Letters to the Editor
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Disparity of force
My understanding is that the kid who was attacked by the six was exiting a high school building, and was not armed at that time. In a situation such as that, the concept of disparity of force becomes relevant.
Examples of disparity of force include an adult beating a child, a strong man beating a disabled person, or a much weaker man or woman. It also includes a beating by multiple attackers.
For example, just a few days ago a special ed teacher was charged with aggravated battery (the same crime Jena student Mychal Bell was convicted of) for his abuse of autistic students:
"At the bond hearing before Cook County Circuit Court Judge Kay Hanlon, prosecutors said McCarthy appeared to lose control during the first month of school. They said he slammed one autistic boy into a brick wall and forced another to jump on a trampoline for more than half an hour while wearing a weighted vest. They also said he pushed one student into a metal filing cabinet and tied another one to a chair."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-ap-il-teachercharged,0,4075039.story
In other words, not all beatings are the same. In the case of disparity of force, there is the real possibility of serious bodily injury or death. So it is not a trivial situation. Were six attackers to beat an adult who was armed with a knife or a legally-carried concealed handgun, the victim would probably be justified in using lethal force to stop the attack.
The fact that the victim in Jena did not suffer permanent injury or death was just luck, and does not in any way indicate that the attack was not serious and potentially deadly. (For example, just because someone shoots at you and the bullet just grazes you doesn't mean that the shooting wasn't serious.) The attack was serious enough that the victim was knocked unconscious and bled from both ears, which certainly indicates the possibility of serious disability or death.
Mychal Bell also had four prior juvenile offenses, including two incidents of battery:
"Bail for the Jena 6 was set at between $70,000 and $138,000. All but Bell posted bond. The judge had refused to lower his $90,000 bail, citing Bell's criminal record, which includes four juvenile offenses -- two simple battery charges among them."
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/14/jena.six/index.html?eref=rss_law
It was reported that one of the offenses was punching a girl in the face:
"Sources told ESPN that one of those cases was a battery in which Bell punched a 17-year-old girl in the face."
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=3030458
I don't give a damn what color he is, Mychal Bell is budding predator who should be locked up for a long time. His crime is not mitigated because some white person somewhere didn't get charged with a crime. Bell is a danger to people of all races, and he needs to be taken off the street. But somehow he has been turned into the poster boy for civil rights. Whatever the final outcome in this case, I think this will not be the last time that we'll be reading about this predator in the newspaper. And it's beyond me why anyone would shed a tear over this guy being locked up.
Note to Mychal Bell: the best way of not feeling like you've been "overcharged" over a crime is not to commit the crime in the first place. I know this is a difficult concept, but a decade in prison will give you time to meditate on it.