In North Mesquite High School in Dallas, Texas, a teenager was fined $637 for using foul language.
The whole incident started in October, when teacher Michelle Lene heard student Victoria Mullins clearly say, "you trying to start (expletive)" in class. Lene claimed that she was offended by Mullins' words while Mullins said that her words were directed towards “A kid who is really obnoxious, starts stuff with everyone and always gets on my nerves was bothering me.” As a result of all this, Mullins was sent to the principal's office and given detention. The next day, the school resource officer gave her a ticket.
The original fine that Mullins was supposed to receive was $340. However, Mullins didn't show up for her court hearing on November 18 because she claimed that she lacked the money to pay for it. Due to her absence from the hearing, Mullins was fined another $100. The city added $50 when they issued a warrant for her arrest earlier this month, following that with an $147 collection fee, leading to a grand total of $637.
What do you think? Was Victoria Mullins' punishment just?
Monday, January 31, 2011
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4 comments:
This somewhat brings up a previous post that had been posted that was about fining students for something that happened in school but i forgot. However, it is not the fact that i forgot what the post was about but that the law enforcement is cracking down on students in school for such petty mattes. Why are students, ages ranging from 5 to 17, being ticketed for such stupid things that happen in school and then charged outrageous amounts. I seem to recall that the eighth amendment protected people from excessive fines, and i find these fines excessive and cruel, which the eight amendment is suppose to be protecting them from. I truthfully don't feel the student deserved this, giving the student a Saturday school or detention would have been fine but making them pay $637 for swearing is going to far. Everyone swears once in awhile, so i don't find the laws swear jar fair.
Earlier this month, I actually authored a blog post about students in Texas (like Victoria Mullins in the article) getting ticketed for misbehavior at school. I agree that this punishment is excessive and really unjust. Plus, although I obviously can't pretend I know everything about the circumstances, Mullins' explanation seems valid. It would have been wiser for Mullins to initially deal with the fine in a different way (instead of skipping the court hearing), but I think this practice is really unjust.
This post reminds me of a post that was posted by another student a couple of weeks ago. I think fining a student for foul language is ridiculous and absurd. I feel like more proof should've been required in order to fine Mullins if she really was directing those words to her teacher or the student. Like Christian said in his comment, I think Saturday school or detention would have been a good punishment for foul language rather than having to pay a fine.
I think that the initial fine was too much and should have been contested by Mullins. However, I think it was foolish of Mullins to think that she could get away with ignoring a court order. So the first $340 seems unfair, but the rest is just.
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