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Brenda Spencer 2+9 Idaho dogpack vs. exSDPD SWAT | |
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Study finds jump in children taking psychiatric drugs
1.14.03 Erica Goode NY Times
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Number of children & adolescents who take a wide variety of psychiatric drugs more than doubled from 1987
to 1996, researchers are reporting today. Stimulants like Ritalin, prescribed for attention deficit disorder, and antidepressants were the most
commonly prescribed drugs, according to the study, which experts said was the most comprehensive on the
topic.
The study, experts said, further confirms that pediatricians & child psychiatrists are increasingly turning to
pharmacology as the treatment of choice for depression, attention disorder, severe anxiety, obsessive
disorder, manic depression and other conditions. The effects of the trend, or whether it is good or bad, are unclear,
the experts added.
FDA specifically approves just a few psychiatric medications for children, despite their widespread use. This
month, Prozac was approved to treat depression in children ages 7 to 17. The long-term effects of such drugs,
particularly on the brain, are largely unknown. "The studies can't tell you anything at all about the quality of care or
the outcomes of those treatments," said Duke Univ. Med. Ctr child & adolescent psychiatry prof. Dr. James
March.
In the absence of added studies in animals & humans, Dr. Leckman said, "we're doing these experiments
more or less with our own children." Dr. Zito & her colleagues found that of the 900,000 children and
adolescents they studied, 6.2% took at least one psychiatric drug in 1996, compared with 2.5% in 1987.
The participants in the study appearing today in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine were in
Medicaid programs in 2 states and in a large health maintenance organization in the Northwest.
In 1987, children ages 5 to 9 were most likely to be taking Ritalin or another stimulant. In 1996, children ages 10 to
19 took the medications most frequently. The use of stimulants and antidepressants was comparable in the
Medicaid & HMO groups. That was not the case for other classes of drugs.
In an editorial with the study Harvard Med School psychiatry & pediatrics prof. Dr. Michael Jellinek called
findings "an imperfect mirror of the scientific, clinical, financial and systems changes that impacted the mental
health care of children." The study, Dr. Jellinek said, may reflect new understanding and "thoughtful efforts" to use
adult drugs in children "to treat children with serious mental health needs." |
"They use it like candy," said Elnorris Stone, a 25-year-old parolee from Oakland. "Anybody who's considered
hyper, who fights a lot, they prescribe it a lot. The medication fixes it." Stone was paroled earlier this month from
N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility, one of four youth prisons in a CYA complex southeast of Stockton. The
Youth Authority houses 7,514 wards ages 12 through 25 in 15 institutions and camps across California.
The scope of psychotropic-drug use is somewhat of a mystery at the Youth Authority, which has no central records
on the total amounts of medications prescribed and the costs.
The Youth Authority, rocked last year by allegations that wards were used as guinea pigs in a drug experiment and
were put in rooms with gang rivals, frequently leading to pitched battles, has come under scrutiny by the Youth and
Adult Correctional Agency Inspector General's Office for its use of psychotropic drugs. The Youth and Adult
Correctional Agency oversees the California Youth Authority, the California Department of Corrections and the
Board of Prison Terms.
Youth Authority policy specifies that psychotropic medications are to be used to treat medical and psychiatric
conditions, not to respond to behavioral problems.
Employees confirmed Osterholt's statements. "It's a legal way of slowing guys down, making them more
compliant," said a Youth Authority employee with knowledge of medical practices who asked not to be identified for
fear of retaliation.
Youth Authority officials are investigating allegations that psychotropic medications have been used for behavior
control, allegations that were raised last year in the inspector general's report, said Brian Rivera, who was deputy
director of institutions and camps until Friday, when his retirement became effective. The inspector general's report
has not been made public.
Rivera said he could not discuss allegations that are the subject of continuing investigations but hastened to add
that all medications, including psychotropics, "are being prescribed for medical reasons by our medical staff." |
Depakote, Depakene syrup & valproic acid, brand and generic anti-convulsants, were the most- prescribed
medication at the Youth Authority in fiscal 1998-99, according to CYA pharmacy records analyzed by The Record.
Depakote was the subject of a controversial experiment that attempted to Document the drug's usefulness in anger
management and involved 61 wards at O.H. Close, some as young as 14.
On a recent visit, Sam Moran noticed that his son's behavior changed suddenly as the two ate lunch in the
Chaderjian visiting room.
"He got quiet, he was in a daze. His legs started shaking, his foot was shaking, he can't keep still. He's eating, he
gets lockjaw, his jaw tightens up. He was eating, then he was not making sense."
Forced medication: Other wards have similar stories.
Travion Chamberlain says he still has memory problems six years after he took Thorazine, a powerful medication
for nervous, mental and emotional disorders. Chamberlain, 22, is a ward at Chaderjian but was then housed at
Fred C. Nelles Youth Correctional Facility in Whittier.
After his HIV-infected mother died, Chamberlain was depressed and angry and fought with other wards. Thorazine
made him feel worse.
"I felt like I was retarded. Some people get addicted to it, but I felt stupid. I couldn't read or concentrate. I didn't
want to take it." Chamberlain said the prescription stopped after 60 days.
Wards who speak out or involve their parents are less likely to be forced to take medication, Osterholt said. He
said he was threatened with punishment when he declined sleeping pills after he suffered insomnia but refused
without being disciplined. One of his roommates was not so lucky.
"They threatened to put him in the hole, put him in lock-up, give him (disciplinary) write-ups and everything,"
Osterholt said. "It was a constant battle with him. For a while, he put it under his tongue and spit it out. They made
him take it in front of them."
A new Youth Authority policy requires either parental consent for wards younger than 18 or consent from wards
who are 18 and older, Rivera said. And a new computerized pharmacy system will make it easier for the Youth
Authority to track consents, he said.
Parents who try to remain involved in their children's lives while they are incarcerated in youth prisons must battle
for answers about medical care, said Debora Aubuchon, whose 18-year-old son, Albert, is at O.H. Close.
Aubuchon said her son was prescribed a psychotropic medication, took it for a while but didn't like the side effects
and then was disciplined when he refused to take it. She could never find out what it was.
"The doctors tell me they don't have to tell me anything. You call there, nobody returns your calls, you can't get
through to anybody. I've been trying to get some answers, but it's like a brick wall.
"I don't care if they are incarcerated and if they are minors, most of them, they need to know what they're taking
and why they're taking it. Parents should be advised of it so they can say yea or nay," Aubuchon said.
Youth Authority employees familiar with medical processes at the Stockton complex contend that psychotropic
medications have posed extreme risks for some wards.
