Bernard Conteh

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Essay

Good morning Chair and Committee members, My name is Bernard Conteh and i am presenting the bill HF0287 which maintains the minimum age of delinquency at 10.  Kids who are younger than 10 aren’t mentally capable of controlling their emotions let alone grasp long-term consequences and don’t understand their actions until they’ve already made them. Incarcerating young also damages kids health and damages their career success, children are put in shackles, get pepper sprayed, put in solitary confinement, and are traumatized by their isolation from their loved ones with nothing in place to give them support. This bill is to keep the minimum age of delinquency at 10. This bill saves the lives of little kids who made actions that they didn’t understand so their future isn’t ruined by a criminal background before they knew what a criminal was.