Failure to Protect and Serve an 11-year-old

Raashanai Coley on Halloween
PC: The Sun Times

On September 5th, 11-year-old Raashanai Coley died from a blow to her stomach. Her mother, Nicholette Lawrence, killed her and is now facing charges for her murder in the first degree. According to Christy Gutowski's article in the Chicago Tribune about the tragic death, it wasn't until authorities responded to the Waukegan home that, "details of the 11-year-old's tortured life began to emerge".

In 2011, after police arrested Raashanai's stepfather for child abuse, Raashanai explained, "swollen-faced and timid" to a Waukegan officer, that the stepfather hit her "almost daily for no reason" (Gutowski). The police department followed up with The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, or DCFS, says Gutowski, and the agency investigated the incident but did not take Raashanai into protective custody.
They left her in the hands of the woman who would later murder her.

A few months prior to her death, the Waukegan police responded to an anonymous complaint about Raashanai's suspected living conditions. The officers responding left promptly though, claiming they saw no evidence of a problem. However, Gutowski states in her article, "Interviews and records show they never saw Raashanai, wrote a report or followed up, despite earlier domestic disturbances, evictions and child abuse complaints involving the family".  Though the officers claim that they didn't find anything noteworthy when responding to the home, they did not even see or speak to the allegedly abused in this case, Raashanai.

Nicholette Lawrence after Confession
PC: The Sun Times

While the police had to respect the constitutional rights of the accused (i.e. not break into the house and look for the allegedly abused girl), the police's lack of authority in such a situation resulted in forcing Raashanai to continue to live with her abusive mother. The young girl was eventually murdered. It could have been avoided had the police been able to further investigate the all of the child abuse complaints, for which they had ample evidence when considering the family's past domestic disturbances and complaints.


In instances such as these, I believe that there should be laws permitting exceptions to the constitution.  Students do lose their freedoms of privacy in schools for their own safety. Also, citizens lose their freedom of speech if the speech includes shouting, "bomb" in an airport, or, "fire" in a crowded area. Other offenses not protected by the bill of rights include producing child pornography and threatening others. All of these exceptions are intended to ensure peoples' safety. Another exception must be made in order to prevent the death of children like Raashanai from abuse. If police have good reason to believe a child is being harmed, as in Raashanai's case, they should not just be permitted, but required, to investigate further and confirm the child's well being without restriction.