of students that is hit the hardest by these suspensions.

According to the Texas study, the rate of black students suspended at least once rose from 6 to 15 percent, while the rate of white students suspended rose from 3 to 5 percent.

A recent Washington Post article reports that more than 35,000 students in the Washington suburbs were suspended or expelled from school last year, and more than half of them were black students. In addition, 71 percent of all suspensions for insubordination were given to black students, which means the offenses were more likely to be subjective, as opposed to offenses like being caught with a firearm on campus.

The federal government recently announced the “Supportive School Discipline Initiative” to address the high numbers of suspensions and the “school to prison pipeline,” by ensuring that discipline practices in schools maintain students’ civil rights and keep students in school as much as possible.

Mr. W. is a school counselor at a middle school in Richmond, CA who sees the problem first hand. In 2008, this middle school had a violence-suspension rate of 41 percent. When W. accepted the position, he thought he would be doing academic counseling, but has accepted his role as school disciplinarian. “Honestly, I don’t have time to do both... If kids need to talk to me about personal stuff, sorry I don’t have time.” said W. At the beginning of this school year, there was at least one fight per week, he said.

W. said one of the biggest problems at his school is the recently instituted "Hall Sweep" policy to prevent students from being tardy to class. Students have five minutes to get to each class, and when the bell rings, teachers lock their doors. Any student still in the hallway, is rounded up and brought to the office. Then, the student needs a consequence.

According to W., there is currently only one detention session every week, for an hour and a half on Wednesdays. “For a while I had 40 kids in detention for an hour and a half. Then it happened so frequently, that the detentions would fill up. I was issuing detentions three to four weeks in the future... Like there’s no room in detention this Wednesday or next Wednesday so you have detention January 25, and right now it’s December before winter break,” he said.

W. eventually decided to create his own tardy policy. “I give them a first warning. The second time they get a 45 minute detention, the third time they get an hour and a half detention, and the fourth time it’s a suspension.” A student could easily get suspended for being tardy four times in one day. For every period, it takes W. 30 minutes to issue consequences, call parents, and log the information for the group of tardy students. “It’s just not feasible, I need to get the kids to class,” he said.

At this middle school, 56 percent of the student population is Latino, 36 percent is African American, 7 percent is Asian, and 1 percent is white. In places like Washington, black students are suspended and expelled two to five times more often than white students, and W. sees those trends reflected at his school.

“I’m disciplining the same kids over and over for the same thing and the behavior’s not changing. What do you do then? I keep suspending them--I have to-- I have no choice. But [the students] don’t care about the discipline, they don’t care about the consequences... Sometimes I do feel like kids see suspension as a day off. They get to sleep in, watch tv, play video games,” he said. “Suspension doesn’t work, but it’s the only tool we have.” He mentioned one student in particular that skipped the same class six days in a row. Whittaker suspended him for a day, and the student returned to school and skipped the same class again.

So why keep issuing a consequence that isn’t helping behavior?

“How I look at it, suspension isn’t for the kid, but it’s to get him or her out of school so the teacher can teach. It’s not necessarily a punishment--it’s so the teacher can do their job,” said Whittaker.

One of the major areas of scrutiny in current investigations regarding school discipline is the actual offense that leads to suspension. Many researchers say that minor offenses are included under a larger, more serious category of bad behavior. Things like refusing to take hats and hoods off, talking back to teachers, refusing to move seats, and throwing things can all lead to suspension at his school, where one of the school rules is to follow all reasonable requests. “Those aren’t little things. You’re basically telling an adult no. I could suspend them for that,” said W..

Legally, students can only be suspended for 20 days out of the entire school year before they are considered for expulsion, or placement at a different school. W. said he doesn’t have answers, but ideally, he would like to see teachers implementing their own consequence, and parents getting more involved in the progressive discipline model. “I need help at home in order to do my job here. If they’re not getting disciplined or punished at home for these things then they’re not going to care about it here... I think we should bring back Saturday school, get the parents involved,” he said.

