14-Year-Old Faces Felony Hate Crime Charges for Posting 'Slave for Sale' Craigslist Ad

Source: Reason
Published: Nov 21, 2019
Author: Robby Soave
Post Date: 2019-11-23 03:43:59 by Bill D Berger
Views: 986

Authorities arrested a 14-year-old white male student at Naperville High School in Naperville, Illinois, and charged him with committing a hate crime.

What the teen did was genuinely bad: He took a picture of a black classmate and posted a "slave for sale" ad on Craigslist. The school suspended him, and it was right to do so.

But now the police are involved, and the teen faces two felony hate crime charges as well as a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge.

The teen was in court on Wednesday, according to the Chicago Tribune:

Prosecutors called the allegations "serious and aggravating," and said the alleged actions put the victim's safety at risk. The hate crime counts are juvenile felonies and the disorderly charge is a misdemeanor.

[Defense attorney Harry] Smith said the student is serving an in-school suspension and his client and the victim have a meeting scheduled before the school principal where the youth will formally apologize. Smith described the pair as friends.

State's Attorney Robert Berlin issued a statement Wednesday in which he called the allegations "beyond disturbing."

"Hate crimes have no place in our society and will not be tolerated in DuPage County," Berlin said. "Anyone, regardless of age, accused of such disgraceful actions will be charged accordingly."

For the authorities to charge someone with a hate crime, there must be an underling crime. Simply holding or expressing hateful views is not illegal—indeed, it is protected by the First Amendment. Prosecutors can consider hate crime charges only when hate is the motivating factor in the commission of a crime, such as assault or vandalism.

Since disorderly conduct is the only other item here, the hate crime charges presumably stem from that. Disorderly conduct is often a broad category of offense, and such is certainly the case under Illinois law: "A person commits disorderly conduct when he or she knowingly does any act in such unreasonable matter as to alarm or disturb another and to provoke a breach of the peace." The disorderly conduct charge is a misdemeanor, but the hate crime charges are felonies, making this an extremely serious criminal matter for a 14-year-old kid.

I don't know what was going through his head when he posted the Craigslist ad—news article suggest the two boys were former friends—and I do not object at all to the school itself taking punitive action. But should the cops really be arresting 14-year-olds, and subjecting them to life-derailing felony charges, for incidents of nonviolent bullying? School is supposed to teach young people to behave responsibly, not shuffle them into the criminal justice system at the first sign of trouble. This is far too harsh an outcome, and it shows one of the dangers of having hate crime laws on the books at all: They give cops more opportunities to overcharge.

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#1: Lod    To: Bill D Berger (#0)

underlying, not underling crime

Lod posted on 2019-11-23 10:42:43   Reply   Private Reply


#2: BTP Holdings    To: Bill D Berger (#0)

14-Year-Old Faces Felony Hate Crime Charges for Posting 'Slave for Sale' Craigslist Ad

This sounds vaguely like those black's who kidnapped a retarded kid from NW suburbs of Chicago and brought him to the west side. They forced him to drink water from the toilet.

The kid escaped and was walking down the street. The cops picked him up and he told them what had happened.

He led them back to where he was held and the cops arrested them. The black's were all charged with kidnapping and a hate crime.

It was the right thing to do.

This episode does not sound even close to what was done to that retarded kid. ;)

BTP Holdings posted on 2019-11-23 11:54:10   Reply   Private Reply


#3: GreyLmist    To: BTP Holdings (#2)

2017 Chicago torture incident - Wikipedia

In January 2017, a mentally disabled white [male, aged 18] in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, was filmed being physically and verbally abused by four black individuals. The incident was livestreamed on Facebook,
>
On December 8, 2017, Brittany Covington [1 of those 4 'minority' adults] plead guilty to the charges of committing a hate crime, intimidation and aggravated battery. Additional charges, such as kidnapping, were dropped as part of her plea deal. [She] was sentenced to four years of probation and 200 hours of community service. Cook County Circuit Judge William Hooks said that he could have sentenced her to prison, but did not because "I'm not sure if I did that you'd be coming out any better."

GreyLmist posted on 2019-11-23 20:02:23   Reply   Private Reply


#4: BTP Holdings    To: GreyLmist (#3)

sentenced to four years of probation and 200 hours of community service

I am sure she might end up on a gang in the suburbs picking up litter alongside the road.

When I worked for State of Illinois, the black guys on the crew said, "Don't be picking up those beer bottles."

They would drink and drive and then piss in the bottles and throw them out the window. ROTFLOL

BTP Holdings posted on 2019-11-23 20:09:18   Reply   Private Reply


#5: GreyLmist    To: Bill D Berger, 4 (#0)

The disorderly conduct charge is a misdemeanor, but the hate crime charges are felonies, making this an extremely serious criminal matter for a 14-year-old kid. ... news article suggest[s] the two boys [are friends or] were former[ly] friends—and I do not object at all to the school itself taking punitive action. But should the cops really be arresting 14-year-olds, and subjecting them to life-derailing felony charges, for incidents of nonviolent bullying? School is supposed to teach young people to behave responsibly, not shuffle them into the criminal justice system at the first sign of trouble. This is far too harsh an outcome, and it shows one of the dangers of having hate crime laws on the books at all: They give cops more opportunities to overcharge.