Among their allegations:
* Wards at Chaderjian who complain about sleeping problems have been prescribed Dalmane, a
central-nervous-system depressant, on a long-term basis. "It's absolutely creating drug
dependency, and that is a no-no," said one employee who requested anonymity.
* CYA psychiatrists do not consistently use a diagnostic procedure called the "five-axis diagnosis"
recommended by the American Psychiatric Association. Instead, psychiatrists may write "has
difficulty sleeping" in a ward's medical chart before prescribing a mood-altering drug. Once
medications are ordered, renewals may occur for weeks before the psychiatrist sees the ward
again.
* Wards are provided medication by medical technicians, many of whom have not had psychiatric
training, then return to dormitory housing units or cells where they are overseen by parole agents
and youth counselors who are not trained clinicians and are unschooled about potential drug side
effects.
Anti-depressants and anti-psychotic medication may be needed for some youthful offenders, but
only after appropriate diagnoses, said Louis Kraus, director of child and adolescent psychiatry for
Evanston Northwestern Health Care in Evanston, Ill. Kraus, a member of the American Academy
of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, sits on the board of the National Commission on Correctional
Health Care.
Probably the biggest concern about prescriptions in youth prisons, he said, is the overuse of
Zyprexa, Haldol, Thorazine and Risperdal, all anti-psychotic medications.
All of these drugs are used by the Youth Authority.
Thorazine and its generic equivalent chlorpromazine were one of the top 10 psychotropic
medications dispensed by Youth Authority pharmacies in 1998-99, according to CYA data. A total
of 874,580 milligrams were dispensed last year in doses ranging from 10 to 250 milligrams.
The Youth Authority provided data about the amount of medications dispensed and costs for
1998-99 to The Record, even though the newspaper sought data on the amounts and costs of
psychotropic medications prescribed for the past three years. Earlier records are not available
because the data were not centrally stored, CYA spokesman J.P. Tremblay said.
Medications are purchased as part of each facility's individual budget and are not reported to the
department's headquarters. Oversight of the use of psychotropic drugs went no higher than facility
superintendents.
The Youth Authority could not say how many wards are diagnosed with schizophrenia, manic-
depressive illness, also called bipolar affective disorder, or insomnia or have anger-management
problems. But CYA spokeswoman Sarah Ludeman reported that a one-day report from the
institutions indicated that 411 wards, or 6% of the entire Youth Authority population, are
taking mood-altering drugs.
The lack of central oversight by the Youth Authority was startling to Macallair at the Center for
Juvenile and Criminal Justice.
"It sounds like it's extremely expensive, and to not even have records or be able to account for
how much is dispensed, who is getting it, to me is appalling," he said.
Kraus, director of child and adolescent psychiatry for Evanston Northwestern Health Care in
Evanston, Ill., is a member of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and sits
with Owens on the board of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. Owens, who
retired last year as medical director of Washington state's division of youth services, is a
member of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Last year, the Youth Authority prescribed more than 16 million milligrams of psychotropic
medications, including:
* Fluphenazine and the equivalent brand drugs Permitil concentrate and Prolixin
Decanoate. It's "a high-potency anti-psychotic," Kraus said. "I can't believe they're giving that to
kids. It's got a lot of side effects, such as permanent movement disorders." Youth Authority
pharmacies dispensed 16,150 milligrams of fluphenazine, Permitil and Prolixin last year.
* Phenobarbital, a barbiturate, "is not used (by psychiatrists) anymore," Owens said. "In
the past it was used for seizure disorders." The drug may permanently lower the intelligence of
younger patients. Last year, Youth Authority pharmacies dispensed 15,000 milligrams.
* Chlorpromazine, an anti-psychotic drug, is sold under the brand name Thorazine that
leaves patients heavily sedated, "would be used for someone who is acutely psychotic. It was
really rare. We used it maybe four times a year out of the whole population, and usually it's one
dose," Owens said. Youth Authority pharmacies dispensed 874,580 milligrams of
chlorpromazine and Thorazine in 1998-99, according to CYA records. Side effects can include
seizures and uncontrolled movements of the tongue, mouth, cheeks, jaw, arms and legs that may
not go away after the medication is discontinued.
Prosecutors revealed that Blondek was not a licensed psychologist and that he had been
awarded bachelor of science, master of science and doctoral degrees in just three years without
attending classes. His graduate school was Newport University, a correspondence school in
Newport Beach.
Blondek, who worked at N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility, contended that ward Donald
Schmidt was no longer a danger to the public and could be released, even though other mental-
health experts diagnosed Schmidt as a pedophile and sexual sadist. Blondek is no longer
employed by the Youth Authority.
The Youth Authority is addressing the issue, said Brian Rivera, who was deputy director of
institutions and camps until Friday, when his retirement became effective.
Last summer, the Youth Authority instituted new employment requirements for psychologists, who
now must either be licensed or obtain their licenses within two years of employment, Rivera
said.
But psychologists hired before the rule change are not required to obtain licenses, Rivera
acknowledged. They are encouraged to get licensed, he added.
A licensed psychologist must complete 3,000 hours of supervised professional experience,
including 1,500 hours after obtaining a doctoral degree from an accredited or approved college or
university; pass a national written exam; and pass a California oral exam, said Jeffrey Thomas, a
spokesman for the state Board of Psychology.
Youth Authority psychiatrists also often lack credentials. Psychiatrists are medical doctors and thus can prescribe drugs; psychologists cannot. Of 18 staff and contract psychiatrists employed by the Youth Authority, the American Medical Association lists only five as specialists in child and adolescent psychiatry. None is board-certified.
|
Physicians must pass written and sometimes oral examinations before achieving board
certification. Psychiatrists working with youthful offenders need to specialize in that patient
population, said Louis Kraus, director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Evanston
Northwestern Health Care in Evanston, IL. "Many facilities (nationwide) don't use board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrists," Kraus said. "Those who are board-certified for adults often don't have experience in treating teens."
The Youth Authority has tried to recruit board-certified psychiatrists but has limited budget
resources, Rivera said. |
DO SOMETHING: toolkit Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) free or low-cost health insurance for children of working parents signup. Community guide to assist local groups Community Health Councils, Inc 323.295.9372 3741 Stocker, Suite 208 Los Angeles, CA 90008 Part of U.S. Dept of Ed Insure Kids Now |
Judge spares 13 yr old killer
1.14.00 David Goodman AP
Nathaniel, who turns 14 next week, said nothing. He turned around and looked at his mother & other relatives
when he entered the courtroom but showed no emotion when the judge passed sentence. "The first 2 words that
Nate said to me were, `What happened?'" said defense atty Daniel Bagdade. After the sentence was explained,
the boy "just sort of looked down and shrugged his shoulders."
