Louisiana

Last week, Mychal Bell, an African-American teenager in Jena, Louisiana, was released from jail on $45,000 bond. Bell was one of six black high school students who had been incarcerated in December 2006 and charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy in the beating of a white student in December 2006. Bell, who is 16 years old, was to be tried as an adult, and faced 22 years in adult prison; the other five defendants faced another 53 years behind bars for their alleged roles in the beating.