TRUMP: The President talks background checks, economy and China - YouTube, 18 minutes | Published on Aug 21, 2019 by FOX 10 Phoenix | Link set to start at 6:50 for a 70 second segment to 8:00, where he supports removing the age limit on gun control background checks to include juvenile records because of the alleged Dayton shooter's heinous juvenile criminality. Transcription at 7:40, "one of the things we're talking about is getting rid of the age limit. He was 17 so, when he turned 18, it was expunged. So we didn't find out about that. And a big percentage of the school, the parents wouldn't let their kids go to that school because they heard about it. Ok? It was a very big thing. When he was 18, it all went away. We can't let that happen."

GreyLmist posted on 2019-11-23 21:34:19   Reply   Private Reply


#6: BTP Holdings    To: GreyLmist (#5)

When he was 18, it all went away. We can't let that happen."

Just because someone turns the age of majority does not necessarily mean their attitudes may have also changed. These little foibles can reappear at any time and in any place. ;)

BTP Holdings posted on 2019-11-23 22:06:42   Reply   Private Reply


#7: Dakmar    To: GreyLmist (#5)

Dakmar posted on 2019-11-23 22:10:22   Reply   Private Reply


#8: GreyLmist    To: BTP Holdings (#4)

I am sure she might end up on a gang in the suburbs picking up litter alongside the road.

Hate crime - Wikipedia

hate crime laws enhance the penalties associated with conduct which is already criminal under other laws,

The only mention at that Wikipedia site about Felony-level charges isn't about Hate Crime at all -- just for filing a flase police report about Hate Crime, like Jussie Smollett did.

Ms. B. Covington's sentence-penaltes don't appear to have been enhanced much by pleading guilty to the Hate Crime charge. Even if it was recorded as a Felony, Dem-Commiecrats would probably arrange it so she could still vote somehow for them.

GreyLmist posted on 2019-11-23 22:36:03   Reply   Private Reply


#9: BTP Holdings    To: GreyLmist (#8)

Even if it was recorded as a Felony, Dem-Commiecrats would probably arrange it so she could still vote somehow for them.

Yes indeed. And seeing as it was Chicago, the voter fraud machine is simply getting more grease. ;)

BTP Holdings posted on 2019-11-24 08:48:33   Reply   Private Reply


#10: GreyLmist    To: Dakmar, *Music Club* (#7)

The Trump Administration Is Dismantling Our Tools To Promote School Integration - Teen Vogue | Excerpts:

Disparate impact, which was reaffirmed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2013 codification of the practice and by a 2015 Supreme Court case, has been used to challenge practices such as zoning restrictions and “crime free” ordinances ... And disparate impact is an essential counterpoint for the other HUD rule being targeted — the underused Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) provision.
>
It wasn’t until the Obama administration that any president developed a clear framework for giving the AFFH mandate force.

Am almost certain that the objectives of forceful integration and pricey-housing subsidies for the poor are mainly to prohibit Caucasian Christians from being a community majority anywhere (schools, businesses, apartment buildings, the local grocery store, etc., etc.) -- not to integrate more racial and cultural varieties of people into neighborhoods of politicians, the super-rich, Chinatown of San Francisco or the Muslim community of Dearborn, Michigan, for instance; probably not ethno-religious communities of Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and so on either. Surely they wouldn't want any Blacks who complain of being oppressed just by the Whiteness of Caucasians to become a minority in their own communities of choice wherever they're a noticeable majority. [Ref. I'm not white I'm Jewish - unofficial MUSIC VIDEO - BibleRap rap hiphop | YouTube, 3.75 minutes]

GreyLmist posted on 2019-11-24 14:45:58   Reply   Private Reply


#11: GreyLmist    To: All (#10)

“crime free” ordinances | JONES ET AL V. CITY OF FARIBAULT | JUNE 13, 2018 | aclu.org

The ordinance allows police to order all members of a household evicted if any member or guest engages in what police deem to be criminal activity. These evictions can be ordered even without an arrest or prosecution, and even if a person is found not guilty in a related criminal case. Landlords are also instructed to refuse to rent to potential tenants with a criminal history, regardless of whether that record suggests a present risk for property or safety. This policy disproportionately affects Black Minnesotans, who are far more likely to have criminal records than their white counterparts, due to systemic racism in the United States’ criminal justice system.

The ordinance also limits the number of people who can live in a rental unit, disproportionately impacting Somali families, which often have five or more children. This occupancy restriction means that Somali mothers, like our plaintiff Rukiya Hussein, have returned home after giving birth to a child to find an eviction notice, because the new baby puts them over the ordinance’s limit.

This lawsuit was filed in the District of Minnesota on June 13, 2018.


Re: Paragraph 1. Seems like a genocidal sort of plan, imo -- criminalizing people to refuse all of them quarters or to evict them, even when they're innocent, so as to make them homeless and maybe unemployable.

Re: Paragraph 2. The Children's Services Board in America also has ordinances, or whatever they call it, that separate families here with more children than affordable living space for each of them and their parent(s) or guardian(s) to have their own private rooms.

GreyLmist posted on 2019-11-24 15:38:14   Reply   Private Reply