Eleven educators convicted and jailed last week on charges of racketeering, are seeking leniency from the judge who ordered their immediate imprisonment.   Concerned clergy have called on the court and the community to pray for the accused, the children and a school system in need of prayer and repair.   This petition seeks to engage concerned citizens in a call for compassion over criminalization. 

#LETMYTEACHERSGO

Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter's decision to immediately incarcerate these professionals raises community concerns that justice, in this case, might be somewhat skewed, and the punishment might not fit the crime.   Some news sources say sentencing for 10 of those defendants has been pushed back to April 13.

Each defendant faces a maximum of 20 years in prison just on the racketeering charge.  “How you going to put teachers, educators in the same class as drug dealers and mafia? Murderers? Under RICO? How does that serve to benefit the larger community?” said Rev. Timothy McDonald a local pastor.

As citizens learn more about the case stemming from cheating on standardized tests, support swells in favor of educators frustrated by Race To The Top expectations and historically systemic challenges that continue to leave way too many children behind.  Most can agree, if afforded an opinion, that Judge Jerry Baxter went too far ordering all of the defendants to remain in jail without bond until the sentencing hearing.

The Judge's overstep in allowing The RICO Act to define test-score-cheating is perhaps at the tip of an economic iceberg.  Bloggers and conspiracy theorists connect these actions with the School To Prison Pipeline.   RICO focuses specifically on racketeering.  It allows the leaders of a syndicate to be tried for the crimes which they ordered others to do or assisted them. It closes a perceived loophole that allowed somebody who told somebody to, for example, steal, to be exempt from the trial because he did not actually commit the crime personally.

In many cases, to include an overwhelming number of citizens originally charged in the now infamous Atlanta cheating scandal, the threat of a RICO indictment can force defendants to plead guilty to lesser charges, in part because the seizure of assets would make it difficult to pay a defense attorney. Despite its harsh provisions, a RICO-related charge is considered easy to prove in court, as it focuses on patterns of behavior as opposed to criminal acts.

That said, who among us can defend ourselves against a RICO charges? 

Those charged, tried, convicted and jailed have been adequately punished for whatever wrong they may have done. Cheating is wrong.  Being accused of cheating ultimately diminishes ones credibility in society.  But, unless these educators go home, the problems that led to unfair standards and alleged cheating will persist, and the community in need of quality education, and a system in need of healing, will not have been served.