Posted on April 23, 2008 by Jamie Spencer

Crazy School Stories: Underanalyzing & Overpunishing Kids

Maybe it’s because I’m a new parent, but I’m starting to become more interested in the topic of criminalizing normal child behavior.

Ron’s Insanity is starting a collection of Crazy School Stories:

I've got a file on crazy school stories. Now these are the ones that make the newspaper and often tend to be quite egregious. These are stories like strip searching a 13 year old girl over Motrin or suspending a kid over eating at lunch with a steak knife.

However, I'm frankly surprised and shocked at the number of people who have school "horror" stories…

Since I'm already getting active lobbying my local school board and since I've decided that it's time to start taking this to the Texas Legislature, I want to have as many stories as possible to shock our lawmakers into putting an end to some of this insanity.

Ron’s asking for emails, so if you have actual experiences to relate, head over there and help out.

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Posted on April 12, 2008 by Jamie Spencer

Criminalizing Normal Teenage Behavior

Filed under ‘sad but true’ comes Stephen’s post at South Texas Defense on over-criminalization being one reason he practices in juvi court:

Fighting at school is a good example. When I was growing up, if you got into a fight at school, you got detention (at school, not at a juvenile facility) or maybe, suspension. Now, thirteen year-old kids are taken into police custody and end up in court.

As a result of their dispositions in court, many of the kids will end up on probation, with a probation officer checking in on them every so often. All of this for a fight at school.

Put it down to fear.

Parents these days fear a Columbine type incident, and I don’t necessarily blame them. But the over reaction to that fear is felt in ways that they themselves are surprised at. Stephen’s post is titled “Let me get this straight, my kid is a felon?”

So in an effort to combat another Columbine in our hometown high school, we have police at the ready. For any situation.

Hey, there’s a couple of kids fighting. No need to look up the penal code to know that sounds like assault. Crime committed. Police available. Predictable result.

The principal – or other administrator in charge - that calls for the police in this situation is the one to blame. Doesn’t he remember this happened at Lincoln High every week when he was a kid? Did the police need to come “handle that situation”?

My wife often asks me if there isn’t some sort of ‘common sense’ written into the criminal laws. I keep telling her there’s not.

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