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Hate crime charges could be coming in the burning of nine year old Joshua Judkins, according to authorities investigating the case. Joshua, who suffered second- and third-degree burns over 20 percent of his body, was visiting his mother in Hammond when the incident happened. He was playing with three older boys he had just met when they allegedly threw alcohol on him and set him on fire. But Joshua is black and the three boys involved are white, leading Joshua's father to call for hate crime charges. Elijah Judkins said, "This is not nothing that just happened by chance. This was a hate crime." Police say the boys claimed the burning was accidental. Authorities also say Joshua isn't well enough yet to give an official statement. [CBS 2 via WBBM-AM]
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I dunno about this one. Given the age of the boys, setting another on fire is not outside the range of behavior. Boys are known to occasionally set fire to things, including other boys. If there is no other reason to believe this is racial, we'll have to settle for just a regular crime, not a hate crime. Not sayin the boys don't deserve some punishment.
The boys lured him out to the woods by saying they were "going to burn something" and wanted him to watch. They didn't tell him that the thing they wanted to burn was him.
The fact that the police in that area couldn't even be bothered to interview the accused kids or check the area (forcing a relative to go back to the scene of the crime to collect the evidence) and wrote it off as a prank is pretty hinky to me.
Hopefully we'll find out more when the young boy can talk.
Aside from the fact that the boys are different Race, there is nothing from that description that indicates a hate crime. I knew kids like that when I was growing up. They burned things-- including other kids if they could. It sounds like a nice young crop of sociopaths there, and the shoddy Police work doesn't help. But, should it be viewed as a hate crime?
Depends on what that poor kid says once he's in condition to talk. "Yay, fire! Oh sh--" is a totally different animal from "We're gonna set your [insert racial epithet here] on fire, you [insert other racist crap]. Regardless, they both deserve jail time.
They weren't throwing matches around and one happened to hit this kid and flare up. Any idiot can tell you that alcohol burns hot and fast. Regardless of whether it was racial or not these little sociopaths need to be under someone's Juvie Hall but they haven't been charged with anything, or held.
On the surface this doesn't seem like a hate crime, just boys messing around with fire. The family reminds me of my mom, who when my brother was of an age of idiocy (6-13 I'd say) ALWAYS blamed the neighborhood kids for trouble when everyone was in it together. But Joshua could come to and paint an entirely different picture, we must all wait and see.
Even I think they should hold off on jumping on the hate-crime train right away. I mean it JUST happened. It doesn't even sound like the dad fully talked with his kid yet. If it's a hate crime, good, prosecute the little bastards. But don't just toss it around just because they happen to be of a different race and something bad happened. It cheapens the accusation when it REALLY happens.
And the father's statement, "This nothing that just happens by chance"... really? So he was never a kid. Almost EVERTHING a kid does wrong happens by chance. From knocking over a lamp to accidentially shooting a playmate with a gun they find in their house.
I think that it's going to be pretty tough to classify this as a 'hate crime'.
For one thing, you have to prove motivation. Specific language would have to have been used, excessive violence and a serial nature are also ways of indicating that it was a hate crime.
"A Hate crime is a crime that is committed against a person because of prejudice or bias. Victims of hate crimes are singled out simply because of their actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, personal appearance, sexual orientation, family responsibility, physical handicap, matriculation or political affiliation. A law was enacted to address the problem of hate crimes committed in Chicago which provides for increased penalties whenever a crime is motivated by bias or hate. The Chicago law may seem very clear cut, but its application is more unclear. Is it a hate crime if your car has a rainbow sticker and someone drizzles it with spray paint? If you are sexually assaulted by a friend who tells you "you're a dyke and you need this for your own good"? Hate crimes, or non-bias related violence?"
In order to charge hate crime, the State's Attorney's Office must go through a process of felony review. Should a felony hate crime be charged, the defendant will either be brought before a judge in a preliminary hearing or a 23 person panel (grand jury). The purpose would be to determine whether there is probable cause that a hate crime was committed and that the defendant committed it. The victim may or may not be asked to testify.
....anyway, I just don't see anyone proceeding with this against these boys who are so young. Those boys really need some psychological assistance and they need to pay the piper...but I don't see this as a Hate Crime. What Stealth said about throwing the term around and it cheapening the accusation when it really does happen took the words right out of my mouth.
Probably the whole families of these kids need some kind of counseling...for crying out loud, what kind of kid lights another kid on fire like this? I wonder how many animals they tortured before they moved up to human beings!