Nathaniel was convicted in Nov. 1999 of second-degree murder for shooting 18- year-old Ronnie Greene Jr. from
about 70 yards away outside a Pontiac convenience store in 1997 with a stolen rifle. The sixth-grader was arrested
2 days later, his face painted for Halloween, and has been held in a juvenile facility ever since.
Nathaniel was the first youth charged with first-degree murder under a 1997 state law that allows children of any
age to be prosecuted as adults for serious offenses. His case stirred debate across the country over efforts to
crack down on juvenile crime. Amnesty Intl chose his frightened face to illustrate the cover of a 1998 report
condemning America's justice system as too harsh on juveniles.
Despite the judge's urging, Gov. John Engler and key Republican lawmakers said they won't reconsider the law
that allowed Nathaniel to be tried as an adult.
"The governor feels when the Legislature made this decision,
it gave prosecutors and judges the ability to use this power on a case-by-case basis," Engler spokeswoman
Susan Shafer said. "He thinks it was a good law and it was put there in order to allow prosecutors and judges to
use it as they see fit."
Mayor Walter Moore urged residents to reach out to the boy and to "recognize this young citizen of Pontiac. We
need to in a concerted way make sure we visit him and give him the support that he really needs." The judge may
actually have helped save the law from being overturned on appeal, despite his harsh criticism of it, said UC
Berkeley juvenile justice expert Franklin Zimring.
"That's not the case you'd want to defend before the state Supreme Court," said Zimring, a lawyer and author of
the book "American Youth Violence. The extreme youth of the subject would have cast a terrible shadow," he said.
Defending it would have been "about as tough as it could be."
During the trial, prosecutors said Nathaniel had told a friend he was going to shoot somebody, practiced his aim on
stationary targets, shot Greene in the head and bragged about it the next day.
The defense said Nathaniel was shooting at trees and that Greene was struck by a bullet that ricocheted off a tree.
The defense also said 11-year-old Nathaniel had the mind of a 6- to 8-year-old and could not form the intent to
commit murder or understand the charges against him.
Prosecutors had sought a combination sentence of juvenile detention until age 21, followed by a decision on
whether to send him to an adult prison.
The judge had several options, ranging from life in prison with a chance of parole to a sentence of time served. As
he sentenced the boy, Judge Moore urged the Legislature to lean toward "improving the resources and programs
within the juvenile justice system rather than diverting more youth into an already failed adult system."
The judge said he hoped Greene's family would someday see his death as having served as "a wake-up call for
our community and to the nation that our youth are in trouble, and we need to pay attention."
Prosecutor Lisa Halushka said she was hopeful Moore was right about Nathaniel, "and 8 years can rehabilitate
him."
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5.17.00 John McDonald Orange Cty Register
Criminal street gangs in Orange County saw their membership dip but still managed to recruit 1,136 new members
in 1999, according to a report issued Tuesday by the district attorney. But few have been charged with, or even
suspected of, criminal acts.
The report showed that 321 gang members were sent to state prison. Of those who went on trial in 1999, more
than 90% were convicted, Rackauckas said. Others were removed from the database because there had
been no sign of gang associations for 5 years. Rackauckas denies that there is any prejudice or motive other than proper law enforcement behind the gang enforcement effort in the county. "There are a lot of gangs in Hispanic-Latino areas," he said. "They have been there for a long time; some are third- and fourth-generation gangs that are resistant to law enforcement." He added that the primary victims of ethnic street gangs are members of their own ethnic groups. "We talk about Hispanic-Latino gangs and they terrorize Hispanic-Latino people. We need to stay on top of them." Rackauckas said the recent passage of Prop. 21 will give his gang prosecutors greater ability to fight gang crime. The proposition subjects those convicted of relatively minor gang crimes to life prison terms under the provisions of the "3 strikes, you're out" law. |
Prosecutor misconduct report in state hands 1.17.00 David Hasemyer San Diego UnionTribune pB1
State authorities have been given a secret report alleging misconduct by former district atty's gang unit prosectors
that goes beyond the cases that have been overturned in the last 3 years because of prosecutorial wrongdoing.
The report was sent to the state Atty General's Office last week by a Superior Court judge to determine whether
any of the findings of the report should be turned over to defense lawyers.
At the center of the controversy is a report by Deputy Dist. Atty Stephen Anear that details misconduct in cases
handled by the gang prosecution unit in the mid-1990s, including the slaying of popular high school scholar
Willie Jones.
Anear is a 19-year prosecutor who once was entrusted with handling the most sensitive investigations conducted
by the Dist. Atty's Office. In his capacity as a 7.5 year member of the Special Operations Unit, Anear investigated
organized crime, card rooms and big money waste management.
A glimpse into the substance of Anear's secret report is contained in statements he made under oath in a July
deposition taken as part of a civil lawsuit that his wife former Deputy Dist. Atty Laura Akers had filed against the
District Atty's Office. Akers alleged she was discriminated against because she became pregnant. Along with never-before disclosed allegations that an informant in the highly emotional Jones murder case escaped prosecution for prostitution-related activities, Anear said his investigation showed how the gang prosecution unit blurred ethical & legal bounds. |
Most of the report focused on Deputy Dist. Atty Jim Fitzpatrick & investigator Pat Birse. Thompson noted that
Fitzpatrick was fired by Pfingst, and Birse retired after being transferred out of the gang unit. "Where's
the beef?" Thompson said. "That was always my quarrel with the quality of the report, it didn't establish any causal
connections with the facts."
Thompson further criticized the report because it offered no new information. "When it boils down to it, what you
have is a rehash of events," he said. "To the degree it provides some historical background, that is the extent of
the value of the report."
Anear's investigation included dozens of interviews with police officers, prosecutors, investigators, judges and
informants, along with the review of thousands of pages of records.
Among his findings were that certain
prosecutors & investigators in the gang unit acted without supervision and employed legally questionable
tactics, that the use of informants was improperly documented, and that informants were given benefits
that were not disclosed.
"I felt that we had only uncovered the tip of the iceberg and that there was a lot more out there to be found,"; Anear
said in a deposition.
He said he shared his findings with Pfingst and Thompson. Through the course of his
investigation, Anear says he met reluctantance by his superiors to press for the truth, was nagged by fears that
his efforts were being sabotaged from within his own office and angered because targets of the investigation were
allowed to review the unfinished reports.
