Rallies Across US for Teen Jailed for Killing Her Abusive Dad

An Ohio prosecutor will decide Thursday whether to charge 15-year-old Bresha Meadows as an adult for fatally shooting her abusive father, fueling a nationwide campaign to free the teenager and reform a criminal justice system that jails more children than any other country in the world.

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Two days of vigils, sit-in, rallies and other demonstrations began Wednesday, and scores of people have tweeted in support of the girl using the hashtag #FreeBresha. She has been held at the Trumbull County Juvenile Detention Center outside Cleveland since her arrest in late July, and a petition calling for her release had already amassed nearly 14,000 signatures by Wednesday.

Her aunt told reporters she’s been on and off suicide watch.

“She knows she has a lot of supporters because we tell her every time we see her,” Cleveland police officer Martina Latessa told the Huffington Post. “Usually when her court dates come up she gets all freaked out. She’s just really scared she’s going to spend the rest of her life in prison.”

Meadows' case has deepened concerns about U.S. policies of mass incarceration, particularly for Blacks and people of color, and raised questions about how to best address widespread domestic abuse in the country.

“Criminalizing Bresha in this context sends a harmful message to survivors and their children — that even in the most desperate of situations, they will be punished instead of helped,” the OrganizeFor petition reads.

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Prior to shooting her father, Meadows ran away from home twice. In her report to the police about the violence, she said 41-year-old Jonathan Meadows threatened to kill her family and constantly beat her mother, Brandi Meadows, who had filed a protective order against him in 2011 but was later withdrawn.

“The United States incarcerates more children than any other country,” Nnennaya Amuchie, a law fellow at Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity, wrote in an open letter to prosecutors Tuesday. “Is this what justice looks like? Bresha should not be punished for surviving abuse. Bresha should not be punished for protecting herself and her family.”