There is and should be a visceral response when we witness our "Justice System" prey upon our children and the future of this nation with this lawfare. They chose these minors here within school not only because they were easy prey, but because the lawfare of sentencing guidelines ensured anything (.6 grams of marijuana) on school grounds would be considered a serious felony in the end. That is the story line that makes the accusation that these 22 children made up a "dangerous drug ring" plausible, with the convictions qualifying the county for the next round of federal funding.
Furthermore, everyone of these children are likely "indigent" without any chance of funding a legal defense, yet the court will look to the families to make that determination and chose not to appoint them council under our criminal law. Once that court finds that family somehow can pay, yet they cannot or decide not to ...
We call that Cash for Kids