Teachers at this school have volunteered to start instituting a detention system on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which W. thinks will help with progressive discipline, but puts a strain on teachers--many of whom hold their own detentions in their classrooms already.

Snitching. And The Tough Decisions That Go With It.

rgee — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 18:10:31 -0500

As I helped my seventh period class get started on their journal entry, I heard a commotion in the hallway. I was twenty-three years old and it was my second year teaching eighth grade English. I looked outside my door to see the Dean of Students walking towards my room, accompanied by the eighth grade science teacher.

Apparently, one of the students in my classroom had stolen several kinds of birth control from the sex-ed lesson.

Everyone stopped writing their journals. “I’m going to wait here until someone gives it back,” said the science teacher. They waited. And waited.

I could see shifty eyes all around the room. Everyone knew who had taken it.

“Okay, everyone take a piece of paper, and anonymously write down WHO stole the pills.”

But no one wrote anything down.

Finally, the Dean said, “Okay. We are going to close our eyes. When we open them - the birth control better be on the table... one... two... three.”
And when we looked, the birth control was on the table.

This phenomenon of “not snitching” is implanted in youth today. I especially want to draw attention to a May / June 2010 Youth Communication article called, “To Snitch or Not to Snitch?” Below are some excerpts from the article that give an interesting perspective on the trend:

We didn’t know what exactly was going on, and we decided not to call the cops because the shooting had nothing to do with us. Though the incident was definitely scary, we’re not the type to involve ourselves in other people’s business.

The first time I remember snitching being a big deal was several years back when the “Stop Snitching” t-shirts became popular. The t-shirts were either black or white, with a red stop sign right in the middle with the phrase “Stop Snitching.” My neighborhood drug dealers started wearing the shirts. This was perceived as a threat because many drug dealers are known for being ruthless and very few people took the chance of snitching on a dealer.

A reporter once asked Cam’ron, a rapper who wore the “Stop Snitching” t-shirts, “If a serial killer was living next door to you, would you call the police?” Cam’ron replied, “No.” He said he felt there would be no reason to call the police if the serial killer didn’t do anything to him personally.
This caused huge outrage in the media, I guess because he wasn’t trying to be a good community member. I think those who got upset believe the police will catch criminals if we all report everything, but in reality even sometimes when people do snitch, the criminals still walk around freely.

I understand why people feel the need to stay quiet, but I also think about all the people being murdered, raped, and kidnapped, and the perpetrators getting away because no one will talk. Think about how the victims of crimes and their families feel. At the end of the day, these families need the help of others to catch the culprits so they can recover and properly move on.
The downside to the large numbers of people not reporting crimes is that it leads to an increase in unsolved cases, as well as a higher crime rate. Like me, my classmates Kayla Fulton, 16, and Frances Walker,18, said they’d witnessed crimes but didn’t report them. However, they also worried about the consequences of widespread unreported crimes. “If no one snitches, then the criminal is going to just keep going,” said Kayla. “They need to be stopped.” But if we’re not willing to tell on our peers and neighbors, what can be done?

The “Stop Snitchin” campaign that this writer refers to was launched in 2004. Wikipedia sources cite, “it was a controversial campaign launched in Baltimore, United States to persuade criminal informants to stop "snitching," or informing, to law enforcement.”

Urban Dictionary has a slightly different definition. “Stop Snitchin” is a campaign, “that pushes the idea that any African-American who reports any crime whatsoever to the police is a traitor and is popular in the gangster rap scene.”

The second definition emphasizes that you will be labeled and targeted if you snitch.

But, being afraid to snitch or inform can have dangerous consequences that we might not recognize in the moment. An extreme case of this was the horrendous gang rape incident that occurred in October of 2009, when a 15-year-old girl from Richmond, CA was raped several times, while people simply watched. An article on the CNN website elaborates on the psychology behind snitching, or not snitching.