When confronted with the information that trusted prosecutors were implicated in wrongdoing, Anear said Pfingst
& Thompson did nothing to address the misconduct he had uncovered. Instead, the investigation was shut
down. Anear was transferred. The report was shelved, and prosecutors sought to keep its contents a secret.
Anear began his investigation with a limited focus on the conduct of Fitzpatrick & Birse in the murder
prosecution of Tyrone Turner. They were subjects of allegations that they withheld information that an informant
had identified Turner as the person who killed a man during a carjacking.
As he went about the investigation, Anear said he understood he was free to follow other leads. It was not long
before his investigation took on a larger focus in the form of an 8 page letter from a law enforcement insider
written to the atty defending the man accused of gunning down Willie Jones, valedictorian at Lincoln Preparatory
High School who was slain in a drive-by shooting in 1994.
In the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Union-Tribune, questions were raised about the integrity of
prosecutors & investigators, and the use of confidential informants. The letter hinted about cover-ups, of a
failed secret undercover operation, of money spread around the community for informants, of prosecutors &
investigators who broke the rules.
Anear concluded much of it was true. "I told the district atty that apart from the histrionics contained in the letter,
that the allegations of misconduct were parallel if not an absolute mirror of the absolute facts that (we) had
uncovered in our investigation," Anear said in the deposition. "(T)here were serious problems that needed to be
addressed with respect to misconduct on the part of district atty & police employees."
Anear says he then was abruptly taken off the investigation and reassigned from his respected position to a job in
insurance fraud, a position he termed one of "the dreg assignments in the Dist. Atty's Office." When he asked his
boss what provoked his sudden transfer, Anear said he was told: "I knew too much."
Although the gang unit has been reorganized with new leaders & new prosecutors, there remains the question of how many cases of prosecutorial misconduct have not come to light and whether such conduct is continuing. New allegations, such as the informant escaping prosecution for prostitution activities, have left some veteran prosecutors wondering about the extent of the misconduct.
4.12.01 Kenneth Lovett NYPost |
official conditioning by Child Protective Services & medical professionals |
State law restricts the number of hours minors can work. Kids under 18 cannot operate machinery. Kids under 16 cannot work on a factory floor. Twelve Tribes says it considers its businesses to be family-owned cottage industries where the children help their parents - not sweatshops. The group is led by Elbert Eugene Spriggs, whose racist teachings and strict child-discipline policy has brought the group considerable controversy. Members live communally, supporting themselves by making candles, soap, furniture and other products. Al Jayne, an elder with the group, confirmed a state visit to the Buffalo-area commune, the Buffalo News reported yesterday. He said inspectors asked questions about the group's iron forge. Redford's Sundance catalog plans to sever ties with the clan because of the labor issues.
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Politicians target media marketing to kids 6.21.01 Reuters
Wash.D.C. 2 U.S. congressmen introduced a bill on Thursday to stop the entertainment industry
from marketing adult-rated movies, music and video games to children as lawmakers tried to boost support for a
Senate version of the legislation. Rep. Steve Israel D-NY &Rep. Tom Osborne R-NE joined forces to introduce
the legislation which would outlaw the "deceptive marketing" of adult-rated music, films and games to children. A
Senate version of the bill was offered in April by Sen. Joseph Lieberman D-CT and Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, who
joined the congressmen in writing to President Bush on Thursday asking him to support the bills. The proposed
legislation follows a scathing report issued last Sept. by the Federal Trade Commission that accused the entire
entertainment sector of "routinely & aggressively" selling sexually explicit films, video games and lewd lyrics to
children.
A follow-up report in April this year found music companies still marketed songs with violent & lewd lyrics to
children but that there had been some improvement in the motion picture & electronic games industries. Like
the Senate bill, the House of Representatives Media Marketing Accountability Act would empower the FTC to
impose civil fines for "false & misleading advertising" against firms that voluntarily label a movie, song or video
game as suitable for adults only and then market it to kids.
Seeking bipartisan support for legislation
He told reporters 4 senators had supported his bill so far but that he hoped more would join their fight. The
Connecticut senator, who ran as the Democrat's vp candidate last year, released a letter sent to
Bush asking for him to support the legislation. "We are not trying to tell the entertainment industry what to produce.
We know it would be unconstitutional to regulate the content of their products," he wrote in the letter, which was
also signed by Kohl, Israel and Osborne. The lawmakers also sent a letter to Senate colleagues in which they addressed concerns over whether the legislation intruded on free speech rights. "This legislation does not in any way intrude on the free speech rights of producers. It does not give the FTC any authority to regulate content," wrote Lieberman and Kohl to their Senate colleagues. |
When a marketing co. builds a Web community to observe the elusive hipster teen, is it girl empowerment or exploitation? 5.13.99 Janelle Brown Salon This information may seem frivolous, but it's a hot commodity. Just ask SmartGirl Internette, online "consumer guide" and ad-free community for teen girls that generated this data. The SmartGirl site doesn't just cater to girls; it does double duty as a trend-research firm, attempting to capitalize on the demand for market research about the teen demographic.
SmartGirl is one of a growing number of companies aiming to move the trend-research industry online. But
because it targets pubescent girls, SmartGirl's activities raise ethical questions. "Youth trend research is growing,
and clearly the Net gives us an even better entry point because so many young people are computer literate," says
Council for Marketing & Opinion Research pres. Diane
Bowers, which lobbies to "protect the integrity of marketing" in the face of privacy-protecting legislation. "Online
market research is growing by leaps and bounds; it's also growing with a lot of concerns that the limitations of that
methodology should be acknowledged."
The offices of SmartGirl Internette, in the SoHo district of Manhattan, are plastered with girlish paraphernalia.
Posters of the latest pro-girl Barbie campaign hang on the walls. Dog-eared teen magazines are piled on the coffee
table. Above the desk of company founder Isabel Walcott, a photo of girls playing soccer hangs beside a
newspaper clipping announcing, "Sleep, the New Status Symbol." SmartGirl isn't much to look at, with girlish motifs of stars, hearts & kisses, glaring spelling errors and a rudimentary design that looks firmly stuck in 1995. But that doesn't seem to matter to the girls who inhabit the site. The pages are filled with commentary from the thousands who visit every day. All of the content, in fact, is written by site members. It consists mostly of reviews of CDs, books and movies (incl sweetly sincere deconstructions of the outfits in each scene of "Clueless"); commentary about teenage concerns such as unrequited crushes; relationship advice columns; and bulletin boards heavy with posts about divorce & snobbish high-school cliques. |
For now, though, the SmartGirl enterprise is supported primarily by another section of the site: Speak Out, brimming with surveys about online
shopping, celebrity crushes, reproductive health and more.
