A 6-year-old boy was arrested and forced to appear in court for picking a flower at his bus stop.

 “Should a baby that believes in Kriss Kringle, the fictional animal, and also the sprite be making life-altering decisions?” asked New Hanover County Chief District Court Judge Jay Corpening. This can be a matter that has come up repeatedly within the state of North Carolina as dozens of kids as young a six are being processed into the criminal justice system. the most recent case involves a 6-year-old boy who was arrested and compelled to travel to court because he picked a flower while watching for the bus.

Attorney Julie Boyer’s child client was unproven for injury to realty after he stopped to choose a flower from a yard near his stop, in keeping with The Herald-Sun. Illustrating the ridiculous nature of sending a toddler to court for selecting a flower is that the undeniable fact that he had no idea what was occurring.

Boyer said she had to convey the boy some crayons and a picture book during the proceedings because he didn't have the learning ability to grasp what was happening to him.

“I asked him to paint an image,” she said, “so he did.”

This is a heavy problem and speaks to the archaic nature of the law within the state of North Carolina. Currently, the state’s juvenile system has all-time low minimum age within the world to enter the court system — which is six.

Advocates for kids are trying unsuccessfully for years to vary the law but to no avail. this is often worrisome as statistics show the sooner a toddler is brought into the system, the possibilities that they continue to be therein system increase drastically.

“A 6-year-old … we’re talking about someone that’s in kindergarten, grade. They don’t understand the method, they don’t understand what’s occurring, they probably don’t even know their address,” Lyana Hunter, a brand new Hanover County public defender’s office employee told WECTNews. “The earlier that you just introduce a baby to the criminal justice system, the upper the possibilities are that they'll remain within the criminal justice system.”

Hunter explained that representing children under 9 could be a common practice, illustrating how widespread the matter is.

“I think the youngest I actually had in an exceedingly trial… they were eight. Some were.. seven, eight, maybe a 9-year-old. Literally their feet… they’re just swinging from the chairs because they couldn’t reach the ground,” said Hunter.

Luckily for the flower-picking kindergartner, the judge dismissed the case after the boy’s mother “couldn’t make the intake meeting,” consistent with The Herald-Sun.
Unfortunately, while the case was thrown out, the method of being brought into the criminal justice system could change the boy’s life forever.

“He gets served with papers. His mom gets served with papers,” Boyer explained. “It was just appalling.”
Sending a bit boy to court for selecting a flower is most certainly appalling but the very fact that this is often not an isolated incident should shock the conscience.

“A 6-year-old cannot comprehend what's going down in court, but probably will always remember being labeled a delinquent,” Satana Deberry, prosecuting attorney for Durham County wrote in an email.

Equally as egregious as arresting and trying a 6-year-old little boy for selecting a flower is that this not only happens often but it happens mostly to children of color. in keeping with a report from the Winston-Salem Journal:

From 2015 through 2018 nearly 7,300 complaints were filed against children age 6 to 11 years old, per numbers from the state Juvenile Justice section.

Of those complaints, 47% were against Melanin children, 40% were against white children, and seven against Hispanic or Latino children.

In general, 22% of the state’s population is Black, 70% is white and 10% is Hispanic.

Roughly 82% percent of the complaints were against boys.

“It could be a suspected statistic,” said Yakob Lemma, 17, an Enloe High senior and co-founder of the Wake County Melanin Student Coalition. “This is simply proof that we've been criminalized since we’re young since we are kids, and that we should become older all our lives like that, with being criminalized and being actively targeted.”

Childhood mistakes should never be criminalized but just in case after case, situations like this unfold in other states in addition.