Title

What happened to Johnnie Jordan? : the story of a child turning violent

Description

On an icy night five years ago, Johnnie Jordan - just fourteen years old - brutally murdered his elderly foster care mother, leaving the state of Ohio shocked and outraged. He could not tell police why he did it or even how it made him feel; all he knew was that something inside him made him kill. At the time, few people predicted the swift emergence of a class of young so-called super-predators" - criminals like Johnnie who injure and kill without conscience, personified to the nation by the Littleton, Colorado, tragedy in 1999." "In What Happened to Johnnie Jordan? journalist Jennifer Toth, author of The Mole People and Orphans of the Living once again takes a look at the people in our society whom we so often discard and altogether ignore. As Toth investigates Johnnie's crime and life, she unravels the mysteries of a child murderer unable to identify his emotions even after they converge in acts of fury and rage. In the course of her research, Johnnie grows dangerously into a young man who "will probably kill again," he says, "though I don't want to." Yet he also demonstrates great kindness and caring when treated as more than just a case number, when treated as a human. Through Johnnie's harrowing story, Toth examines how some children manage to overcome tragic beginnings, while others turn their pain, anger, and loss on innocents."--BOOK JACKET.

Identifier

1011588

684855585

Creator

Toth, Jennifer

Source

Brian Lamb Booknotes Collection

Gift of Brian Lamb, 2011.

Catalog record

Language

eng

Date

2002

Program air date: May 12, 2002

Publisher

Free Press

George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections & Archives

Text

Transcription of Annotations
Notes from front endpapers: "Johnnie b. Apr. 28, 1980; crime: Jan. 29, 1996. - Johnnie Jordan wanted money to be interviewed. - [The author] visited him in each of his 5 prisons. - Johnnie Sr.'s mother - a prostitute; tried to dump him on Johnnie and Lorraine Saunders. - Johnnie goes on to have 7 children. - 14 school yard massacres between 1997-2000. - Children's Services ordered all foster parents not to talk to me for a year after the murder. - [There were] 200 foster parents in Lucas County. Ellen Jones, the agency head, was forced to resign. - 29 minute confession - [he] hit her 10 times; kerosene, p. 67. - Ed Pendleton - a black parole officer - was not told J.J. was in juvenile detention for striking a bus driver, then had to be restrained. - J. confessed to him in 8 minutes, then called in Detective Lamb, a black detective. - Found guilty of murder, aggravated robbery and arson - Life with parole after 30 [years]. - Plead insanity. - 3 judge panel. - Signed a confession, confessed twice - once to Pendleton, once to Lamb. - Two lawyers: Ron Wingate - black; Rick Meyer." -- Notes from half title page: "Mr. Johnson dies of cancer. - J.J.'s baby girl. - Wingate and Meyer worked 9 months on case, earned one or two grand; Alan Konop represented Mr. Johnson, earned $60,000, won a million dollars. - Agencies involved in J.J. case: Foster Care, Juvenile Justice, Mental Health. - Ross Correctional Institution: 4th adult prison. - Footnote: guards say prisoners are animals. - Jennifer Toth saw a prisoner pull knife and slit girlfriend's throat. - J.J. wanted money.- Collect calls." -- Notes from back endpapers: "All share traits: severely abused, emotionally battered, shamed and humiliated. - Johnnie killed not for power, but an attempt to take control. - First step in my opinion: anger management. -Today managed care leads to feeling no one cares. - House Bill 173: The Right to Know law or Johnnie Jordan law: must tell foster parents of previous record. - House Bill 332: training for foster parents. - Fundamental problem: no one system designed to help people like J.Jordan. - Competition among the different services: problem. - Ellen Jones plan: parents get $13 a day for foster care." -- Annotations by Brian Lamb in the margins and underlining of pertinent phrases throughout the book. -- Examples: p. 61: "Pendleton's feelings: Case after case: 1) physical abuse 2) emotional abuse 3) sexual abuse - lack of parenting. - About 1986: Youths became more violent because parents used more drugs, harder drugs. - Lucas County Children's Services, Lucas County Mental Health Branch, Juvenile Corrections Agency: all failed Johnnie. " - p. [294]: "Interviewed Johnnie for hundreds of hours both in prison and on phone. I did not select J. because he was black. - 1) All 19 foster families asked not to talk to me. 2) Caseworkers asked not to talk. 3) Eva Holston. - Without Lucas County Children's approval, [the author] got access to Johnnie's files. Sheriff let me hear tapes of confessions. - Child privacy laws. - Lucas County tried to cover up the truth of what happened to Johnnie Jordan." -- p.10: "He was convinced that Johnnie Jordan's rage could have been curbed and channeled if county officials legally responsible for him had been more vigilant and aware of the propensity to violent behavior that Johnnie openly displayed." -- p. 264: "The fundamental problem is that no one system today is designed to handle kids like Johnnie Jordan." -- p. 271: "A special foster care program, one that separates and retrains troubled children before they become more violent criminals, is our chance to stop another Johnnie Jordan."

Subject

"Jordan, Johnnie, 1980-"

"Foster children--Ohio--Biography."

"Murderers--Ohio--Biography."

"Violence in children--Ohio."

"Abused children--Ohio--Biography."

Relation

Original Booknotes interview

Rights

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