"The oak tree where nooses were hung at the Jena High School campus last year no longer stands. It was chopped down, in part, to soothe racial tension in the small Louisiana town of Jena.

The school's main academic building is also gone, destroyed by an arson that has raised questions about a possible link to the racial discord.

What remains in the predominately white, rural town are legal battles involving black students who have become known internationally as the "Jena Six."

They are accused of beating a white student at the climax of a period of racial tension sparked by the noose hanging. Five of the students were initially charged as adults with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy; the sixth was charged as a juvenile. The victim spent three hours in the hospital. During the same period, white students involved in criminal conduct were given slaps on the wrist.

Responding to a groundswell of public outrage over the severity of the charges and the apparent racial double standard, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has retained one of the state's top defense attorneys, Jim Boren of Baton Rouge, as a cooperating SPLC attorney to defend one of the accused and to help coordinate the overall defense strategy. Boren, a former president of the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, is representing Robert Bailey Jr.

"These prosecutions are a symbol of a justice system gone terribly wrong," said SPLC President Richard Cohen. "It's a
tragic reminder of Jim Crow and the two-tiered justice system that existed in the South for many decades."

Boren said he is glad the SPLC contacted him.

"Being involved in this kind of case is why I went to law school," he said. "I am extremely impressed with Richard Cohen and his tenacity in finding lawyers (for the Jena Six)."

The SPLC is working with advocacy groups, including Friends of Justice, the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, ColorofChange.org, the NAACP and the ACLU. The Southern University Law Center and a number of private law firms have also shown support for the accused teens.

Racial tensions boil over
The tangled saga of the Jena Six began about a year ago in this central Louisiana town of about 3,000 people. During an assembly, a black student asked the vice principal if he could sit under a tree in the school's courtyard that was traditionally the province of white students.

He was told he could sit anywhere he chose.

A day after black students gathered under its boughs, nooses were found hanging from the tree.

The principal recommended expelling the white students who hung the nooses, but his decision was overruled by an
expulsion hearing committee that issued suspensions instead. That decision, along with the school superintendent's characterization of the noose-hanging as a "prank," outraged many blacks. None of the white students were charged
with criminal intimidation charges.

Then tempers flared even more when District Attorney Reed Walters appeared at a school assembly and said: "With a stroke of my pen, I can make your lives disappear." Black students say Walters looked at them when he made the threat.

Racial tensions boiled over in December, and a white student, 18-year-old Justin Barker, was beaten up by a group of black students. He reportedly suffered a concussion, a swollen eye and some cuts and bruises.

Juvenile tried as adult
Mychal Bell, who was 16 at the time of the incident, was tried as an adult in June and convicted of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy in the attack. A judge has since thrown out the conspiracy charge, and a state
appeals court threw out the battery conviction, saying Bell should not have been tried as an adult. Bell was released from custody in late September but is still awaiting trial as a juvenile.

Bailey, along with Bryant Purvis, Carwin Jones, Theo Shaw and a juvenile, also await trial.

The situation has generated media coverage across the United States and in countries around the globe. In September,
tens of thousands of marchers descended on Jena to protest the prosecutions.

"In so many places throughout the country, the scales of justice are weighted against defendants who are poor and of color," Cohen said. "By bringing in a great lawyer like Jim Boren, we hope to balance the scales."

That appears to be happening with SPLC's involvement in the case, said David Utter, a lawyer with the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana. The group, founded 10 years ago with SPLC support, is representing the unidentified juvenile charged in the altercation.

"The SPLC's involvement has significantly changed the tenor of the case," Utter said. "Bringing in Jim Boren and helping to recruit other lawyers into the case has made a real difference."

In September, prosecutors reduced the attempted second-degree murder charges against Jones, Shaw and Bailey to battery and conspiracy charges. Purvis, who still faced an attempted second-degree murder charge, had not been arraigned when the SPLC Report went to press.

The juvenile's charges have not been disclosed.

Civil rights activists across the country have raised alarm about the apparent overzealous prosecution of black teens.

"This case certainly reflects a gross overcharging of six African American teens in a small Louisiana town, a town where black kids know they cannot travel to the other side of town - the white side - at night without risking arrest," Utter said. "With adequate resources and a quality legal team, we will ensure that there is justice for these young men."

SPLC reforming system
The SPLC also is working more broadly to reform the juvenile justice system throughout the South, a systen that incarcerates many children for minor, nonviolent offenses. The goals are to ensure that juveniles receive proper legal counsel, that incarcerated children are protected from abusive conditions and that they have meaningful opportunities for treatment and rehabilitation.

The SPLC recently launched its School-to-Prison Reform Project to address the neglect of troubled children in schools and the overly harsh disciplinary measures that criminalize misbehavior - factors that combine to push children out of school and into the justice system." (SPLC Report, Fall 2007)