Here, girls answer multiple-choice questions and opine to their hearts' content in open response areas. Their
teenage sentiments are collected, cross-referenced and sold to SmartGirl clients or sent out in press releases for
promotional purposes. (Walcott often serves as a kind of teen spokeswoman, popping up on radio shows to explain
what, for example, young girls think about Valentine's candy or Take Our Daughters to Work Day.)
SmartGirl also undertakes customized research and surveys for clients such as NBC and youth fashion magazine
YM. For a shoe company client, SmartGirl recently surveyed its girls about what kind of footwear ads would appeal
to them. It also launched a line of subscription reports recently, incl the Celebrity Report (chronicling the rising or
waning popularity of teen idols) and the Trend Report (focusing on the vagaries of teen clothing &
lifestyle).
SmartGirl's Celebrity Report, for example, is a dense, analytical, 30-page report peppered with charts, graphs,
appendices and tables tracking "cool" & "hunk" factor of a variety of stars familiar to the teen set. You'd never
imagine that the art of charting celebrity cool would be so mathematical, but apparently it is, and that math is valued
at $10,000 a year for 6 reports. The shorter, monthly Trend Report goes for $2,000 a year.
SmartGirl is far from the first co. to measure & sell teen trend data. Teens are a highly coveted audience,
proto-consumers whose purchasing habits & brand identification are still soft enough to shape. As online
market research firm Cyber Dialogue, research dir.
Kevin Mabley puts it, the teen years are "a great point to reach people at the very beginning of their lifetime value
as a customer." Since teens are characteristically fickle in their pursuit of cool, marketers are eager for any data
they can get.
A whole industry of trend-research firms has evolved to both measure & influence what's popular. If chunky-
heeled platform sneakers are the cool fad then you better not, God forbid, be pushing flat-soled sandals. To avoid
such costly faux pas, marketers have turned to a burgeoning group of trend-analysis companies, sometimes called
cool-hunters, trumpeted in publications ranging from the New Yorker to the L.A.Times.
SmartGirl is one of the first to adapt this methodology to the online world, and to do it with an already-assembled
teen audience to boot. But it won't be long before the thousands of offline trend-reporting companies that conduct
in-person focus groups and phone surveys turn to the Net to track what's hip and what's not.
Response rates for traditional forms of market research are down; phone survey response rates declined 6% in
1998, per Council for Marketing & Opinion Research, while online surveys & focus groups hold the
promise of being cheap & easy to perform.
They are not without weaknesses, however. The industry has concerns about how to properly weight online survey
results, given that computer users still aren't representative of the population at large. And it must decide how to
tackle the problem of verifying demographic information from an online participant.
"The future of online market research is going to be huge, but you have to get around specific problems," says
offline cool-hunting company Youth Intelligence trends dir. Barbara Coulon. "We pride ourselves on getting more in-
depth responses than you might get online, and knowing who we are talking to. We haven't really found a way of
recruiting people off the Internet and knowing who they are." The industry is exploring Net research, but has yet to
hit on the right methodology, she says.
The two biggest areas of concern for online teen market research, says Bowers of the Council for Marketing &
Opinion Research, are those that have been carried over from the traditional market research code of ethics:
parental control and privacy.
With proliferation of inexperienced online research start-ups, these issues could be particularly problematic, she
says. "It's the people who are out there without any credentials that the research industry is concerned about, they
may think they know what they are doing but they may not [follow] the research parameters & professional ethics."
Collecting information that would let someone personally identify survey participants is a violation of the market
research code of ethics and is in some circumstances illegal. Last fall, Congress passed the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (or
COPPA) prohibiting the collection of this kind of information from children under 13.
SmartGirl doesn't collect personal identification information from the teens it polls; Walcott is quick to emphasize
that the surveys don't ask for e-mail addresses, just first names (or pseudonyms) & ages. But this is a recent
change, Walcott used to collect the names & e-mail addresses of her constituents.
She says she stopped when she realized that this practice was problematic. The watchdog group Ctr for Media Education says this change only took place after
SmartGirl was used as an example of misguided online data collection during the COPPA hearings; Walcott denies
this and says the center has long misunderstood SmartGirl's practices.
Another weighty issue is disclosure. When a girl visits SmartGirl, does she know that her opinions are being
collected for market research? Should she be told exactly what the data she provides is to be used for?
Ctr for Media Education sr policy analyst Katharina Kopp points out, "survey sites often don't always disclose fully
how this information will be used ... They need to be more up front about the implications so that a teenager can
really have an informed consent about what they do."
SmartGirl, for example, does not disclose that the site does market research, except in the survey section. There,
in small type & vague terms, the page explains, "We ask you what girls want so companies can make better stuff
for you and really meet your needs. We want your opinion, and we hope to make money from listening to it. If we
can make money without advertising, we can keep our 100% girl-powered site where every opinion you see on
SmartGirl is written by a real girl or young woman."
At the bottom of the long page is a link to SmartGirl's privacy policy.
Walcott asserts that the site is up front about its mission, although it gives a murky description of who will ultimately
use the data and for what purposes. She says the reason the site's market research services are not mentioned on
the front door is because she doesn't want stray visitors who might land on the site to pretend they're teenage girls and participate in the surveys.
There is also the tricky question of parental consent, should teens be required to get permission from their parents every time they fill out a survey? Cyber Dialogue which was founded as a sister company to Yankelovich Partners (known for its groundbreaking youth trend reports with Nickelodeon) and worked extensively with teen-oriented surveys, seems to think so.
Unlike SmartGirl, Cyber Dialogue requires specific parental permission before teens can fill out a survey; it also
pays them a token fee as incentive, something that SmartGirl, in turn, frowns upon as a bribe.
"You do need to get parental permission for anyone under the age of 16 to take part in a survey. To be a best-of-
breed researcher you need to respect the issues of speaking to teens online," says Mabley. "A parent is really the
one who should make a decision about giving that privilege or not; we don't want to be the ones who decide what's in their interest."
|
Students find ring tone adults can't hear 6.12.06 AP
Students are using a new ring tone to receive messages in class many teachers can't even hear the ring. Some students are downloading a ring tone off the Internet that is too high-pitched to be heard by most adults. With it, high schoolers can receive text message alerts on their cell phones without the teacher knowing.
