Posted on 03/02/2009 8:52:18 AM PST by Responsibility2nd
A Miami juvenile court judge apologized for telling a runaway foster child she could end up a 'dead crack whore' if she didn't straighten up.
A Miami child-welfare judge drew the ire of his boss in the judiciary and local children's advocates when he told a 15-year-old runaway foster child she would end up a ''toothless, dead crack whore'' if she didn't mend her ways.
Exasperated that the girl was refusing to return to a home where she said her caregiver hit and cursed at her, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Spencer Eig lectured the sobbing teen about making bad choices during what began as a routine hearing Tuesday morning.
''You're throwing your life away,'' Eig told the girl. ``You could end up on the street toothless. You've seen these toothless hags on the street? You know how they get there? They blow their opportunities in life when they're 15. They run away, they end up -- people turn them into whores.''
''Toothless, dead crack whore -- dead at age 19? Is that the destiny you're looking for?'' he added.
The next day, Miami-Dade's chief juvenile court judge, Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman, brought the girl back to court. When two attorneys who had been in court the day before complained about Eig's comments, Lederman apologized to the girl.
''That should never have happened,'' Lederman told the girl. ``I'm so sorry.''
Jacqui Colyer, the new regional administrator for the Department of Children & Families, said she intends to discuss the girl's case -- and the proper treatment of abused and neglected children in court -- with Eig next week.
''We will let him know more about the children we come in contact with every day, and how vulnerable each of the children are,'' Colyer said.
''His language,'' Colyer added, ''was a little bit harsher than you would ever want any child to hear from someone in authority.'' Colyer said she had reviewed transcripts of the case and discussed it with her subordinates this week.
Colyer said she was told Lederman would be discussing Eig's behavior with him, as well, but Lederman declined to discuss the matter with a reporter.
In a statement released to The Miami Herald by the Miami judiciary's spokeswoman, Eunice Sigler, Eig expressed regret at the language he used to scold the teen.
''The child in this case had been running away,'' Sigler wrote in a short statement. ``Judge Eig regrets that the language he used was strong, but it was his intention to try to warn the child about the dangers of life on the street, and what people could do to her. His intention was to help, not harm.''
The girl, who is not being identified by The Herald to protect her privacy, had been living with a school bus driver under the authority of DCF. In recent weeks, caseworkers testified, she ran away from the home, though she continued to go to school every morning.
At the hearing Tuesday, Eig asked the girl why she ran away.
At first, the girl replied, ''Cause she mean.'' But, a few moments later, she told the judge the woman hit her and cussed at her.
But Eig told the teen she had no better alternatives. ''It's time for you to get over whatever bad experiences you had,'' he said.
Eig told the girl she would be treated worse at the next place child welfare administrators sent her.
``You're going to keep your stuff in a box and every few months someone's going to be mean to you, then you're going to get upset about it and you're going to yell and scream and then, unlike regular children, which they wait for to calm down, they're going to call the police and going to come and [involuntarily commit] you.
''Then they're going to hold you in a psychiatric ward and pump drugs into you,'' he continued. ``That's the future you're buying for yourself . . . No one's going to love you.''
Child welfare sources who looked into the hearing said the girl was crying throughout the lecture.
That's a job-burnout position for sure. Sounds like someone needs to take a break here.
Never.
It could have been worse. The Judge might have said she would end up as an Assitant-Crack Whore.
It could have been worse. The Judge might have said she would end up as an Assistant-Crack Whore.
The 15 year old does need a lecture ~ and a phone number to call when stuff goes wrong.
Once they're into the foster home treadmill they can run into all sorts of problem people.
I doubt any of the critics volunteered for that part.
"Vulnerable" ... to what?
Becoming a dead 19 year old crack whore?
Ya think maybe someone (like a judge, perhaps) should warn the girl what she's vulnerable to?
I think he should have corrected her grammar instead.
Language too harsh in a juvenile court!? “Not all crack whores are toothless”! “Some live very productive lives”!
With grammer skills like...”Cause she mean”, I’d say this kid is already on her way to the life of a loser.
Make that “Grammar”
If I hit you and cursed you, would that be OK?
Would you not take off as well?
She goes to school everyday, but she has to put up with an abusive caretaker when she comes “home” because apparently the state of Florida can’t get decent foster parents. If she complains, the state will take her away, put her in a mental hospital, and fill her full of drugs, it will just grind her down anyway.
The judge needs a vacation or maybe he never should have been a juvenile court judge. Doesn’t say much about the foster care system either. Isn’t this the state that “lost” a couple of thousand foster children awhile back? This girl should try to get lost too. She’d probably be better off.
How dare he speak the truth. Doesn’t he know how that offends the left!
So, yeah, I'd run away and make that call.
That's what I'm talking about ~ the girl did an unsafe act with no options.
Merely a recognition of the third world, savage-driven culture that exists as a disgusting sub-set of American society.
I don’t get this. They are mad at someone for telling a young woman running away from home that she’s on track to becoming a whore?
Should he say “Sure, living on the street is grand!”
Congratulations Miami!
You just sign up a new crack whore to fill your streets.
I wonder how many politicians would have jumped off of building if the judge had actually forced this girl to meet crack whores at their loveliest....
Sorry, but judges are no longer allowed to speak the truth in Obamalandia.
How gauche!
A public servant speaking the unsavory truth.
This will not be tolerated in the Obama Nation.
“At the hearing Tuesday, Eig asked the girl why she ran away.”
“At first, the girl replied, “Cause she mean.”
‘Nuff said!
That judge is going to keep berating kids until he gets removed from the bench. Then he’s going to end up a dead crack whore 4 years later and no one is going to love him.
You wouldn’t want to tell her to speak “white” English, now would you?
That would be culturally insensitive, possibly racist, to even mention it!
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