-Caveat Lector- >From TheFreeStudent http://www.thefreestudent.com/library/1999/09/10/ed.htm > For All > "EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW" > --Motto over the door of the Supreme Court of the United States, it also appears > in an early Court decision. > > Volume 2, Number 20 > 10 September 1999 > > PROTECTION FROM ABDUCTION > > <Picture: I>n the middle of the night, a door is opened. Husky men enter a home. > Someone is awakened, ordered to get dressed, and removed from the home. > > A citizen of the United States has been taken into custody. This citizen will > soon be out of the country, subject to punishments that would violate the Eighth > Amendment--if it applied. > > But there has been no hearing, no judge, no jury--not even a police officer has > been involved. The Constitution of the United States is considered irrelevant; > the will of a parent controls. > > The citizen need not have committed a crime. The citizen need only be less than > 18 years old. > > The CBS News broadcast, 48 Hours: Breaking Point, that presented this scenario > last night was largely a rerun, as is the scenario itself, which--judging by the > number of people at the camps to which the victims are taken--takes place at a > different home every night, somewhere in the United States. > > According to CBS News, most of the students at Paradise Cove, Samoa, have broken > the law by using drugs. They have poor academic records. They have run away from > home. > > Some are there, CBS News reports, for talking back to their parents. All of them > are there on their parents' authority; the parents pay fees of $30,000 or more > per year. > > The drugs they use at Paradise Cove are prescribed by a psychiatrist who visits > every six weeks. The classes they take are taught without certified teachers. > They cannot get home. They are required to ask permission before asking > questions. > > And at least one of them describes talking to his parents as a "dream come > true." It took him more than half a year to "earn" the "privilege." > > When Paul Richards's neighbors went to court to bring him home, the judge said > there were "no sufficient credible facts" to justify taking custody away from > his parents. But if anyone disputed that Mr. Richards had been sent to Samoa, > CBS News failed to report it. It seems to be a credible fact. The question is, > Is it sufficient? > > Our proposal: Let the judge go live under the rules of Paradise Cove. Let her be > cut off from the rest of the world, denied a hearing in the matter, fed > miserably, prohibited from asking questions without permission. Let her sleep on > a mat in a room full of people, all of whom are prohibited from speaking. Just > to make sure she has the full experience some people claim to have had at > Paradise Cove, let her be hog-tied and stuck in a tiny room for 2 1/2 days, and, > when she cries for water, let her mouth be closed with duct tape. > > In short, let the judge go live under a regime whose stated purpose is to change > her behavior, her personality and her very identity, irrevocably, to that > desired by an individual whose authority she rejects. Let her come back only > when she is completely submissive. Then let her say that a parent who would > authorize such treatment for his or her son is not abusing that citizen. > > We offer this proposal, of course, in the certainty that it will not be carried > out. Whether it would be just is debatable, bearing in mind that the judge > permitted Mr. Richards to be subjected to those rules--and that he has not been > accused of doing anything comparable to anyone else. It is hard to imagine how > he could do something comparable to anyone else, since he does not have the > authority. > > We do have some serious proposals: > > When a citizen of the United States, even one under 18 years of age, leaves the > country, he or she should be required to sign a statement asserting that he or > she is freely choosing to depart and acknowledging the loss of protection that > comes from that departure. He or she should be required to discuss that > statement privately with a Federal official, who should be required to take > custody of any minor who refuses to sign the statement; such cases should > immediately go before a Federal judge to determine whether inappropriate > coercion is being used. (Where the minor is leaving voluntarily, the process > should take approximately the same amount of time as is spent making sure guns > are not taken aboard planes.) There is Federal authority the moment a border > crossing is attempted, and the forcible removal of a citizen beyond Federal > authority should be considered an offense far more serious than the illegal > entry of a non-citizen, because it implies stripping that citizen of all civil > rights. > > The right to counsel--with the implied right of contact, through an attorney, > with the outside world--should be extended to all cases where a person's freedom > is restricted, not just those that involve the criminal courts. Every prison > inmate who thinks his or her rights are being violated may seek redress through > the courts, and those who are confined without trial should have the same right. > The American Bar Association already acknowledges that a minor's attorney must > be concerned with his or her client's best interests, not those of the client's > parents. With the assistance of an attorney, a citizen threatened with > deportation and incarceration could seek protection from the courts, possibly > including emancipation. If nothing else, a court fight with a court-appointed > attorney can be an embarrassment, an additional expense--and a delay that could > be useful to a citizen approaching the age of 18. > > Most importantly, the law must recognize the right of all citizens, regardless > of age, to the equal protection of the laws. This fundamental principle has been > neglected far too long. A<>E<>R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." 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