The ring tone is a spin-off of technology that was originally meant to repel teenagers, not help them. A Welsh security company developed the tone to help shopkeepers disperse young people loitering in front of their stores while leaving adults unaffected. The company called their product the "Mosquito." |
Walcott, however, defends SmartGirl's decision to let girls make their own decisions about filling out surveys. The
law requires only parental consent, she says, when collecting personally identifiable information. Besides, says
Walcott, parents have responded favorably to a place without ads on the Web, where their children are safe from
marketing pitches. "The thing we hear most often from parents and teachers is, 'Thank God there is a place on the Net that doesn't have ads,'" she says. The irony, of course, is that the data that SmartGirl collects instead is used to build better ads elsewhere. As Kopp of the Ctr for Media Education argues, companies will use the survey results "to market to teenagers & kids in a much more sophisticated way; it makes them more vulnerable because the co. has that information and can prey on insecurities or fears."
In the end, though, survival on the Web seems to mean subjecting visitors to the lesser of 2 evils: surveys & market
research or advertisements & product pitches. Walcott is emphatic that girls prefer the surveys. After all, she says,
girls who completed surveys on the site, admittedly a self-selected group, said they would rather have more
surveys than ads. |
Or, according to logic preferred by many luminaries, ALL modern adolescents are violent alienated
weirdoes and therefore to blame. "This isn't the first generation that has been bullied, taunted and
tormented, but this is the first that has resorted to mass homicide as a response," declared
Josephson Institute on Ethics chief Michael Josephson (whose idea of ethics is to stamp all youths
as "serial liars" and "a hole in the moral ozone"). "Kids today shoot people when they're angry and
think nothing of it," railed Judge Judy (whose idea of humanitarianism is to kill heroin users). Self-
flattering generationalist drivel. Numerous school shootings occurred in the 1980s & 1970s. 2
gradeschoolers were murdered and 9 wounded by a 16 year-old girl in 1979, seven Fullerton CA
university students slain by student gunman in 1976, and a 1974 barrage by a rural New York
honor student left 3 dead, 9 wounded. Further back in time, records get too vague to assess. No
matter. "Teenagers today should have no rights at all," fumed Naderite & self-styled
"politically incorrect" Bill Maher (whose idea of adulthood is to berate the mere existence of kids for
interfering with adult pleasures). …
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Prop. 21 challenge rejected, teen suspect pleads
innocent 4.27.01 Seth Hettena AP El Cajon Williams, 15, pleads innocent to charges from 3.5.01 Santana HS shooting 2 dead 13 wounded. Judge rejects defense's challenge of California law that sent case automatically to adult court. |
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Other than low attendance, there were few reported problems at county schools yesterday.
However, 3 18yr old nonstudents, including one carrying a fake gun, were arrested at University
City High School, said Tom Hall, San Diego Unified police chief. He knew of no campus violence
that may have occurred. 2 will be charged with displaying a weapon in a threatening manner, and
a third will be charged with conspiracy. Many local schools had tried to assuage parents & students' fears surrounding Columbine anniversary by adding security & assuring them every precaution. Many students stayed away anyway. At La Jolla High, 1200+ of 1640 students were absent, others apparently left after finding nearly empty classrooms. Friday was also an unofficial senior "ditch day," which may have compounded student absences. Some rumors fueled spring-break vandalism that left nearly every building of the campus covered in graffiti that included racial slurs, swastikas and pornographic images. A memo read to students Thursday acknowledged safety concerns and said the recent shootings at Santana in Santee & Granite Hills in El Cajon and the vandalism contributed to "an atmosphere of fear that has been enhanced by unfortunate rumors." The memo said there was no evidence substantiating any threats and said student had been disciplined earlier in the week for spreading rumors.
Some students, like senior Rachel Gordon, didn't want to give in to rumors by missing school. Many others passed the day relaxing & sunbathing at Windansea Beach 5 blocks from campus. "I didn't go to school today because it's a good day not to go," said junior Sabrina Schulman, wearing
a bikini and enjoying a day at the beach with 35 other LJHS students. "If I did go, I would have just
hid in classrooms and not gone to the bathroom all day.
Rumors at the high school touched off fears at neighboring Muirlands Middle School, where about a third of students were absent yesterday. 75% to 80% of students missed classes at Serra HS in Tierrasanta yesterday, Principal Leserik Saunders said. He said students' reasons for staying home ran the gamut from those genuinely concerned to those taking advantage of the situation.
"I have to believe many families were just being cautious & not taking a chance," he said.
"They don't think anything will happen, but they say, 'Why take the chance.' " Attendance at most
other SD Unified schools appeared normal yesterday, and instruction went on as usual on every
campus, district spokesman David Smollar said.
"There were a lot of parents calling wondering if the kids were going to be safe," said Nancy Peterson, principal of
El Capitan in Lakeside. 3 deputies, 2 more than most days, were on campus yesterday because of the anniversary & recent shootings, but the day was very quiet, she said. Oceanside Unified, which sent letters to parents this week informing them that there would be extra security because of the Columbine anniversary, had increased absences across the district.
Security patrols were increased on each Oceanside campus, including an additional police officer at each middle & high school. Oceanside's King Middle School was hit hardest. 1655 student campus typically has about 80 absences a day, but yesterday, the school had 599 absent students, said front office clerk Susan Degrafft.
Jamie Horwitz, spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers union, said its members have not requested
such a benefit, but the AFT's benefits historically have mirrored those offered by the NEA. Horwitz said the union
probably would consider the homicide benefit. While recent high-profile school shootings have focused media
attention on school violence, few teachers or staff have been slain on the job over the past decade. According to
the National School Safety Center, which keeps statistics on school violence for the federal government, 29 school staff members, teachers, administrators, custodians, nurses, school police officers, have died violently at work since 1992. |
1979 school shootings inspired boy to teach 10.6.07 Peter Rowe SD UT
Santee At 6 a.m. on a recent Friday, every classroom at Carlton Hills School was dark – except Room 15, where Chris Stanley was preparing his English and social studies lessons. Stanley has been an early riser since childhood, when he attended school in San Carlos. But one morning in 1979, when he was standing outside Cleveland Elementary School, where he was a student, he heard a sharp crack-crack.
Tonight, Stanley will arrive, early no doubt, at the San Diego Civic Theatre for the Salute to Teachers gala. The 49 nominees for Teacher of the Year come from San Diego County's elementary, middle and high schools, each traveling a separate path to the classroom. Stanley's journey began on the morning of 1.29.79
The district closed the school for a day, then deployed psychologists to meet with students in small groups. The children who seemed most troubled were referred to individual counseling sessions. Stanley wasn't in this second group, perhaps because as a self-described “rascal, full of p and v as my mom would say,” he seemed tough enough. That was a facade.
That morning, events unfolded with baffling speed. After Wragg was shot, Stanley ran into the school. He dashed toward the playground, which could have been a fatal mistake because Spencer was shooting from her home and had the ability to cover that open field. But once more, an educator saved him.
