Criminals come in all form and size , though it may extend definition that we can number a 6 - class - honest-to-goodness throwing atemper tantrumat elementary school among them . Yet … welcome to America . In former September 2019 , a Florida coparrested two form schoolers , slapped a yoke of handcuffs on at least one of them and send them off to be booked , fingerprint and have their mugshot taken . Both nestling , again 6 - year - olds who misbehave at school , werecharged with infringement battery .
spoiled daylight for a pestered police ship’s officer ? Well , yeah . Maybe . Bad day for schools and the juvenile justice system ? perfectly .
" Does it get more ridiculous ? It ’s preposterous . It is a ridiculous ill-treatment of legal philosophy enforcement tycoon and authority , " suppose Marsha Levick , the main sound ship’s officer forJuvenile Law Center , which bills itself as the country ’s first non - profit , public - interest law firm for children . " But it ’s also a really unneeded but all - too - common abdication on the part of school , and school districts and instructor , to just defer their management of schoolhouse actus reus to police . "
Should a 6-year-old Be Arrested?
The pure legality of charging a juvenile person as vernal as 6 with a crime deviate across the U.S. Of 51 jurisdiction ( the United States Department of State and the District of Columbia ) , 33 have no lower - level demarcation line on holding a young someone reprehensively accountable , Levick says . That includes Florida . In effect , that intend that an overzealous cop , legally , can arrest even an rumbustious 2 - year - old .
Of those 18 other jurisdictions , most put the lower level that a kid can be turn on with a law-breaking at 10 age old . In those locations , a 6 - year - onetime like the two in Florida only could not be arrested or charge with a crime .
" Obviously , it begs the question , ' How can that be ? How can we mayhap have created ajuvenile courts systemthat allows for the possibility that 6- and 7 - year - olds can be arrested ? ' " Levick asks . " I think what I would say … is that they never envision a 6- or 7 - year - old would be hale into royal court . I think that ’s a fair effrontery . That ’s not who they designed the system for . "
What Happened in Florida?
A police police officer with Orlando ’s Reserve Unit hold back the two 6 - year - old on separate misdemeanor battery heraldic bearing on Sept. 19 , 2019 . One was a daughter who lashed out in a tantrum that was brought on by a eternal rest disorder , the girl ’s syndicate toldThe New York Times . On Monday , Sept. 23 , the Orlando Police Departmentfired the officerwho made the halt for not come after communications protocol that need he get approving from his executive program to arrest any minor younger than long time 12 . No charges were filed against the two children .
cop in schools , of form , are not new . Florida is one of many states that has dislodge up its police force presence in shoal over the yr . The Florida law-makers mandated it after a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland claim 17 spirit in February 2018 .
The increased show of strength , though , seems to add up with some problem . For one : As the Orlando Sentinel points out , citing a theme by theEducation Week Resource Center , opprobrious student are arrest at school at a disproportionately high charge per unit . At least one of the children catch in Orlando was black .
" It ’s unfortunate that these are things that you have to think about while navigate a public school , " Justin Henry , a political consultant and militant in Orlando , told the Sentinel . " Little blackened girls and teenage black girls , when they do have outbursts , it ’s looked upon as aggression . "
The buildup of constabulary in shoal is understandable , of course of action . It has been more than 20 days since two students killed 13 people and offend 21 others at Columbine High School in Littleton , Colorado . Since Columbine , up until April of this year , America has been through 238 other school shootings , harmonize to a year - long investigation byThe Washington Post .
Still , as the recent news out of Orlando shows , police and schoolkids — even elementary schooltime kid — just sometimes do n’t mix .
" We sleep with where this is come from . This fright of what come about when a child act out in school — that there ’s move to be some catastrophic issue — emanates from Columbine . For 20 years , we ’ve been overreacting , " Levick says . " I ’m not aiming to trivialize schooling being so quick to call police enforcement . There are obviously many place [ in which that is ] appropriate . But this is one that defies common sense . Do we have no ability to discern a serious situation from a non - serious berth ? We ’ve lost our power to practise good judgment . "
Finding Common (Sense) Ground
Most would harmonize that slapping handcuff on first grader credibly is bilk a bloodline . Zero tolerance , certainly , has its cost .
" Initially , the thought was that … there would be some rationality , some modestness injected into the school environment that would curb those extreme and laughable responses , " Levick says . " But it may be that trust and waiting for common sense to plain in is n’t going to turn . It may be that it does require a legislative answer . "
Some movements across the nation aim to raise the minimum age that a child can be charged with a crime to 12 year old . In some of those 33 jurisdictions where no minimal eld is set , there are calls to set something . " What I would like to see done , as an advocate , is to see all of those Department of State put a numeral in , " Levick pronounce . " Put in a 10 , or put in a 12 . "
Until then , though , school police officers may have to lean on something much less complicated than legislative action when present with a pre - pubescent troublemaker .
A deep breathing time . possibly a countdown from 10 . And a lilliputian common common sense .