In the Richmond case, the article mentioned the, “bystander effect. It's a theory that has played out in lynchings, college riots and white-collar crimes.”
The article continues, "Kids learn at a young age when they observe bullying that they would rather not get involved because there is a power structure," according to Drew Carberry, a director at the National Council on Crime Prevention.
Northeastern University criminologist Jack McDevitt said in the same article, “Witnesses who live in violent communities often fear stepping forward because snitching isn't tolerated."

"Snitching could also bring dangerous consequences to their friends and family," reports McDevitt. "They don't believe the system will protect them from the offender... They think the offender will find out their name."

Twenty four-year-old Elizabeth McNamara, had insights into why students refuse to snitch. She is a De Anza High School English teacher, in Richmond. In her opinion, her students "...come from oppressed groups, and there is an inherent feeling of powerlessness in that position. The feeling that they need to look out for each other comes from wanting to take power away from the oppressors. However, I remember a teacher's phone was stolen, and because he had strong relationships with some of his students, they promised to figure out who had taken it.”

Fear, image, community, and personal relationships all play into one’s decision to either snitch or not snitch. Eventually, we will have to make a tough decision like this. We will have to prioritize one thing over another, and sometimes take a personal risk .

ACLU Reacts to Witness Responsibility Act Proposals

denise — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:05:38 -0600

Since the rape of a 16-year-old girl in Richmond, local politicians have submitted two proposals that would change the age of the witness responsibility act. Currently the act makes it a crime to not report attacks committed on kids under 14 years of age.

Senator Leland Yee proposed extending the age of requirement to 18, while Assemblyman Pedro Nava’s proposal does away with the age limt altogether. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) opposes Nava’s proposal saying that it would make it a crime to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Youth Radio spoke to Valerie Small Navarro, ACLU Senior Legislative Advocate about Nava’s proposal.

Youth Radio: Why is the ACLU against Nava's proposal?

Navarro: Current law makes it crime not to report to police certain crimes against young people under 14 years of age. The Nava proposal would make it crime not to report certain crimes against people of any age.

Americans value our liberty and the limitations on government. Our criminal justice system is designed to determine wrongdoing and wrongful intent. This bill, however, does not require either wrongful intent or a wrongful act. Someone who is merely at the wrong place at the wrong would be considered a criminal if they fail to report a crime they witness.

Youth Radio: How does this proposal affect people's rights?

Navarro: [It] makes it a crime to be at the wrong place at the wrong time if you fail to report what you have seen. This bill does not consider that people may have very good reasons not to report crimes. For example, some communities fear that law enforcement will [not] be able to protect them if they report on certain gang members. People may be traumatized by what they've seen. Immigrant communities may fear that contacting law enforcement agencies will result in being reported to immigration officials.

Youth Radio: How does the ACLU feel about Senator Yee's proposal, in which he extends the age of protection to 18?

Navarro: It is narrower than the Nava proposal (it requires people to report specific crimes against people under age 18), But, we still oppose any further criminalization of people who may be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Youth Radio: Is Nava's or even Yee's proposal going too far? Does it run the risk of criminalizing vulnerable people who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time?

Navarro: Yes, both bills go too far and they don't necessarily achieve the goal of increasing people's willingness to report crime. Criminalizing more people in this way does not improve public safety.

Youth Radio: Does the witness responsibility act need revision? If so what would you like to reflect?

Navarro: We do not believe this law can be fixed. Instead, we need to consider other options to encourage people to report crimes. To improve public safety we need a series of steps:
1. Individuals who report crimes must be truly protected.
2. Law enforcement agencies must work with communities to build and strengthen relationships.
3. Low-income communities need resources, such as increased employment opportunities so that people feel less marginalized and more willing to report crimes.

Encouraging individuals to report crimes is an important societal goal. However, California needs to take serious steps and actually make it safe for individuals and communities to report crimes rather than make criminals out of innocent bystanders who fail to report crimes.

