A 12 year old student at a New York middle school was arrested for writing "I love my friends Abby and Faith. Lex was here 2/1/10 :)" on her desk in class. Instead of getting a detention or a slap on the wrist, the principle called the police to arrest the 12 year old girl. The police then proceeded to handcuff the girl in front of all her class mates and took her to the police station. The reason for the for the arrest was b/c the principle was following the zero tolerance rule.
This is an example of how the zero tolerance rule is taking way out of context in many schools these days. The affects that this can have on this young girl can be huge. She can be more likely to rebel because this is so ridiculous. she can develop some psychological disorders from the embarrassment that she faced in front of her friends and community. I just think that people need to think before they start arresting kids for no reason because it can come with some big consequences.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/18/new.york.doodle.arrest/index.html
Wow this is rediculous. I think her arrest would have been more acceptable if she had written some kind of profanity on her dest instead of writing that she loves her friends. Still, I think that arresting a 12 year old girl is rediculous because she did not commit a crime. The New York police should have better things to do than to arrest a young girl for no reason. While reading this article, I was interested to find out that some of these schools fined students for being tardy and the fifth ticket landed them in juvenile traffic court. This, to me, is a little over the top because if these students end up in the juvenile court system, that could change their personality and could make them more succeptable to being involved in the criminal justice system. The zero tolerance rule has become too overpowering. The police and the principal should be worrying about students that bring in weapons to school or student that fight instead of someone who writes things on her desk in marker that can be washed off easily.
I couldn't believe that they arrested a girl for writing on her desk. If I was that girls parents I would be getting involved with the school. I understand a zero tolerance policy but this is just ridiculous. I don't think a kid should get arrested for writing anything on their desk. Detention and having that child clean the desk would be an acceptable punishment. It even happened in New York. I'm sure a lot of crime goes on in New York, for more serious can a 12 year old writing on her desk. I think that this principle needs to have his head examined. I seriously doubt that the principle even thought about what this could do to a 12 year old girl. This incident could cause this girl serve problems and the principle would be responsible for it. This situation is mind blowing and I still can't believe that it happened. Something needs to be done about this over the top zero tolerance. At this rate it might cause a child more harm than good to go to school.
This is ridiculous. The schools in this article need to take more personal responsibility for their students and their actions. It is not right to clog up the criminal justice system with such petty things like this that could easily be dealt with by issuing a detention or similar punishment. The punishment should fit the crime, and in this case, that is not true. Although the girl should not be vandalizing the desk, she's only 12 and should not be arrested.
While school officials may think that these harsh punishments will stop crime before it starts, that is not the case. Instead, a student may find themselves arrested for an inconsequential crime, believe they are a "bad" kid and not care about doing their best or attending school. This would be different if a detention was issued or a simple suspension.
The purpose of an education is to prepare children for adulthood. While they will face more serious consequences as an adult than a child, they are not yet ready to be treated as an adult because they are not ready. Schools should use such minor instances as a learning device to prepare these child offenders for the adult world. While they need to be aware of their decisions and the consequences they might have, they also need to be continues to be to be taught, not just simply forgotten about and given to the criminal justice system to be "dealt with".
I can't believe this! That was a horrible thing the principal could have done for the young girl. What schools are doing these days, I just can't believe. I remember that my classmates, and including myself, would every once in a while, more for some, write on the school desk. We may have gotten in trouble, and there certainly wasn't the threat of going to jail for something so small! The problem should have been handled within the school. To get the police involved was too far. I just can't believe that the police handcuffed her. They should have just talked to her there. Maybe just discuss with her why she did what she did, beside handcuff her. It should have been handled completely different on both the principal's side and the police.
I believe that even if they (the police) would have talked to her about the issue in an office; it would have made an impact on her next decision to write on a desk or break a school rule. I think the arresting her and handcuffing her in front of her peer took the "impact" on her and her peers just a little too far. Also, if they would have talked to her on the school grounds and not handcuffed her, her peers would understand that writing on the desk or such, would result in talking to the police, and not even that! Going to the principal at the age is a big punishment in itself! I know that some children don't think so, but getting in trouble, contacting a parent/caregiver, is sometimes enough for a student to fully understand the consequences of their actions.
The girl that was arrested will have problems after this for something that was ridiculous. Students to far worst things in school and wouldn't get arrested for in comparison to what she did, such as bullying! A lot of students better be prepared to go to jail for the misbehavior they do in school and the jail population better be ready as well, because the population is going to sky rocket!
I can't believe this! That was a horrible thing the principal could have done for the young girl. What schools are doing these days, I just can't believe. I remember that my classmates, and including myself, would every once in a while, more for some, write on the school desk. We may have gotten in trouble, and there certainly wasn't the threat of going to jail for something so small! The problem should have been handled within the school. To get the police involved was too far. I just can't believe that the police handcuffed her. They should have just talked to her there. Maybe just discuss with her why she did what she did, beside handcuff her. It should have been handled completely different on both the principal's side and the police.
I believe that even if they (the police) would have talked to her about the issue in an office; it would have made an impact on her next decision to write on a desk or break a school rule. I think the arresting her and handcuffing her in front of her peer took the "impact" on her and her peers just a little too far. Also, if they would have talked to her on the school grounds and not handcuffed her, her peers would understand that writing on the desk or such, would result in talking to the police, and not even that! Going to the principal at the age is a big punishment in itself! I know that some children don't think so, but getting in trouble, contacting a parent/caregiver, is sometimes enough for a student to fully understand the consequences of their actions.
The girl that was arrested will have problems after this for something that was ridiculous. Students to far worst things in school and wouldn't get arrested for in comparison to what she did, such as bullying! A lot of students better be prepared to go to jail for the misbehavior they do in school and the jail population better be ready as well, because the population is going to sky rocket!
After reading this article and taking some time to think about the issue at hand, I realized how angry I am because of stupid things like the zero tolerance rule. I understand how schools would not want kids let alone a 12 year old brings actual guns and knives to school because that could be dangerous. The fact that a 12 year old girl just wrote "I love my friends" on her desk is just plain stupid and how authority in schools are pretty much not using common sense to determine if this is actually a threat. Another thing, arresting kids when they are 12 or younger because of some little writing on a desk to me is wrong. Just about the only time kids should get arrested if they have knowingly committed a crime or killed someone. What is so wrong with sending kids to the principal's office like where everyone else for the majority had to go? When I was in high school we did not get sent to the office unless we did something actually bad like start a fight or do something really stupid. Just about every day I would see writing on a desk and for the most part it was something funny and you could get a good old laugh out of it. If something like this ever happened to me when I was 12 year old, I would make sure to make a big fuss and hopefully get my parents involved and create some problems for the school. I always thought that criminals were supposed to be the ones that get arrested, but it seems to me that this is no longer true in our day of age. I can see if a school as the rule they will want to follow it to some extent, but the police should question the schools policy to. Example, if I was a police officer and a school called me and wanted me to arrest a 12 year old because they did something minor and didn’t offend anyone, such as the writing something plain and non-offensive on a desk I would question that. I would say, so what did you really call me for? Oh let me guess the principal is away for the day I see…….. I would have a really tough time following through on arresting a young kid for nothing. Well this policy is not up for me to decide, but in the future when I have kids and if the school they go to has a zero tolerance policy and my kid gets arrested for nothing, I will make sure to fight it till no end.