Quote:
Originally Posted by nonniey
So got into it with a couple of co-workers over that 14 year old that beat that 9 year old. They want more punishment dished out than I think is appropriate. And of course one raised that the only reason little was done (I dispute this say we don't know all of what was done). What does the board think is appropriate? punishment?
My argument is that age matters (he is still only 14). One of the guys doesn't think age should ever matter (he agreed with example of a separate case of a DA pushing to prosecute an 8 year old as an adult).
https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/s...-in-homestead/ |
I think we have to get out of the mind set of a worthy punishment. Obviously there should be consequences but to what end? Punishment for the sake of punishment just leads to recidivism. There is no current outcome we have in place where this kid comes out of it and has great odds of becoming a solid citizen. IMO we have to develop something that gives these kids an opportunity to learn how to function in a society.
There also needs to be school reform. This is a K-8 school? In what minds in Florida and Miami-Dade think it is appropriate for a 14 year old to be in the same school building as a 5 year old? From a developmental standpoint that is woefully inappropriate.
I don't think it is as easy as saying the adults on the bus should have prevented this. It is too easy for people not in education to think there are simple solutions. We had an incident up here where teens were smoking pot on the bus. The bus driver pulled over and went to back to stop the behavior. Meanwhile students up front opened the door and ran off. The parents of the students that ran off took legal actions against the bus driver for leaving the seat unattended to deal with the pot smokers. It would be great to have additional adults on buses but we don't even have enough bus drivers in the nation let alone people willing to be monitors.
We had an issue in Baltimore City where a group of students left the Edmondson high school campus to go to Popeyes for lunch. This is against school policy. One was fatally shot. People were saying how could the teachers let these students leave campus. What is a teacher supposed to do? You can't prevent a student from leaving. Add more police? They can't do anything. A student will say "fuck you" and walk right past them if a police officer told them to return to class. A police officer can't do anything if they aren't breaking the law. Suspend them? Sure. Then they are out on the streets unattended and we get the same issues. Hold the parents accountable? That only works if the parents have buy in.
I remember when this incident below happened. I was mad at Rikki Spector's response. Looking back at it while this seems intensive I imagine it will save the city dollars in the long run if this could be applied. Hiring people to be mentors and funneling money into counseling and skill development when a young person gets in trouble instead of a detention center and then eventually an adult prison will have a lower life time cost.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/marylan...218-story.html