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Renowned Law Prof. Carol Swain thought that the plea bargain
was probably the best deal Mychal Bell could have gotten from a legal
point of view when you consider his previous juvenile record and
participation in the beating of Justin Barker;I
assume that his criminal attorney had access to his juvenile records
and that played a part in his plea bargain; He was guilty
of being a part of the attack on the white student, maybe the plea
bargain will prevent the media from probing into his juvenile
record; But had he been tried and evidence come forward,
he probably could have gotten a stiffer sentence and it came down to
what was best for; And usually it is better in cases
where you are guilty to get a better deal by plea
bargaining.
She also recognizes that the U.S. justice system is biased towards poor
people as well as people of color in particular Black
Males;I think the justice system hurts all poor
people. If you can't afford an expensive lawyer,
one that's going to work on your behalf at an hourly wage then
you are at a disadvantage regardless of your race. I
think it also does affect disproportionately Black men because many of
them are poor.
She also confessed sympathy for Mychal Bell and the media scrutiny that
is individually upon him as well as a member of the Jena
6. I hate to be him because everything he does
he's going to be watched and if you look at what has leaked
into the press about his prior record he has not been a choir boy and
he may very well end up in trouble again.
Prof. Swain stated that that type of media attention can also bring out
the best and the worst in people in the general
public. There are people that are rooting for
him to get on with his life, go to college and be successful, but there
are also other people waiting and biding their time to see when he gets
into trouble again. I think he's in a very
awkward situation because of the high profile of the
case.
She also offered some words of advice for Mychal Bell and his parents
post-plea bargain. If Mychal Bell has an anger
management problem he needs to get help for it. And if
his parents can afford to relocate I think that might help them as far
as to get a new start and not be constantly reminded by the
past.
However, she does feel that the boys should be punished for their
actions and not let off the hook so easily by their Black
supporters. I think that at the end of the day
we are all accountable for what we do. The Jena 6 boys
did a gang beating on one individual and were sort of celebrated in the
community. I think that we should have condemned the
attack more harshly then we did because they were involved in doing
something that they were not suppose to be doing and separate that from
the penalty.
Prof. Swain also felt that the Black community can show love and
support for the boys while at the same time holding them accountable
for what they actually did. The charges they
were charged with were severe but at the same time they had no business
ganging up and beating one person in the way that they did and that
should have been the first thing we as a community condemned to send a
signal to other Black young people that this is unacceptable
behavior.
She also noted that there's an alarming growing trend of
violent young Black males running in gangs or packs throughout the
nation. I heard of several cases like that of
these young black men traveling in packs and attacking single, lone
individuals and that's not right.
There's no respect of self or other people and we need to be
the ones saying that and holding them accountable and not celebrating
and defending them because they are not
innocent.
Prof. Swain thought that Mychal Bell in spite of all he's been
through did deserve to serve some time and she hopes that through his
incarceration he's gained some wisdom...Mychal Bell
deserves to serve some time And I hope he stays out of
trouble and I hope he learned his lesson. At the end of
the day Mychal Bell was doing something he should't have been
doing.
Prof. Swain noted that the Jena 6 case struck an emotional chord
because it hit so close to home. Her brother was a victim
of an attack that was eerily similar to the one endured by Justin
Barker, however he wasn't so lucky. I
had a brother that was attacked by five boys mid afternoon, they were
boys from the neighborhood and I am sure he knew
them. They beat him using their fists, shoes and kicked
him and he took a blow to the head. He managed to get
home and fell into a coma and died that
evening.
Because of this family tragedy she does admit she has a bias against
the defendants in the case. That sorta of colors
my view about whether or not a sneaker can be a deadly weapon, the
youngest boy was 14 and there was five of them. All I
know is that we got to do something about these
conditions. It's not morally
right.
Prof. Swain believes that Black self-help is the remedy for the moral
epidemic the Black community is facing. I come
from the underclass and I have been exposed to a lot. I
am very concerned about the choices a lot of my people, Black people,
make and some of our problems are our own fault and I do see them as
our youth and our problem because I don't think that society
won't do anything else but put them in jail.
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