A SWAT team captured Spencer after a six-hour standoff. Today, she's in the California Institution for Women in Corona, serving a prison sentence of 25 years to life. Over the years, Stanley lost touch with his classmates. But he has no doubt that they all carry scars: “Each one of us, everybody, was impacted by that day.”
He worked three different jobs by day, unloading trucks, installing ceilings, cooking in a restaurant, and pursued an education degree at National University by night. Now in his 13th year as a teacher, Stanley insists on being treated with respect and responds in kind, working to develop good relationships with his students.
“Teaching is like fishing,” he said. “There are no bad days, just days that are more challenging, days that test your limits more than others.”
After his p-and v-infused adolescence, Stanley squeezed the lemons of his life and made something sweet. He married the mother of his child; they remain husband and wife, and have three children. They share a life and a career; she's a teacher, too.
[ true spawn of the South:
A 1998 report on an arson fire at Shorehaven Elementary School in Garland hinted at trouble ahead for the 2
siblings accused of killing their younger brother in Denton County. At the time of the fire, the children were living
with their mother, Rita Jean Carr. Michael Wayne Carr, their father, had separated from Mrs. Carr and filed for
divorce a year earlier. The oldest child, a daughter, was 11. She seemed the most distraught about her parents'
marital difficulties, family friends said. The middle child, a son, was 6. And Jackson Carr was a Carr was a
toddler.
The two older children confessed to setting the school fire on Nov. 25, 1998, the day before Thanksgiving. The
arson report, generated by Garland Fire Dept's juvenile fire-setter program, recommended psychotherapy for the
11-year-old girl. "The focus of this therapy needs to be on learning how to control anger and presenting
constructive ways to express hurt," the report said. Garland Fire Dept spokesman Merrill Balanciere said no
charges were filed against the children in the arson case.
But investigators recommended that the Carrs resolve their marital situation as soon as possible, and the couple
finally dropped their divorce case. Although the family reunited in 1999, the daughter, 15, and her 10-year-old
brother now are involved in much more than arson. Police say they confessed Monday to killing 6-year-old Jackson and burying him in a shallow grave behind their home in Lewisville. |
The Carr family lived in Highland Acres mobile home park before they bought the 1,500-square-foot brick home,
complete with backyard swimming pool, in September. Gene Caughran, who lives in the mobile home park, said
Tuesday that he had stayed in touch with Mr. Carr although they are no longer neighbors.
"Jackson? They killed Jackson?" he said Tuesday when told of the death & arrests. Mr. Caughran said the
Carrs' daughter was a troublemaker who had recently spent several weeks in an alternative school for students
with discipline problems. Mr. Caughran said the daughter & older son shot out one of his windows, apparently
with a BB gun, about a year ago. "The police came, and she said she just wanted to know what was in my house,"
Mr. Caughran said. He didn't file a complaint.
But Michael Carr asked Lewisville police to take his daughter to juvenile authorities for a few hours to teach her a
lesson. The parents were strict with the children and went to counseling with their daughter, Mr. Caughran said.
"They weren't allowed to watch anything but Disney movies. They wouldn't let her read the Harry Potter books, but
she got hold of them anyway," he said. He said he never saw animosity among the children. "The daughter told me
several times her life was a living hell. She just didn't like having to do what her parents wanted her to do. She had
to follow rules." When the older brother wasn't around, Mr. Caughran said, the daughter was sometimes helpful to
neighbors and wanted to please people.
The older boy, Mr. Caughran said, suffers from Tourette's syndrome and attention-deficit disorder and doesn't
attend regular public school. As for Jackson, "He was the only one who was normal," Mr. Caughran said. "He was
some kid, very friendly and outgoing." Doug Hubbs, who lived across from the family in the trailer park, said he
wouldn't let his 4-year-old son play with the Carr children. They were "kind of wild," he said. They set fire to an
inhabited home in the park and would throw rocks at cars & homes, he said. "When they were separated, they were pretty decent kids. But put them together and it was like a chemical reaction. They were just bad," Mr. Hubbs said.
Michael & Rita Carr's life together was rocky from the beginning, according to court records. They married in a Carrollton church in September 1984, county records show. The couple's first child, a girl, was born in Garland in January 1987. A month later, Michael & Rita Carr filed for personal bankruptcy. They listed their address as Mrs. Carr's mother's home in Garland. A second child, a boy, was born on New Year's Eve 1991 in Norfolk, VA. Jackson Carr was born in Richardson in 1995, records show.
The Carrs lived in Cook's Creek Apartments in Farmers Branch before their marriage soured they separated. Apt
manager Alicia Garcia checked her records and recalled the Carr family lived in the complex 9.23.95 until 11.4.97.
"She [Rita Carr] told me that she was going to leave the apartment because she & her husband were getting a divorce and that he had already moved out. "She was pregnant when she was here, and I remember her carrying him [Jackson] when he was just born. They looked like a nice couple who took care of their kids. The husband was a very kind man but the wife, I never saw her smiling." Ms. Garcia said the couple kept a close eye on their children and didn't socialize with neighbors. The children, to the best of her recollection, didn't cause any trouble. The family paid the rent on time each month, she said. "We never had any problems with the older kids. They never went out without their parents."
Rita Carr & her children were living with her mother in Garland in 1998. The arson report said her 2 older
children walked to Shorehaven Elementary School about 3:30 p.m. on the day before Thanksgiving. School was
out. No one was there. Investigators said the boy threw a rock through a classroom window. Then his sister used a fireplace starter to ignite construction paper near the window. Damage was light, est. $400 to $600, authorities
said. Witnesses identified the children, who quickly confessed. Investigators recommended that someone conduct a study of the Carr family dynamics, communication patterns, conflict-resolution skills and parenting skills.
"The outcome of this study would reveal the relationship between the children's behavior and the dysfunctional
dynamics of the family," investigators said. Garland Fire Dept spokesman Balanciere, said Tuesday that he did not know whether anyone conducted that study.
Cho had vendetta against society, federal agents suggest 6.18.07 Sari Horwitz Wash. Post
Wash. D.C. Federal agents investigating the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech think Seung Hui Cho displayed many of the same characteristics of a criminal behavioral profile called the "Collector of Injustice," or someone who considers any misfortune against him the fault or responsibility of others. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also think Cho mentally and physically tried to transform himself into an alter ego he called "Ax Ishmael" before his rampage.
