Summary
The state charges Richard as an adult, thus stripping him of the privileges afforded to minors in the justice system, such as anonymity. His name is released to the media, and he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. Lloyd and Jamal, on the other hand, are never picked up by the police, never even interviewed. In the section "DIRECT FILES," Slater outlines the evolution and devolution of the juvenile justice system in the United States. She cites an early pioneer of juvenile justice, John P. Altgeld, who in 1884 wrote about the damage that is done to minors when they serve time alongside seasoned, adult criminals. He introduced to the public the idea that by punishing young criminals with draconian measures, the system was only increasing their potential for future violent crimes. Altgeld and his contemporaries' reformist ideas were applied to criminal justice for 80 years and led to a separate system for juvenile offenders. But then came a wave of violent and drug-related crimes in the '80s and '90s, which spurred conservative policies and theories, like those of political scientist John Dilulio Jr. Dilulio invented the concept of the "super-predator," "a young juvenile criminal who is so impulsive, so remorseless, that he can kill, rape, maim without giving it a second thought" (162). These theories permeated state and national policy. In California, Proposition 21 was passed in 2000 and gave prosecutors the ability to decide whether or not juveniles should be tried in adult courts, and in cases of sex crimes, made it a requirement. Slater discusses the racial disparity in trying juveniles as adults, with white youth trailing far behind Black and Latinx youth.
Richard's first appearance in court attracts hordes of reporters and fervent media coverage. Walking into the courthouse, Richard is surrounded by his guardians—his mother, grandmother, and aunt. They insist to reporters than Richard is a good kid, that he made a terrible mistake. He and his friends only meant to joke around. The media picks up on the phrase "joke around," and the editorializing and selective quoting begins. Many people on social media are rooting for Richard to be sentenced to life in prison. Richard's mother Jasmine responds to the barrage on online hate with a call to prayer.
The section "THE DESK," introduces Nancy O'Malley, Alameda County DA, who is in favor of trying Richard as an adult. She cites her commitment to protecting the rights of protected groups and demonstrating that hate-based crimes would absolutely never be tolerated in the state of California. O'Malley is surprised to receive a letter from the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Transgender Law Center, along with the ACLU, urging her to reconsider her decision to try Richard as an adult. They write, “When juvenile impulsivity and poor judgment produce dire consequences, it does not make sense to craft a response intended for adults" (171).
Slater outlines life for Sasha at the Bothin hospital for burn victims. They have to undergo a second surgery, so they're held there for weeks to make sure the wounds don't get infected. Sasha's days are marked by hydrotherapy and the administration of pain pills. Their friends visit them, which helps in lifting their spirits, but one friend is conspicuously absent—Andrew. Andrew says that his complicated emotions toward Sasha, paired with the difficulty of facing evidence of the danger trans people like him face every day, prevented him from visiting them. But he's regretful that he let his fear prevent him from supporting Sasha the way they supported him when he was hospitalized for depression during his freshman year of high school.
Richard writes two letters to Sasha while he is incarcerated and awaiting trial, but the private lawyer his family raises money to defend him, Bill Du Bois, takes the letters and holds onto them until after the trial, because they contain admissions of guilt. The letters are profuse apologies, and in them, Richard accepts responsibility for his actions, accepts the consequences, and begs only for forgiveness from Sasha. In his second letter, he insists that he didn't commit his crime out of hate and that he has nothing against gay people.
The Skirts for Sasha march brings the Maybeck community together in solidarity with Sasha as she recovers from her surgeries. They march along the 57 bus route holding signs and rainbow ribbons. In a letter to the parents of his students and fellow staff at the school where he works, Sasha's dad Karl writes about the importance of reserving judgment. He writes, "At this point, I choose to assume that this kid was playing with fire, and that he gravely underestimated the consequences of that" (187). He encourages his community to take care of each other and approach the situation with compassion and understanding. He also includes information about Sasha's gender identity, in the hopes that people who haven't met anyone who identifies outside of the binary genders might, going forward, better understand where Sasha is coming from.
A new wave of press surrounds the comments Richard made during his interrogation, saying that he is "very homophobic." Prosecution call this an open and shut confession to a hate crime, but Richard's lawyer and his mother insist that he doesn't even know what the word "homophobic" means, and that he was only saying what he thought the police wanted to hear. Sasha receives an outpouring of gifts and support from all over the world. People send her letters telling her to stay strong and get well, LGBTQ groups send notes of solidarity, and strangers send her bouquets of flowers and works of art. A fund for Sasha's medical costs raises over $30,000.
Some students at Oakland High feel that Richard's actions reflect poorly on them. Kids in Oakland already make prejudicial assumptions about kids at O High, especially students of color. To show that Oakland High has zero tolerance for hate, a schoolwide effort is made to show their support for Sasha. The basketball team wears jersey's with Sasha's name on it, and on the front the slogan for the schoolwide movement is printed: No H8. Though many of the students knew Richard before the incident and know he's not a hateful person, they recognize the consequences of his actions and the pain he's caused Sasha. O High intends to distance itself from any implication of identity-based hate.
