Update on Juvenile Protection Orders!

A current incarnation of the bill allows for the record of the juvenile to be expunged following their 19th birthday and The latest version provides a method for the record of the juvenile proceedings to be sealed once its subject turns 19 and has successfully complied with the protection order. Many senators who were opposed to the bill are now vehemently supportive with the subsequent changes.

Should the record of a juvenile who has committed sexual assault, menacing, and stalking be expunged?

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100310/NEWS24/3100335

Racial Solidarity

Recent controversy at UC San Diego has sparked a string of racialized incidents. Following the "Compton Cookout", where members of a fraternity at UCSD encouraged students to come in their "ghetto-ist" fashion, black students and alumni rose in protest, forming committees and demanding movements toward breaking down acceptance of these actions and encouraging accountability. Recently, a noose was found hanging inside a campus library and swastikas drawn on one students dorm door. Asians rank as the highest minority student body across UC campuses, and have also decided to support their fellow students.

Their petition reads:

To: University of California

We the undersigned, UC community members (alumni, faculty, students and staff) of Asian descent, stand in solidarity with all who are protesting the racist incidents at UCSD and, more importantly, the systemic forces that support such incidents. It is unacceptable for UC campuses to view the recruitment and support of black and especially African-American students as anything other than a top priority. UCSD should never have allowed its black student population to languish at 1.6% of the total student population and ought to have paid much better attention to students' needs. The UC systemwide must take immediate and material action to improve the campus environments. We write as community members of Asian descent because we think it is particularly important for black students to know that they are supported by the group that is demographically the largest of the U.S. ethnic minority groups represented on UC campuses. We have common values and needs, and possess a history of African-American/Asian-American collaboration to draw upon, although this history is little publicized in the mainstream media. For example, African-Americans criticized anti-Chinese immigrant persecution in the late nineteenth century, and the Asian-American "yellow power" movement of the 1960's worked in solidarity with African-American movements toward common goals. We call upon these traditions, together with a sense of urgency that is only commensurate to a society that has effectively abandoned the pursuit of social justice, and pledge to stand with black students in their time of need.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

Visit their website, to sign.
http://www.petitiononline.com/cvlihs11/petition.html

Bill To Protect Against Violent Juveniles Held - Flash Player Installation

Bill To Protect Against Violent Juveniles Held - Flash Player Installation

Since 2005, Ohio Domestic Violence Network to pass a bill allow to protection orders against juveniles accused of dating violence or domestic violence. In 2007, Johanna Orozco joined the campaign after her ex-boyfriend shot her in the face, after she attempted to file a protection order following a rape. Because he was 17 at the time of the rape, the CPO was unsuccessful.

On February 8, 2010, NBC4i reported:

"In June, House Bill 10 passed the Ohio House, giving Orozco and others hope that the law would be changed to give juvenile courts the authority to issue protective orders when a juvenile is alleged to have engaged in domestic violence or dating violence. Eight months later, the Ohio State Senate has yet to vote on the bill.

In December, HB 10 passed out of the Senate’s Civil Justice Committee with a catch. In moving the bill forward, committee chairman Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati) tacked on unrelated amendments allowing local courts to collect extra fees for court filings. The fees are now holding up a vote on the Senate floor.

Senate President Bill Harris (R-Ashland) was unavailable Monday, but spokesperson Maggie Ostrowski told NBC4, “the issue is about fees, not about the content of the domestic violence portion of the bill. There is no disagreement over those issues. Once they’re able to workout those concerns over the fees in the bill it will be put on the floor.“

Ostrowski could not say when a vote would occur.

Swan said the Senate’s support for juvenile protection orders is welcome, but the squabble over the unrelated court fees should not hold up a floor vote.

“I would suggest simply removing the fees. They have nothing, frankly, to do with the original legislation,“ Swan said.

Reached by phone, Sen. Seitz said he did not want to remove the court fee amendments from the bill, adding that legislative action has been so sparse in the past year that he and others sought the protection order bill as a means to address those issues.

The dispute now threatens to prevent the protection order bill passing, though Ostrowski said a vote would eventually take place. Governor Ted Strickland has called on the Senate to pass the bill."

What is being accomplished by delaying this bill?

South Philadelphia High School

Racially motivated attacks at a South Philadelphia High School aimed at students of Asian descent recently made the headlines this past month. Dialogue surrounding the issue engage many issues of racial relations in the United States. Student and faculty at the high school cited the Asian students' lack of reaching out as a possible reason why this problem was prevalent within their high school. When initiating an outreach group for South Philadelphia High School to address school violence, the committee didn't hold a single person of Asian descent. The superintendent is careful to curb the issue away from one of racial discord.

So for four hours yesterday, Ackerman and the Asian advocates presented widely divergent analyses of the Dec. 3 attacks, in which Asian students were beaten by large groups of primarily African American students.

The superintendent said that she wanted the finger-pointing to stop, that the underlying problem was citywide violence and racial discord spilling over into schools. She also suggested that the trouble at South Philadelphia High might be gang-related, a theory never before voiced.

Activists have accused the district of long turning a blind eye to the problems of immigrant students. The district's fixes - including more counselors, cameras, police officers, and diversity training for students and staff - are a start, they say, but only a start.

"There's clearly some disagreement about the nature of the violence and the nature of the remedies that are being put into place," Glassman said in recounting the meeting.

How should this issue be handled? Does it detract from power of the Asian students when they are not represented? How do you feel about "language and cultural barriers" being seen as reasons why these students would be targeted and not report their attacks? What does the labeling of these actions as gang violence do? What has happened, or what do you think would happen, within your own school system?



http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/20091204_Asian_students_under_attack_at_S__Phila__High.html