The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime that Changed Their Lives (2017)

Richard has been in Juvenile Hall since his arrest, and after two months there, he returns to court to ask to have his case returned to juvenile court on the grounds that it would be a cruel and unusual punishment to sentence him as an adult; this petition is rejected because Richard has not yet been convicted, much less sentenced.

Richard has been to Juvenile Hall before, and those who remembered him from his previous stay noticed a difference in him this time around. He was “…serious. Withdrawn” (218). But he did well in school for the first time in a long time and spent time in church services studying the story of Job. Job was tested by God, the story goes, and Richard finds comfort in the story’s message: “God’s knowledge and power are so vast, there’s no point in questioning his choices” (220).

Jasmine also finds comfort in believing “[God] don’t do anything on accident” and “[t]here had to be a reason why all of this was turning out the way it had” (222). This thought helps Jasmine stop berating herself and second-guessing her actions, wondering if there was anything she could have done that would have saved Richard from doing what he did.

At Richard’s next hearing, Sasha and their parents are there; Jasmine speaks with them. Sasha is slowly recovering from their burns, and the meeting is emotional for both families. Jasmine describes Sasha as looking innocent, and both she and Debbie cry. Sasha’s reaction is to say “I’m always okay with hugs” (226). The prosecutor tells Sasha and their family he wishes Richard “showed some remorse” (226)—Richard has, but the prosecutor won’t see his letters until after the trial.

Slater introduces the concept of restorative justice (RJ) by describing an episode that occurred at Oakland High School two years after the incident on the bus. This was a comparatively minor event—a boy slapped a girl’s butt—but Slater uses it to explain how restorative justice allows people to “hold two things in [their] head[s] at the same time […] That the whole thing wasn’t a big deal, and that it kind of was” (239).

An expert on restorative justice explains, “RJ isn’t a guarantee of leniency [… [It’s about dispensing with punitiveness for its own sake and trying to produce an outcome that will be more healing for everyone involved” (241). Slater gives background on RJ and places where it is used as an alternative to the traditional court system, mainly for juvenile offenders.

The two families are introduced to the idea of RJ and while the expert believed “[t]hey were perfect candidates for this dialogue […] [a]ll of them were such gorgeously enlightened, beautiful people” (241) both families were hesitant, and Richard’s lawyer called the idea “absurd,” certain that no judge would allow Richard to be diverted out of the criminal courts entirely.

Slater describes the ambivalence a lot of people felt: Richard had done something very wrong, but no one felt comfortable with what might happen to him in the court of law. Both families hope to avoid a trial, each for their own reasons. Richard’s case keeps getting new dates, and it’s not until October 2014, almost a year after the fire, two months after Sasha has left Oakland for their freshman year at MIT, that Richard is offered a plea deal. The terms are such that if he gets a mark for bad conduct, he could end up in adult prison with a longer sentence, but the upside is that he would go into a Department of Juvenile Justice facility, where he could benefit from more programs and services.

Slater quotes from the victim impact statement Debbie gives at Richard’s sentencing, in which she says, "hatred only leads to more hatred and anger” and expresses a hope that Richard will “gain some understanding and empathy in the years to come” (264).

Not until January 2015 do Sasha and their family receive Richard’s letters, and when they do, they wish they had seen them sooner: “If I’d read the letters, I would have had a different speech to give to him” (269) is Debbie’s reaction. When the family has a second chance, attending Richard’s progress report in June of 2015, Karl addresses Richard this time and acknowledges they wished they had gotten the letters sooner. He tells Richard that they have forgiven him and concludes by saying: “We hope the state will focus more on preparing him for the world beyond incarceration than on punishing him” (286).