Juvenile Court

I attended juvenile court proceedings at the courthouse in downtown Tampa. I was astounded at how many cases were on the docket. Even more surprising was how many kids were in the courtroom in their orange jumpsuits. All of the defendants were brought into the court in both leg and handcuffs. It was baffling to understand how these young children could commit such horrible crimes. Good portions of the crimes were theft or assault. In some assault cases, the kids had assaulted their own parents who in turn called the cops on them. One case stood out in my mind when a young girl was arrested for assaulting her mother. The mother appeared in court to tell the judge that she did not want her daughter returned to her because she feared for her life. She said that she would rather have her daughter stay in jail until some form of custody could be arranged. A lot of the defendant’s parents did not appear in court. Most of the kids were left alone to stand trial for their crimes. It made me wonder how long some these problems have been going on that once the child was arrested that the parents no longer cared to see their child come home. Despite one or two cases, every child was represented by the public defender. When I first entered the courtroom, I could see the public defender shuffling through numerous amounts of papers looking completely frazzled. I did not know how many cases he actually would oversee that day. The workload that is given to the public defender is insurmountable and I could not imagine having to preparing for so many different cases in one day. A scene that stood out in my mind is when one of the younger girls was called forward to have her case heard. As she approached the pulpit, she tripped and fell due to her leg cuffs. For a moment, I felt terrible for her having to endure such treatment and embarrassment. For a second, I could see a mother wanting to rush to her daughter’s aid, but when the girl reached the pulpit, I learned that she had beat her. The mother did not come to witness her daughter on trial.

NPO CARE Loses Funding

Nonprofit organization CARE has recently lost all of its government funding. CARE, which aims to fight global poverty, works alongside poor women whom they equip with resources to educate their family members and communities to escape poverty.

            Like most nonprofit organizations, or NPOs, CARE receives 90% of its funding from donations from private persons; however, a small part of their budget comes from taxpayer dollars. Generally, state-run health and human service charities receive the largest amount of government funding. In the case of CARE that has concentrated its efforts recently in Haiti, they fall outside of the group of charities that work toward bettering the problems here in the United States and have seen their entire government funding cut.

            CARE is one of the oldest NPOs in the nation having been created in 1945 to deliver aid to survivors of World War II. CARE seeks to deliver relief in emergencies and provide economic opportunity. CARE began its work with Haiti in 1954 to help those affected by Hurricane Hazel. However, since October, CARE has been working to help those affected by several tropical storms that hit the country this past summer. Tropical storms have damaged access to drinking water in many regions of Haiti and have affected the personal hygiene of many Haitian residents. On Oct. 8, CARE delivered to 1,500 families hygiene kits that included soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, detergent and chlorine tablets to disinfect water.

            The flood-ravaged regions of Haiti are in a severe crisis because the majority of municipal and community drinking water sources have been destroyed by storms. Also, the muddy terrain has left residents stranded in regions where there is no clean water sources. Haitian residents are left to drink or use contaminated water for cleaning and hygienic needs. The contaminated waters contain water-borne diseases that can lead to infections and have left many Haitians dead or near death.

            CARE volunteers have targeted the most vulnerable groups of people in Haiti including children, pregnant women, single mothers, handicapped people and those affected by HIV/AIDS to educate Haitians on good hygiene practices as well as to distribute water purification tablets. CARE is concerned with passing out water purification tablets to many Haitians until they are educated on their use. CARE worries that tablets may be sold on local markets or destroyed if not put in the hands of the informed. CARE needs more money to expand their distribution services and has turned to the Internet to drum up resources. On the CARE Web site, those wishing to donate to the cause will be matched by private donors dollar for dollar.