Scott Henson, the prolific author of Grits for Breakfast, directs our attention to a Texas Monthly story by Nate Blakeslee.  Friends of Justice brought Nate to Tulia in the spring of 2000 and his initial story in the Texas Observer formed the template for much of the coverage that followed.  More recently, Nate’s reporting in the Observer also sparked the Texas Youth Commission scandal.

The job of a prosecutor is to see that justice is done.  This requires objectivity, honesty, transparency and even a touch of humility.  The general tendency is to over-prosecute low-status defendants while under- prosecuting high-status folk.  You don’t get much lower in the status game than a convicted adolescent.  With the advent of puberty, a sympathetic child morphs into a dangerous thug.  When they cry “wolf” nobody wants to listen.