Arraignment and Remand

"Something big is going on," she whispers to me. "There's deputies everywhere."

I look around and see that the room is swarming with tan and evergreen uniforms. One can hear the low metallic clink of handcuffs and feel the intensity of having firearms and nightsticks within such close proximity. Something big is definitely going on.

Two men are escorted into the room wearing three point shackles and dark blue jumpsuits. This strikes me as odd since in-custody inmates are typically dressed in bright orange. It isn't until I see the young faces of the two men that it dawns on me, they are juveniles being tried in adult court. I've been here before, but in a different place. Last year, I sat in Santa Barbara County Superior Court watching the same chain of events unfold. Young boys caught up in the gangster street life, proving their manhood by committing acts of violence against their own.

The court buzzes with conversation and Judge Dekreon commands the bench, repeatedly asking for the court appointed Spanish interpreter. My boss leans in close to me, "I think these are the boys who've been all over the news." She pauses for a second and I immediately run through the archive of San Francisco Chronicle Crime articles that I've stored in the back of my mind. "All of this for an iPod," she says and suddenly, I remember.

These boys are members of the infamous criminal organization known as MS-13 or La Mara Salvatrucha. Originating from El Salvador, La Mara Salvatrucha emerged in the late 1980s following the country's civil war. As the Salvadoranean immigrant population swelled in Southern California, many of the young men and youth found themselves being victimized by the already established Mexican gangs. The immigrants began to organize within themselves in a struggle to survive and soon became known as one of the most violent organized crime syndicates in Central America and the United States. La Mara Salvatrucha acheived a higher level of notoriety amongst other gangs as many of its members had been previously trained in guerilla warfare and executed a more sophisticated style of criminal behavior.

However, in the case of the two young men standing before me, sophistication and discipline were severely lacking. Their act of violence (robbing another young boy of his iPod and beheading him in a Japanese style execution with a long sword) only indicates that today's society is in a state of crisis and that honor among men has now been whittled away into almost nothing. Violence in San Francisco continues to swell at alarming rates, I hear the sirens every night and as the days become shorter and it gets darker earlier. . . I am afraid to step out into the streets past 7pm. I look at these two men, being arraigned in a court of law before receiving their high school diplomas and I can only wonder where the future of society is headed.

---

Fifteen minutes later I am sitting on the second floor of the courthouse. My boss has just explained to a client that because he failed to fully comply with the court's requirements he will be remanded back into custody today. He is a man with no education, born and raised into the criminal justice system... so he doesn't understand.

"But, I've committed no crime," he says. "I haven't done anything wrong."

His original case was assault on a police officer which would lead one to assume the he is a violent person. He has a history of drug abuse and obviously suffers from mental illnes - schizophrenia they say. But I'm looking at him, modestly dressed as best as he can- bright green velvet long coat and an old newsboy cap to keep his head warm and dry through the rain- and my heart breaks. He's absolutely right... the only crime that he, and many others in his position, has commited is being born into poverty and having no resources or means to rise above and fight against an oppressive system.

We head into the courtroom and my client is standing before the judge. The deputy is behind him, ready with handcuffs. My clients starts to beg, "Please, your honor, don't remand me. I've done nothing wrong. I can't go back in there. If you put me back in jail, you'll create even more of a monster in me. Please, your honor, give me a break. I've been working so hard. I've been doing my art. I've been gardening. I've been trying to make something of myself." Again, he is absolutely right. Locking him up in a cell where he is cut-off from other people diminishes any chance for him to become reintegrated into society... for him to function as a normal human being. But, the system is a bitch. It creates monsters out of men who, on any other day, wouldn't hurt a fly.