Posted on 05/19/2011 5:26:50 AM PDT by Brandonmark
Walter "J.J." Revear walked out of the Hillsborough County jail that day into hugs from relatives and questions from reporters.
"Do you know what a break you got? Are you going to stay out of trouble now?"
It was his 13th birthday, Oct. 20, 1995. And he was the chubby-cheeked face of a flawed juvenile justice system at a time judges wrestled over punishments for kids who committed grown-up crimes.
The fifth-grader, who stood at 4-foot-6, had driven the getaway car in an armed robbery. The victim caught a glimpse of him, giggling.
In court, he had to sit tall to see over the jury box. He swam in a button-up dress shirt. Prosecutors wanted him to go to prison, but community activists asked the judge to believe in his future.
He got house arrest — that time. The next time he walked out of jail, no one met him. He lost his baby fat, grew facial hair, began to stick out less among the chained men. News reports logged in arrests with fading interest.
Then, on Wednesday, reporters gathered around a Tampa Police Department spokeswoman to hear about a murder outside a Nebraska Avenue bar. The victim was someone familiar; the news, not unexpected.
It was J.J.
Dead at 28.
(Excerpt) Read more at tampabay.com ...
And the Ernesto Miranda award goes to...
The old “He was just turning his life around” blather.
The price of coddling criminals.
No surprises here. I hope people see which side of the coin is ‘flawed’.
Society did not fail this person- his family failed him. The people who were supposed to love the child more than themselves, did not.
Many kids pull it out and survive parental misconduct an malfeasance, others seem doomed from birth.
RIP JJ
This is not primarily the result of a flawed justice system. This is the result of a breakdown in family structure, and a reluctance of society to address this social deterioration, and to protect children from neglect.
Wholeheartedly agree.
Flawed juvenile justice system, miserably flawed family and bipolar. Whew! that’s a load.
Thanks liberal for murdering another black man (boy)...your compassion is truly astounding...This is what happens when you destroy families by saying you don’t need FATHERS (men) around
Their version of it. "This time (after a month out of the Graybar Hotel)....trying to change...taking his [bipolar] meds...", etc.
He was more than twice as old as when he got his juvie break.
Is it just me??? I mean, all the robberies and real crimes and nothing, but the first time the guy commits the POLITICAL crime of wanting to own a gun which the ****ing constitution GAURANTEES, he goes to prison?????
That's the problem right there. Tough love right off, the first time they do anything worthy of jail time and you just might scare the kid straight. Military type school, until they graduate, in a jail setting with other juvies. Give them enough tasks, education, enough discipline and enough positive feedback when they do good, you just might make some these young men, good men.
Video of the shooting: http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_tampa/cell-phone-video-captures-shooting-of-jj-revear-at-interstate-lounge
Nothing say "good citizen" better than that.
Not surprising at all. After all, the state doesn't care about the robbery and mahem. It's not like this kid was stealing government-owned cars. If he had boosted some late-model beige sedan driven by the Tampa municipal building inspector, he might have gotten time, but not for stealing your car or mine.
But when he slipped that gun into his pocket, he became a threat to the state. Now they had to pay attention to him.
I was looking at the Progressive Insurance "Snapshot Discount" vehicle monitoring system. (Yes, I know that Progressive is a cess-pit of Liberal fund-raising, so I will never buy insurance from them. I am just interested n the technology) It turns out that one of the things the device measures is how often you drive your car between the hours of 1AM and 4AM. If your car is parked for these three hours a day, you save something like 20% on your auto insurance.
Of course, there are some folks out working during those hours. But everybody else is out looking for trouble.
RIP, fellow man. May God show you more love and mercy than the world ever did.
There but for fortune.
My grandfather used to say, “Ain’t no one out after midnight up to no good.”
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