What to do with “justice-involved youths”? That’s the new euphemism Barack Obama’s Justice Department prefers as an Orwellian replacement for “juvenile delinquents.”
So do you throw them in jail? Or do you instead tell yourself “he’s just a kid” and let him go? If he’s like the 17-year-old just granted parole this past week by the South Carolina juvenile parole board, the answer should be a no-brainer.
But it wasn’t.
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According to The State, the unidentified minor, who was arrested on gun charges and conspiracy to commit robbery in 2015, had plotted to join ISIS and kill American soldiers.
York County Sheriff Bruce Bryant said he was “absolutely devastated” by the decision to release the teen, adding:
This is a person who has threatened law enforcement, threatened military personnel.
York Police Chief Andy Robinson echoed that sentiment, maintaining that the boy poses an ongoing threat not only to the community but to the nation at large.
Officers from the York Police Department and York County Sheriff’s Office had lobbied the parole board to keep the teen in custody until he cooperates with authorities and explains more fully his purported rejection of radicalism. Although the teen claims he has changed and has an exemplary prison record, he also has refused to tell police where he got the two guns he had when arrested in 2015.
According to The Herald:
The teen, an American citizen whose family is from Syria, wanted to join the terror organization and was scheming with a Muslim militant from North Carolina to rob a gun store near Raleigh, with plans of killing soldiers in retribution for American military action in the Middle East.
The article at The State notes that police hope the FBI keeps tabs on the teen who will likely by monitored via GPS, prompting our colleague Joe Newby to ask rhetorically, “Wait — Police ‘hope’ the FBI keeps tabs on this kid? Really?”
