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'Crack whore' comment earns juvenile judge a reprimand
A Miami juvenile court judge apologized for telling a runaway foster child she could end up a 'dead crack whore' if she didn't straighten up
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER
[email protected]
A Miami child-welfare judge drew the ire of his boss in the judiciary and local children's advocates when he told a 15-year-old runaway foster child she would end up a ''toothless, dead crack whore'' if she didn't mend her ways.
Exasperated that the girl was refusing to return to a home where she said her caregiver hit and cursed at her, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Spencer Eig lectured the sobbing teen about making bad choices during what began as a routine hearing Tuesday morning.
''You're throwing your life away,'' Eig told the girl. ``You could end up on the street toothless. You've seen these toothless hags on the street? You know how they get there? They blow their opportunities in life when they're 15. They run away, they end up -- people turn them into whores.''
''Toothless, dead crack whore -- dead at age 19? Is that the destiny you're looking for?'' he added.
The next day, Miami-Dade's chief juvenile court judge, Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman, brought the girl back to court. When two attorneys who had been in court the day before complained about Eig's comments, Lederman apologized to the girl.
''That should never have happened,'' Lederman told the girl. ``I'm so sorry.''
Jacqui Colyer, the new regional administrator for the Department of Children & Families, said she intends to discuss the girl's case -- and the proper treatment of abused and neglected children in court -- with Eig next week.
''We will let him know more about the children we come in contact with every day, and how vulnerable each of the children are,'' Colyer said.
''His language,'' Colyer added, ''was a little bit harsher than you would ever want any child to hear from someone in authority.'' Colyer said she had reviewed transcripts of the case and discussed it with her subordinates this week.
Colyer said she was told Lederman would be discussing Eig's behavior with him, as well, but Lederman declined to discuss the matter with a reporter.
In a statement released to The Miami Herald by the Miami judiciary's spokeswoman, Eunice Sigler, Eig expressed regret at the language he used to scold the teen.
''The child in this case had been running away,'' Sigler wrote in a short statement. ``Judge Eig regrets that the language he used was strong, but it was his intention to try to warn the child about the dangers of life on the street, and what people could do to her. His intention was to help, not harm.''
The girl, who is not being identified by The Herald to protect her privacy, had been living with a school bus driver under the authority of DCF. In recent weeks, caseworkers testified, she ran away from the home, though she continued to go to school every morning.
At the hearing Tuesday, Eig asked the girl why she ran away.
At first, the girl replied, ''Cause she mean.'' But, a few moments later, she told the judge the woman hit her and cussed at her.
But Eig told the teen she had no better alternatives. ''It's time for you to get over whatever bad experiences you had,'' he said.
Eig told the girl she would be treated worse at the next place child welfare administrators sent her.
``You're going to keep your stuff in a box and every few months someone's going to be mean to you, then you're going to get upset about it and you're going to yell and scream and then, unlike regular children, which they wait for to calm down, they're going to call the police and going to come and [involuntarily commit] you.
''Then they're going to hold you in a psychiatric ward and pump drugs into you,'' he continued. ``That's the future you're buying for yourself . . . No one's going to love you.''
Child welfare sources who looked into the hearing said the girl was crying throughout the lecture.
A Miami juvenile court judge apologized for telling a runaway foster child she could end up a 'dead crack whore' if she didn't straighten up
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER
[email protected]
A Miami child-welfare judge drew the ire of his boss in the judiciary and local children's advocates when he told a 15-year-old runaway foster child she would end up a ''toothless, dead crack whore'' if she didn't mend her ways.
Exasperated that the girl was refusing to return to a home where she said her caregiver hit and cursed at her, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Spencer Eig lectured the sobbing teen about making bad choices during what began as a routine hearing Tuesday morning.
''You're throwing your life away,'' Eig told the girl. ``You could end up on the street toothless. You've seen these toothless hags on the street? You know how they get there? They blow their opportunities in life when they're 15. They run away, they end up -- people turn them into whores.''
''Toothless, dead crack whore -- dead at age 19? Is that the destiny you're looking for?'' he added.
The next day, Miami-Dade's chief juvenile court judge, Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman, brought the girl back to court. When two attorneys who had been in court the day before complained about Eig's comments, Lederman apologized to the girl.
''That should never have happened,'' Lederman told the girl. ``I'm so sorry.''
Jacqui Colyer, the new regional administrator for the Department of Children & Families, said she intends to discuss the girl's case -- and the proper treatment of abused and neglected children in court -- with Eig next week.
''We will let him know more about the children we come in contact with every day, and how vulnerable each of the children are,'' Colyer said.
''His language,'' Colyer added, ''was a little bit harsher than you would ever want any child to hear from someone in authority.'' Colyer said she had reviewed transcripts of the case and discussed it with her subordinates this week.
Colyer said she was told Lederman would be discussing Eig's behavior with him, as well, but Lederman declined to discuss the matter with a reporter.
In a statement released to The Miami Herald by the Miami judiciary's spokeswoman, Eunice Sigler, Eig expressed regret at the language he used to scold the teen.
''The child in this case had been running away,'' Sigler wrote in a short statement. ``Judge Eig regrets that the language he used was strong, but it was his intention to try to warn the child about the dangers of life on the street, and what people could do to her. His intention was to help, not harm.''
The girl, who is not being identified by The Herald to protect her privacy, had been living with a school bus driver under the authority of DCF. In recent weeks, caseworkers testified, she ran away from the home, though she continued to go to school every morning.
At the hearing Tuesday, Eig asked the girl why she ran away.
At first, the girl replied, ''Cause she mean.'' But, a few moments later, she told the judge the woman hit her and cussed at her.
But Eig told the teen she had no better alternatives. ''It's time for you to get over whatever bad experiences you had,'' he said.
Eig told the girl she would be treated worse at the next place child welfare administrators sent her.
``You're going to keep your stuff in a box and every few months someone's going to be mean to you, then you're going to get upset about it and you're going to yell and scream and then, unlike regular children, which they wait for to calm down, they're going to call the police and going to come and [involuntarily commit] you.
''Then they're going to hold you in a psychiatric ward and pump drugs into you,'' he continued. ``That's the future you're buying for yourself . . . No one's going to love you.''
Child welfare sources who looked into the hearing said the girl was crying throughout the lecture.
....Ya might be weak on firearm ownership but not on crack whores....
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