[Link to video story in title.]
This is sad.
The boy was only trying to vent his feelings in a way that would be the least disruptive, in accordance with his therapist, by drawing pictures rather than disrupting class. Yet for that he was handcuffed, imprisoned, and charged for "interfering with staff and students."
Our government is supposed to protect our civil liberties, but cases such as this costing simple people thousands of dollars and emotional trauma overreacting to harmless non-crimes makes it harder to keep faith in the system.
Friday, February 25, 2011
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6 comments:
How come there has been so many young children getting arrested for petty acts? This is ridiculous, when did children and their actions become so huge and controversial. It is sad that i have seen on this blog 3 post about children getting punished by the law for stupid things like this. This is annoying because people don't seem to understand that these children are CHILDREN. I have a feeling the people punishing these children have a strong dislike towards children and find arresting them and fining them something good for children. leave the children alone and let them live life, they are only children once so they shouldn't be punish for being a child.
I understand the school's concern. Drawings, like any other form of creative expression, often depict the thoughts going through the artist's head; and if the boy was picturing himself with a gun shooting teachers, then this "harmless non-crime" could easily turn into something MUCH more serious.
Nonetheless, I agree that the boy's arrest took this concern much too far, moving far past a rational course of action. Firstly, the boy was only doing what he was instructed to do - isn't drawing pictures better than taking out his aggression in a physical way? The boy most likely was not aware that he was doing anything wrong while drawing the picture. Furthermore, although I agree that it was necessary to take some action in order to assess the boy's mental state and the likelihood of him acting out physically, I really don't think that the police needed to get involved. Being handcuffed and sent to jail at age 11 could cause some serious mental and emotional damage, possibly resulting in problems more serious than ADD.
And as a side note - doesn't the police force have more important items on its agenda than arresting preteens?
Point taken, Jessia, I shouldn't be so quick to dismiss the possibility that pictures can lead to reality.
But, as you've also said, the way the situation was handled does not help at all.
A lot of the times I wonder what the heck the government is thinking by taking actions such as this one??? I don't understand how an 11-year old is arrested over such a petty action. He wasn't doing anything that affected anyone else and not even bugging anyone. I truly do not agree with the actions the government is taking nowadays. I feel like they believe that any small act whether inappropriate or not can get you arrested. I find this to be very stupid.
I see why the teacher got scared; memories and threats of shootings are fresh in our minds, and not just in school (Arizona, Columbine, Virginia Tech, and the school shooting in January in Nebraska are just a few examples).
But arresting an 11-year-old kid?! The whole deal, too, with handcuffs and fingerprints? Okay, that is just purely outrageous. It was a total overreaction (who reported it to the police, anyway? The teacher? I might actually have missed that part in the video), and like Jessia said, the police should have way more important things to do.
I feel that the police was incorrect to arrest the boy and put him in hand cuffs, i mean after all he is just 11 years old. I also feel that the boy was instructed incorrectly because drawing pictures of killing people is not normal, i feel the best way for the boy to express his feelings is to talk it out with a therapist, someone that he knows who wont tell anyone about his feelings, i feel that another way for the boy to express his anger or emotions is through a punching bag, but for that there is a possibility that violence could become a part of the child, but its better than punching or killing other classmates of teachers.
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