Oregon STOP Trying KIDS as Adults, Knock this Crap Off!

Prosecute YouTube instead.

It's a sign of distress

(SALEM) - I am so sick of American youth being abused by a mismanaged mean and corrupt justice system in this state; if the kids in Woodburn who allegedly set a school fire a few days ago are charged as adults, we will report the abuse relentlessly. The state of Oregon needs to pull its head out of its back side and stop this mad, unfair prosecution of children as adults, THEY ARE MINORS!

I know we can gain strong advocacy from around the nation over this one. I know what the kids did was wrong, it was a stupid teenager's mistake, they deserve to be punished without question, but as the minors they are, not as people who are over 18, that is ridiculous.

I was horrified when I went to cover the war in Iraq, to see kids, little kids in uniform, actually in the military when they should have been home in bed.

Let's see, you can join the Marines at 17 and get your guts blown out for your country, but you can't vote, what kind of logic is that?

There are Americans who have served two tours in combat, who are not yet 21-years old and therefore can not legally drink? That same group can not gamble in a casino.

In Oregon, a seventeen-year old is so thoroughly viewed as a child in a legal respect, that they can not consent to sex, and therefore any time they engage in a sexual act with someone 18 or older, they are actually being 'raped' according to Oregon law.

There is no such thing as statutory rape in this state, nope. It is a bizarre legal notion at best: deeming all adult-vs-minor sex as 'rape' when in fact all acts do not involve force. It lessens the whole idea of rape, a terrible crime that should always be viewed as an incident in and of itself.

Oregon has zero faith that a child can make a decision for themselves, yet this?

When Oregon wants to just skip past constitutional rights, they invoke Measure 11 and prosecute children as adults, when they are not adults.
are not fully grown
have simply made a mistake
haven't matured, they are NOT adults
undeserving of almost eight years in adult prison!
are not adults!

The Woodburn teens saw a video on YouTube with over four million views, where students light hand sanitizer on what appears to be a school desk. Their copycat behavior is typical teen stuff and their friends describe the 'offenders' as nice kids who made a big mistake. They do not deserve to spend seven and a half years in adult prison where guard do not regulate male on male homosexual rape and instead it is a rampant crime visited on far too many young men in the Oregon Dept of Corrections prisons.

They don't deserve that, the people who wish such sentences on young people are like sick beasts that terrorize those who make mistakes, it was a mistake! The students also tried to put the fire out, and that is what in reality caused it to spread more quickly, but their intention was not to begin a large-scale fire, the one featured on YouTube does not go out of control.

That mean spirit... seeking to ignore age for the sake of prosecution, is destroying this place from the inside out, Oregon's justice system treats African-Americans like it was a hundred years ago; racism as our readers know, is totally off the charts. Children immersed into this system of corruption will emerge as hardened criminals, they will know a thousand things they never would have learned if they hadn't been tossed in the Oregon gulag!

They're held without bail. They will not be in court again until the 29th of May. They have been ripped away from their families, they will not receive any help, they probably won't receive justice, their crime was a mistake and they did not set out to heavily damage the school.

Measure 11 crime- Arson, mandatory sentencing of seven and a half years. I can't believe these kids are facing that. I could add their names and probably will have to soon, but for now we're leaving them out, this state is obligated to protect and educate those who mess up; there is tremendous inspiration in seeing a moderate legal tempo. This isn't it.

Tim King in 2008, covering the Iraq War

Tim King has more than twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. Tim is Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. His background includes covering the war in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, and reporting from the Iraq war in 2008. Tim is a former U.S. Marine.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing from The Associated Press the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs, Electronic Media Association and The Red Cross In a personal capacity, Tim has written 2,026 articles as of March 2012 for Salem-News.com since the new format was launched in December, 2005.

Serving readers with news from all over the globe, Tim's life is literally encircled by the endless news flow published by Salem-News.com, where more than 100 writers contribute stories from 20+ countries and regions.

Tim specializes in writing about political and military developments worldwide with an emphasis on Palestine and Sri Lanka, Iraq and Afghanistan, and the U.S. Marines. You can write to Tim at this address: tim@salem-news.com. Visit Tim's Facebook page (facebook.com/TimKing.Reporter)

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