Previously:

Richmond Gang Rape: Seventh Person Arrested

denise — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:02:20 -0600

Seven people have been arrested in connections to the Richmond gang rape back in October. The seventh suspect, 43 year-old John Crane, turned himself in on Tuesday night after an arrest warrant was issued for him. Police say he raped the girl while she was unconscious.He was booked on felony sexual assault in connection to the brutal gang rape and beating of a 16-year-old Richmond high student.

Three juveniles have been charged as adults with rape by a foreign object while acting in concert.

"Ortega has been charged with forcible rape while acting in concert, assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury, and robbery. Montano has been charged with forcible rape while acting in concert and rape by a foreign object while acting in concert. Torrentes has been charged with rape by a foreign object of a person unable to resist due to intoxication, rape by a foreign object while acting in concert and rape while acting in concert..."

(via KTVU)

Previously:

Tougher Bystander Laws in Wake of Richmond Attacks

denise — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:29:42 -0600

State Senator Leland Yee of San Francisco has announced a proposal that would grant jail sentences for witnesses who do not report sex crimes or violent attacks on victims under the age of 18. This is the second proposal of this kind proposed in recent months. The proposals come after the gang rape that took place in Richmond, CA in October where almost twenty people watched without calling the police while a girl was raped, beaten, and robbed.

The first proposal was from Assemblyman Pedro Nava, and requires people to report any crime regardless of the age of the victim. Nava’s bill is set to undergo its first hearing on Tuesday by the Assembly Public Safety Committee. Currently, California law requires people to report a violent crime against children ages 14 or younger. The penalties for not following the law, which would remain the same under Nava's proposal, is up to six months of jail and a fine of $1,500.

The difference between Yee and Nava's proposals is age. Yee’s proposal states that the victim should be under 18, meaning a crime committed on a 19 year-old would not fall in this proposal. Nava’s proposal does not include an age limit. In the Richmond attacks, the bystander law was unenforceable because the victim was 15-years-old.

What do you think -- should there be an age limit?

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Witness in Richmond's Gang Rape Missing

denise — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:50:04 -0600

21-year-old Salvador Rodriguez was one the young people first taken into police custody in connection to the Richmond gang rape, but he was later released by police. Now Rodriguez, a key witness to the rape, is missing.

Rodriguez has been missing since Dec 6th. Family members of Rodriguez say that he received death threats after speaking to ABC 7 news. He told reporters he was skateboarding the night of the incident and saw the rape take place. He said he tried to help the victim after the assault was over. Richmond Police Sergeant Bisa French told KCBS news that they are concerned and that searching for Rodriguez is not easy because he does not have a permanent residence.

Check out the interview Rodriguez did with ABC 7 news. The interview also includes another witness—who doesn’t show his face because he is afraid something may happen to him.

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If You Witness a Crime, You May Do the Time

denise — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:01:13 -0600

State Assemblyman Pedro Nava, Democrat from Santa Barbara is sponsoring legislation that would make it a crime to not report a violent attack if you witness it. This proposal was inspired by the gang rape that took place in Richmond, CA in October where almost twenty people stood around and watched a girl get raped, beaten, and robbed without calling the cops. Currently the law requires people to report a violent crime against a 14-year-old child. The law was unenforceable in the Richmond case because the victim was a 15-year-old.

According to Nava, the new law would require people to report any violent crime regardless of age. The penalties would be the same as the current law-- six months in jail and a fine of $1,500. Nava's proposal is expected to be looked at by the assembly committee as early as January. Nava was quoted by The San Francisco Chronicle as saying, "I cannot imagine any reasonable opposition to it - when you think about it, spectators at a dog fight face heavier penalties than witnesses (to a rape) do under the current law."

I still find it hard to believe though a child is still under their parents' supervision until the age of 18, our current law only protects kids under 14.

