10-year-old black child sentenced to three months of probation for urinating in public in Mississippi

Outrage sparked as a 10-year-old Black child in Mississippi gets probation for urinating in the parking lot.

A Mississippi judge sentenced a 10-year-old Black child to three months’ probation and a book report on Kobe Bryant for urinating in a parking lot.

A 10-year-old Black child, who was arrested by the police after urinating in a parking lot, must serve three months' probation and write a two-page book report on the late NBA star Kobe Bryant, a Tate County Youth Court Judge ruled Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. (The Tate Record via AP) (AP)

The child’s lawyer, Carlos Moore, said the prosecution threatened to escalate the charge of “child in need of supervision” to disorderly conduct if they went to trial. Moore agreed to the sentence to avoid a criminal record for the boy, who has to report to a probation officer monthly.

“I thought any sensible judge would dismiss the charge completely. It’s just asinine,” Moore said. “There were failures in the criminal justice system all the way around.”

While visiting a lawyer's office in Senatobia, Mississippi, on August 10th, the boy urinated behind his mother's vehicle, as reported by the child's mother. Police officers in Senatobia, a town with approximately 8,100 residents located 40 miles (64km) south of Memphis, Tennessee, him urinating behind the car and arrested him.

The police chief, Richard Chandler, said the child was not handcuffed, but his mother said he was put in a jail cell, according to NBCNews.Com.

Chandler said the officers violated their training and one of them was “no longer employed”. He did not say if the officer was fired or quit, or how the others would be disciplined.

Moore said he did not think a white child would have been arrested for the same act.

“I don’t think there is a male in America who has not discreetly urinated in public,” Moore said.

Marie Ndiaye, from the Advancement Project, a racial justice group, said the arrest showed the need to limit police interactions with civilians.

“Sentencing anyone, let alone a young child, to probation under these facts is sure to add to the trauma and denigration this child has suffered since their arrest,” Ndiaye said. “For Black people in America, it is a matter of life and death.”