From the BBC, the [UK] Times:

Prosecutors in Scotland have apologized to the family of a teenager with Down syndrome for charging him with a racially motivated assault on an Asian student. The parents of Jamie Bauld, 19, are calling for changes in how law enforcement authorities treat people with intellectual disabilities.

The charges arose out of an incident in September in the special needs department at Motherwell College, in which Jamie pushed another student who had been following him.

His parents, Fiona and Jim Bauld, said they had been through a seven-month ordeal with the legal system over what they described as a minor fracas between two youngsters with learning disabilities. They said their son agreed with everything the police said, even though he did not understand the charges against him.

They believe that he was a victim of the zero-tolerance policy on racism under which police have to respond to any complaint, however minor.

Experts in Down syndrome say that the case shows insensitivity and is an example of bureaucracy gone mad.

The stories describe Jamie as having “a mental age of five.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 at 10:15 am and is filed under Down syndrome, criminal justice, international, law enforcement, parents, race. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post