In the days and weeks leading up to the massacre of 32 students and faculty members, Cho changed his personality from passive to active. On the morning of the shootings, which the agents say were motivated by a vendetta against society, he tried to further erase his identity by deleting his Hotmail account from his computer. In addition, he removed the hard drive, and investigators have not been able to find it, the agents say.
When police found Cho's body inside a Norris Hall classroom, the words "Ax Ishmael" were scrawled in red on his left arm, and notes & tapes he left also referred to them. Investigators think "Ax Ishmael" is based on the biblical figure Ishmael, the son of Hagar, a maidservant to Sarah, and the prophet Abraham.
This working theory is part of the preliminary findings of an enormous law enforcement investigation. Over the past 2 months, state police and federal agents have documented and tracked more than 700 leads and conducted thousands of interviews. They do not think Cho targeted anyone individually. Police have also looked for Cho's hard drive, including a search of the Virginia Tech duck pond, where someone saw Cho early on the morning of the shootings.
ATF agents have assembled a sketch of Cho that they say fits the "Collector of Injustice" profile.
The manifesto that Cho left in his dorm room, with other writings that investigators have studied, indicate that Cho believed that people had no respect for him or others he perceived were like him, and that he planned to do something about it.
Cho, 23, of Centreville, whose family was religious and had sought help for him from a Woodbridge church, repeatedly made religious references. He said that he had been "crucified" and that, as with Jesus, his actions would set people free. He called himself a "martyr" who would "sacrifice" his life. He wrote that he would go down in history as the "Jesus Christ of the Weak and Defenseless".
As part of his physical transformation, investigators have said, he methodically bought weapons and clothes for his killing spree. They have documented his purchases in detail, from the cargo pants he wore in Norris Hall to the hundreds of rounds of ammunition he carried and his visits to a nearby firing range.
According to some religious scholars, Ishmael held his brothers in contempt, despised the rituals of society and considered himself to be free of social control.
State police officials would not comment on the ATF's theory about Cho. They said investigators do not now why Cho chose his particular victims or the locations of his killings.
Causes of pariah backlash |
Scare tactics
8.1.03 Mark Scheffler Slate ë Why are Liberian soldiers wearing fright wigs?
Between 1989 and 1997, 150,000 Liberians were murdered, countless others were mutilated, and 25,000 women and girls were raped. The NPFL's shock-and-awe antics were apparent from the very start of the conflict. In an essay in Liberian Studies Journal, an administrator at Cuttington University College tells a story of Taylor's forces storming the rural campus during the initial stages of the war in
Battle alter egos do NOT protect the wearer per se.
Instead, it is a desperate attempt to divorce the combat identity from the conscript's native self identity in futile hope, albeit the only hope available, that the assumed identity will do the dying since it's the one doing the killing.
According to the soldiers themselves, cross-dressing is a military mind game, a tactic that instills fear in their rivals. It also makes the soldiers feel more invincible. This belief is founded on a regional superstition which holds that soldiers can "confuse the enemy's bullets" by assuming two identities simultaneously.
Since flak jackets or infrared goggles aren't available to the destitute Liberian fighters, they opt for evening gowns and frilly blouses.
In common Liberian initiation rituals, which exist in memory throughout the country, if not always in practice, a boy's passage to adulthood is symbolically represented by the donning of female garb. He must first pass through a dangerous indeterminate zone between male & female identity before finally becoming a man.
[ Although permutated to this motive, the original intent was literally to deceive death by disguise and thereby escape fatality. ]
Liberia's adult warlords appropriated and updated these rites-of-passage rituals in order to form tight-knit proxy fighting forces. The strongmen persuaded impoverished youths to join their battalion by offering them the chance to be part of a secret society and attain supernatural powers.
After Charles Taylor's Cuttington University attack, other offshoot Liberian militias vying to control the country embarked upon similar gender-bending rampages. One of the more notorious henchmen of the era was Joshua Milton Blahyi, a commander whose nom de guerre was "General Butt Naked".
Not surprisingly, these troops became poster children for the war. Dressed in gowns and shower caps and "fortified by amphetamines, marijuana and palm wine [they] sashayed irresistibly for photographers," writes Bill Berkely in The Graves are not yet Full, "Race, tribe and power in the heart of Africa". "Liberia's 15 minutes of infamy seemed to spring full-blown out of the most sensational Western images of Darkest Africa."
Today, some 14 years after Taylor's troops first began their march toward Monrovia, Blahyi has put his clothes back on and supposedly found God.
The battle for childhood Sierra Leone
It is nine in the morning and hot in the Sierra Leone jungle on patrol with British soldiers, marching to the village of Jotown. 9 year long civil war that tore the country apart started again last May; now there is a fragile ceasefire which the British Army is helping to maintain.
Commander Snake, probably about age 28, stands in the centre of the village, hand outstretched. He wears a bright red woollen wig. His patchwork sleeveless top is sewn together with emblems of US flags and interwoven with mirrors. He believes the mirrors save him from being killed in battle as they deflect the bullets. |
Has he fought on the frontline?
"Of course", replies Snake.
Has he killed?
"Of course. He is the bravest. A very brave boy."
Is it right that children are fighting? Snake pauses for the first time, stares off into the distance.
"Of course it is not right, but he has to defend himself. He has to be able to fight and defend the ordinary people. When we win, and when this war is over, he will go to school again, and I will make sure he gets himself a good job".
In this country, war & fighting have almost become a way of life. Children have become a way of prolonging that way of life. All over the world, children fight in wars. Here, their participation has been turned into a powerful instrument of domination.
Dawda is not the only child soldier we meet. Children as young as 10 have been abducted, and forced to fight.
Many of those we speak to watched the rebels rape and kill their parents. Others were forced to do just that to family members. Captured girls are sometimes raped too. Still children themselves, they now look after their own babies in a small enclosure to the edge of the camp.
The govt's election slogan had been "Vote with your hands".
The rebels, not exactly great believers in democracy, developed their own electioneering strategy and started a program of amputation. Thousands had their hands and legs cut off.
One boy, 12-year-old Osman, has a scar deep into his forehead. The rebels often use a machete to cut into the skull. They then fill the wound with drugs and tape it over. High for days, the children are sent to the front and fight, little knowing, understanding or caring what they are doing.
Evil does not get close to describing it.
Deputies returned to the home to get the children and put them in the state custody, but one of the boys ran to the house and yelled, "'Get the guns,'" the sheriff said. He said the children
Few things exemplify the chaos of Liberia more than the sight of doped-up, AK-47-wielding 15-year-olds roaming the streets decked out in fright wigs and tattered wedding gowns. Indeed, some of the more fully accessorized soldiers in Charles Taylor's militia even tote dainty purses and don feather boas.