It would have made a decent story for The Onion , but it’s real.  A plague has struck Kentucky.  A plague of vicious babies.  And local prosecutors weren’t going to let them destroy the fabric of Kentucky society.  From the Courier-Journal.

The boy was led into the courtroom for his arraignment by a Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputy.

Too young for kindergarten, he was too short to see over the podium.

Senior Judge Deborah Deweese asked how old he was.

“Five,” someone responded.

“Were you all aware we are talking to a 5-year-old?” Judge Deweese asked prosecutors as the May 28 arraignment began, according to a video of the hearing.

What sort of heinous crime, outrageous wrong, did a little boy do to compel caring, justice-loving prosecutors to drag his tiny butt before a criminal court judge?

He was charged — along with his brothers, who are 11 and 9 — with criminal mischief and criminal trespassing after being accused of walking on and scratching a neighbor’s vehicle with a stick, rock and lighter, causing more than $3,000 in damage.

The neighbor was angry about the damage to his car, as he was entitled to be.  But what prosecutor would think that criminally prosecuting a child of 5 was the solution?  The answer appears to be a Kentucky prosecutor, for this is nothing unusual there.

Just last week a 6-year-old and two 7-year-olds were charged and brought before judges in juvenile court, public defenders said.

The Jefferson County Attorney’s Office has insisted for years that all cases involving possible restitution, such as the one against the 5-year-old and his brothers, be brought to court. And Paul Richwalsky, chief prosecutor for the office’s juvenile division, has long had a practice that children accused of crimes at school come before a judge, regardless of their age or situation.

The article quotes the the Jefferson County prosecutor as conceding this was a mistake, that he shouldn’t have “overlooked” the perp’s age when he authorized prosecution.  But what of the others?

According to statistics from the Administrative Office of the Courts, all three other cases against 5-year-olds from 2005-2009 were dismissed, and 10 of 11 cases involving 6-year-olds were thrown out, with the other one ending in an informal judgment.

And there were three-dozen 7-year-olds charged over those five years, with the majority being dismissed. While the county attorney’s office said it has been the practice to bring all school-aged children to court in the past, that is changing as prosecutors look for better ways to deal with such cases, O’Connell said.

That judges refuse to play along with prosecutorial policies that put cuffs on little boys doesn’t absolve prosecutors of the lunacy of deciding that 36 children age 7 should be criminally prosecuted.  Can they cause damage?  Of course.  Do they need discipline?  Very likely.  Are their parents doing a fine job of raising these youngsters to grow up to be upstanding members of society?  Doesn’t seem that way. But this is not the answer.  And there’s no “mistake” to be made when a prosecutor makes the decision, an active, affirmative decision, to bring a child into criminal court.  No one is prosecuted by “mistake”.

The rational disconnect can be seen in a comment  to the story by the person whose car the 5-year-old and his brothers damaged.

I am the unfortunate man whose car was destroyed by these “children gone wild”.

Imagine having your vehicles paint job destroyed all the way around, and then having to deal with a parent who refuses to take responsibility for his childs action, and the father even going so far as to him almost get arrested when he wouldn’t calm down when the poice told him to shut up. The father was belligerent and apparently not a good role model. Then you get this horribly flawed system who don’t give a darn. AND THERE WERE EVEN WITNESSES!!!

1. I NEVER received a supeona to appear in court!!! So how can I appear when I’ve heard nothing!!! I intend to fight this till my vehicle is fixed by those childrens father! Anyone who can help me or is interested in this case, please contact me asap… Mr Burke 502-xxx-2080

Hardworking citizens should not have to put up with dealing with these “animals” destroying our property that we work so hard to acquire…Something must be done!!!

The “horribly flawed system” he writes about isn’t the one that would prosecute a 5-year-old, but the one that would let a 5-year-old “animal” go free.  Mr. Burke is certainly entitled to be angry at being the victim of such damage, and no one would fault him for directing his ire at his neighbor, the “belligerent” father.  Nor would anyone begrudge him restitution, although it’s unlikely that the 5-year-old has three grand in his piggy bank.

But his anger is misdirected.  The children who did this are “children gone wild,” and “animals”.  Anarchy has struck Jefferson County as if toddlers are on a rampage to rape and pillage.  All reason and proportion are gone in this flash of property damage angst.

It appears that these prosecutors, when pressed by the media and judges, concede that this is wrong.  And what part of making the decision to prosecute children prevented them from coming to this realization beforehand?  No part.  This is the product of a deliberate policy of dragging children into court

In an interview with The Courier-Journal in 2004, [Jefferson County Attorney’] Richwalsky told a reporter he believed that children accused of crime that took place at school need to come before a judge.

“I don’t see where we’ve got a choice except to bring it to court,” he said. Richwalsky said last week he now believes there is a choice.

Amazing how he suddenly comes to his senses when a little light is shown on his decision.  Of course, it doesn’t do much good for those little boys prosecuted before, or those who will be prosecuted when no one is watching.

H/T Injustice Everywhere