A few of Richard's friends at the school are conflicted about the No H8 campaign. They support the spirit of the campaign, but they don't accept that Richard acted out of hate. They feel that the virality of the campaign seems to steamroll over any possibility that Richard wasn't intending to commit a hate crime. At Kaprice's request, Amy Wilder, a resource specialist at Oakland High School and the adviser for the school's Gay-Straight Alliance, leads a workshop for friends of Richard to discuss their feelings about everything that was going on, between the trial and the No H8 campaign. Wilder shares a story about Richard calming down the younger sibling of a student whose parent came in for a conference. Her eyes well up with tears as she reflects on the seriousness of the consequences he faces.
Slater turns the reader's attention to another juvenile hate crime trial occurring at the same time regarding relentless race-based bullying and assault perpetrated by white students at San Jose University against their Black roommate, Donald Williams Jr. The conclusion was that all but one of the defendants were expelled, the other was suspended, and they were all charged with misdemeanors. Weeks after the fire, after Sasha is released into her parents' care, Dan Gale visits them at their home for breakfast. Dan is the mustachioed man who helped put Sasha out on the bus. He tearfully admits that his experience with Sasha has helped him so much in his own life. His relationship with his daughters has improved and his own self-worth has risen. Sasha thanks him for everything he's done. After a while, the conversation turns to Richard. Dan asks Sasha and her parents how they feel he should be punished. They all agree that Richard should be tried as a juvenile. Sasha says, "I know he hurt me. He did something that’s really dangerous and stupid. But then again, he’s a sixteen-year-old kid and sixteen-year-old kids are kind of dumb. It’s really hard to know what I want for him" (212).
Analysis
Some new themes emerge in Part 3, one of them being the theme of juvenile justice. The subject of juvenile justice asks questions like whether underage offenders should be punished or rehabilitated and considers factors like hormones and brain development when determining a motive for their crimes. There have been many theorists and policymakers who believe that juveniles should be punished like adults, and that violent behavior as a youth indicates a hopeless case, as political scientist John J. Dilulio Jr. claimed when he coined the term "super-predator" to describe young people, usually young black and brown men, as apparently lacking empathy and conscience. This "super predator" endemic was eventually debunked as a fear-mongering, racist myth, but not before it influenced policies across the nation that allowed for district attorneys to try juveniles as adults at their own discretion.
The violent nature of Richard's crime—whether or not he intended for the severity of the outcome—and the notion that it was hate-based—whether or not it was—leads to Alameda County DA Nancy O'Malley's decision to try Richard as an adult. But when Dan Gale asks Sasha what they think should happen to Richard, it's clear they're not so convinced as O'Malley. When Karl writes a letter to his students' parents and fellow staff at the grade school where he works, he obviously favors a more careful approach when considering how to think about the young suspect in the attack against his daughter. These contrasting responses—that of the state versus that of the actual victim and their family—might invert the expectations. One might expect the victim and their loved ones to be the most reactionary, to call for Richard's head on a spit for what he did because they are the most intimately affected. Sasha spends weeks in a burn unit, months in recovery, and gains a lifetime of scar tissue and trauma after being the target of violence because of their identity. But the reality is that the state is the one choosing to prosecute Richard more severely, and it chooses to do so for the purpose of sending a message: that these kinds of crimes are not tolerated in California.
A letter to O'Malley from the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Transgender Law Center, along with the ACLU, reads, “When juvenile impulsivity and poor judgment produce dire consequences, it does not make sense to craft a response intended for adults" (171). The message that Sasha, her parents, and identity groups seem to want to send is that juveniles must be rehabilitated in order to eradicate hateful mindsets from society. The message is that it helps no one to institutionalize a minor, to expose them to hardened, adult criminals and perhaps risk exposing them to violence in prisons, instead of attempting to educate them about why what they did is wrong.
A focal point of media coverage of the case becomes Richard's confession during interrogation that he is "homophobic," but his lawyer and family claim that Richard doesn't even know what the word means. Richard's lawyer says to the press, “I’ve met the minor and I can tell you he’s not homophobic, not even remotely ... First of all, he doesn’t know how to spell homophobic, much less be it” (189-190). This is obviously flawed logic; a person certainly doesn't have to be able to spell homophobic in order to be prejudiced against non-normative sexuality, and Du Bois doesn't help Richard's cause by making such an inflammatory statement. However, later when Du Bois asks Richard what homophobic means, he apparently said it means that he isn't gay and that he likes girls (190). This obviously is not the meaning of the word. His mother Jasmine believes that Richard simply said what he thought the police wanted to hear. According to Barry Feld, an expert on juvenile law at the University of Minnesota, most kids will do or say anything they think will get them out of custody. Some are more concerned with the shame and embarrassment of being arrested than the actual consequences of what they say.
Another theme that emerges is that of mob mentality and groupthink. It takes different forms, some more negative than others. For example, the online responses of people who, in supposed solidarity with Sasha, call for Richard to be handed down a life sentence and write nasty, hateful things about his family, are a form of mob mentality. This wave of commentary is purely reactionary and doesn't consider the actual victim, Sasha's, reaction. Then there is the No H8 campaign at Oakland High, which is certainly a positive movement, but some of the people closest to Richard feel that it is unfair to him to mount this campaign as a way of distancing the school from his crime, which they still aren't convinced was a hate crime in the first place.