Previously:

Rankings Are In For Most Crime-Ridden Cities In The U.S.

kchau — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:00:14 -0600

CQ Press has released its annual rankings for the most crime-ridden cities in America, and the results show that mid-sized cities are earning the top non-honors this year. The rankings- complied from FBI data- are based on per-captia incidents of aggravated assault, rape, robbery, murder, burglary, larceny, arson and motor vehicle theft.To make the cut a city had to have a population of at least 75,000.

Oakland, CA- where our headquarters are located- has the distinction of ranking 3rd, the same position that it held last year. Also cracking the top 20 in the Bay Area is the City of Richmond coming in at #14. Longtime observers of the Bay Area's underworld will note that these rankings will likely add fuel to the fire of the long-term Oakland/Richmond criminal bragging rights rivalry.

Students Create a "Pro-Rape" Group On Facebook

denise — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:38:02 -0600

SYNDNEY, AUSTRAILIA-- A group of former and current students from the University of Sydney created a “pro-rape” group on Facebook. The group was created under the sports and recreation section on Facebook. The group describe themselves as “anti-consent.” The group’s page was taken down in October but had been up and running since August.

“The male students, mostly from the elite, all-male St Paul's College, initially ensured the ''Define Statutory'' group had an open, public profile, and proudly displayed their membership on their personal Facebook pages.” via The Sydney Morning Herald

It’s disappointing to hear there are actually young people bold enough to display these feelings towards rape. Facebok allows users to stay connected and inform people throughout the world, but is this taking that concept to the extreme?

This year we’ve learned about a 15-year-old being raped, beaten, robbed by as many as 10 people while more than a dozen other watched and captured the raped on their phone—without calling 911.

I’m not sure what part of rape is intriguing to those students but it’s definitely something it requires some kind of therapy.

Previously:

Shocking Comments from Richmond High Students about Gang Rape

denise — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:11:27 -0600

Students at Richmond High, where a 15-year-old girl was gang raped, are condemning their peers' comments that "it’s her fault.”

At a vigil for the victim of the October 24th rape and beating, some students, including young women, hinted that they fault the victim because of rumors about her sexual history. Some students, like 17-year-old Luis Gastelum said if a girl, “...goes to a dark alley, you’re basically, not asking for it, but something was gonna happen." Sixteen-year-old Briseida Rodriguez also questioned the circumstances leading up to the rape. “Why would she be over there with all them guys? Knowing that the homecoming is in the gym, not over there, so that’s why I think it’s her fault.”

And they're not only faulting the victim for her own troubles, but they're pointing to the entire incident as one that will put a damper on their high school experience. Rodriguez said her parents have become more strict after the incident, and she feels it's unfair. Fourteen-year-old Perla Posadas' parents are also restricting her freedom because of the incident. "It doesn’t feel good because these are my school dances and to not be able to attend them, that wouldn’t be cool with me.”

Other students, like sophomore Andre Taylor, challenged these views. "Someone was talking about it in my second period class. A girl was saying she deserved it and I actually started arguing with her—and this was not the girl to argue with. It was surprising to me that people think it was her (the victim's) fault. Maybe she had her own faults in it, but she didn’t ask to be raped.”

Senior Abel Pineda said the student community used last week's vigil as a way to stand up against all the negative perceptions about Richmond High and its students.“We’re here as a community to start the healing process. The situation did happen on our campus, in our community. It affects us on a national, global scale.”

The rape happened in a darkened area of the campus where there were no security lights and security cameras were broken. Students say those problems have now been fixed, and that school officials are looking into building a fence encircling the campus.

Richmond is a culturally diverse city of more than 100,000 people in Northern California. According to Area Connect, Richmond’s crime level is worse than the national average. The site reports that in 2006 Richmond’s murder toll was 42 while the national average was 7, rapes in Richmond reached 41 while the national average was 33, and aggravated assaults totaled 637 while the national average was 336.

These numbers may be shocking, but as a person who grew up in Richmond, I can say, crime is like having breakfast -- it’s an everyday thing.

Previously: