Teenagers Charged With 'Intimidation' After Sharing Siri's Helpful Response For A School Shooting (nwitimes.com) 227
A 13-year-old boy visiting family in Indiana has been charged with "intimidation", according to the Northwest Indiana Times:
The boy allegedly said to Siri, iPhone's voice assistant, "I am going to shoot up a school," according to a news release from the Valparaiso Police Department. Siri then replied with a list of multiple Valparaiso schools near his location. The boy, identified as a Chesterton Middle School student, posted a screenshot of the inquiry and response on social media, which was reported to Chesterton police by the boy's social media contacts.
Chesterton police then contacted the Valparaiso Police Department, which launched an investigation into the possible threat. Valparaiso officers determined the boy made no direct threat to a specific person, school or school system and that he had no access to weapons -- ultimately stating the picture was posted on social media as a joke. "The threat is not believed to be credible at this time; however, these types of communications are taken very seriously by the Valparaiso Police Department and our community," police stated in a news release.
A 14-year-old was also taken into custody, and is also being held in a juvenille detention center, facing charges of intimidation and "criminal recklessness with a handgun" over related photographs with weapons.
"Come on kids. It isn't funny..." reads one comment on the police department's Facebook page. "How many of you are going to be detained before you realize it?"
"Thank you for taking it seriously, and prosecuting it accordingly," added another commenter. "'I was joking' is not a defense. Hopefully juvie knocks some sense into this kid."
"I hope he's prosecuted for this! Totally not funny and as a parent I'm taking any threats against schools serious!" reads another comment -- though at least one person directed their scorn somewhere else.
"Sounds like Siri needs to be re-programmed."
Chesterton police then contacted the Valparaiso Police Department, which launched an investigation into the possible threat. Valparaiso officers determined the boy made no direct threat to a specific person, school or school system and that he had no access to weapons -- ultimately stating the picture was posted on social media as a joke. "The threat is not believed to be credible at this time; however, these types of communications are taken very seriously by the Valparaiso Police Department and our community," police stated in a news release.
A 14-year-old was also taken into custody, and is also being held in a juvenille detention center, facing charges of intimidation and "criminal recklessness with a handgun" over related photographs with weapons.
"Come on kids. It isn't funny..." reads one comment on the police department's Facebook page. "How many of you are going to be detained before you realize it?"
"Thank you for taking it seriously, and prosecuting it accordingly," added another commenter. "'I was joking' is not a defense. Hopefully juvie knocks some sense into this kid."
"I hope he's prosecuted for this! Totally not funny and as a parent I'm taking any threats against schools serious!" reads another comment -- though at least one person directed their scorn somewhere else.
"Sounds like Siri needs to be re-programmed."
America (Score:4, Insightful)
The land of panic and fear.
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It's not fear. They are all pretending. They have to keep up the pretense that their authority and their actions are a necessary evil. Otherwise voters will come to understand that the necessary evil has become unnecessary.
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Fuck off. Your comment is not useful in any way.
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The land of more guns than people
They're going to come in handy when people like you start trying to prevent people like me from voting for candidates I want to vote for, or even from expressing opinions I want to express. It's getting dangerously close already.
“ I see you’re interested in school sh (Score:2)
“The best time for photography inside educational institutions is on sunny days when classrooms are full and you can use sun and shadow most effectively...”
Nothing to see here (Score:2, Informative)
It doesn't matter whether technology is involved or not, or what their comedic intent was: stating something about wanting to go ahead with terrorism or murder is going to get the attention of authorities, and they are going to start by doing a full investigation of the threat with no smile or laughter whatsoever.
Kids need to wise up
Re:Nothing to see here (Score:5, Interesting)
So Jeff Dunham's sketches with Achmed the Dead Terrorist should also get him investigated? He jokes about blowing things up and that the most important part is location, location, LOCATION.
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I'm against ruining this kids career if he was simply screwing around.. some of the shit I did at that age would probably get me in some hot water today... but the cops can't simply go "oh, haha, funny joke" and move on.
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Do note that "arrest", "questioning", and "investigation" aren't mandatory in such a situation.
Yeah, question the knothead.
And investigate as needed.
But arrest? No point in it, since he hasn't committed a crime (no, saying something stupid to Siri isn't against the law) until some action (other than talk about it) is taken in regards to the hypothetical crime....
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How does anyone know it's a joke until they arrest the kid and question him and investigate?
Yeah, question the knothead. And investigate as needed
Although I do agree with you that when that questioning and investigating is the first step is you believe there's a possible danger there, I do fear that as a whole our society is getting very bad at understanding the nuances of context. Well, there have always been people with trouble doing that, but it's a bigger issue when police has that problem.
It's incredibly clear the post was making fun of the fact Siri's lack of understanding of the question and its implications led it to give it a response that w
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It doesn't matter whether technology is involved or not, or what their comedic intent was: stating something about wanting to go ahead with terrorism or murder is going to get the attention of authorities, and they are going to start by doing a full investigation of the threat with no smile or laughter whatsoever.
Personally I thought it was funny as shit. Don't forget to investigate Siri for her supporting role in the conspiracy.
Re:Nothing to see here (Score:4, Insightful)
Kids need to wise up
No, I'm pretty sure the police need to wise up. This does not sound like something that required action by the police.
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This does not sound like something that required action by the police.
No it does require action by the police, just not the action that happened. Follow up, ask a question or two, actually exercise that wasted brain between the ears, realise that not every lead results in someone needing to be arrested, move on and thank the kid for his time.
Instead what they did do is further broke trust with the public and again establish that the police in the USA should be treated in the same way as a 3rd world shithole: One the take, out to get you, and to be avoided at all costs. It's a
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Kids need to wise up
No, I'm pretty sure the police need to wise up. This does not sound like something that required action by the police.
The problem the police have is that if it turns out it was not a joke, they'll be hung for it.
Not the culture that created them, nor the parents who left automatic weapons where kids could get them (hell, probably gave them the guns). Thoughts and prayers for the people modding this down, thoughts and prayers.
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Kids need to wise up
No shit, THEY'RE KIDS. Mostly not wise just by virtue of them still having to grow up. I don't understand why societies thirst for blood is so bad that they can't understand that children are not adults.
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I fully agree with your post. On the flip side, I submit that being a kid is in fact the process of wising up. He needs a good scare, but given the apparent lack of harmful intent, that should be sufficient for a first offense (assuming this is, in fact, a first offense). A slap on the wrist with the explicit warning that future errors in judgement will be more seriously prosecuted seems to be the correct response to me.
Drop hammer on table. "So, kid, here's the deal. This is your warning. If there's a nex
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So, what's the message? The first amendment doesn't apply to you, kid?
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The First Amendment doesn't protect against threats. Now here's where it gets interesting: Is this a threat?
Without context, this as a post strongly suggests an intent to do harm to a specific class of target. Now, was it specific enough to qualify? I'd say no, generally. However, that's not the only consideration. First, the full protection of the First Amendment doesn't apply to minors; whether it should is a related but separate debate. Second, First Amendment protection isn't absolute. If the speech was
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About that "fire in a crowded theatre" .....
https://www.theatlantic.com/na... [theatlantic.com]
This case seems to be a huge over response to what should be protected speech. There doesn't appear to be a direct threat.
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Kids CAN'T wise up. They are called "kids" for a damn reason.
Every day a whole new crop of them is born, and every single one of them is dumb as a post! They don't remember what happened to some older kid before they were born! They aren't some stagnant group that can retain its learned wisdom from one year to the next!
It is in the nature of youth that it lacks the maturity and wisdom to know what the consequences of pranks like this will be. The problem here is not that kids are lacking in some sort of
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Kids need to wise up
Unfortunately, they won't. I have been told it has something to do with being kids. Until they do wise up, you can put them in large concentration camps. Or let them join a profession where judgment is superfluous. Like the police.
Another solution is not to give kids unsupervised internet access. My computer did not have internet when i was a kid, and it still wasn't in my room.
Wouldn't this be first amendment territory? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Wouldn't this be first amendment territory? (Score:5, Interesting)
I doubt the ACLU would touch this. As much as people think the ACLU is all about protecting the civil rights of American citizens they've been very anti-gun in the past. They eventually had to admit that the Second Amendment protects the rights of the individual, and is not in fact a "collective right" as they stated prior to the SCOTUS opinions on Heller and McDonald. They've been silent on the Second Amendment since Heller in 2008, at least as far as I can tell, and have not in any recent memory lifted a finger on any case that touches the rights to keep arms.
This should be about a person's right to speak freely, be free from unwarranted search and seizure, right to due process, etc. What muddies the waters though is the kid had guns in the pictures. This tells me that the ACLU will not be interested. They've been unwilling to speak up on the Second Amendment, likely out of fear that this would drive out donors from either side on that debate. So long as they keep quiet they can claim some kind of neutral ground. This has worked for a decade now but eventually, I would think, they will have to choose a lane.
Oh, and before anyone thinks the NRA will stand up on this I will remind people that the NRA is not a lobbying group or in any way connected to supporting court cases. These are instead fought by Gun Owners of America and/or Second Amendment Foundation, and in some cases by the separate but highly linked organization National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action. The NRA likes to jump in after the hard work is done and send someone from the affiliated NRA-ILA so they can claim a victory. The NRA mostly does hunter education, firearm safety courses and certification, and sell a bunch of crap with their logo on it.
Only the second kid had a gun (Score:2)
You're right about the second kid though. It's no longer joke in poor taste when you've shown you have the means to act.
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I will remind people that the NRA is not a lobbying group
Never heard that one before. The Senate Office of Public Records disagrees with you. [opensecrets.org]
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Had he called it a critique of Siri's lack of context you might have a point. But he just put it out there with no context himself. Ironic?
You mean he cut out the silly response which provided a context in itself?
He should receive a Bug Bounty (Score:3, Interesting)
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In his defense, it WAS only a matter of time. [scribd.com]
Re:It was a thought experiment (Score:2)
knocking sense into Siri's adolescent accomplice (Score:4, Insightful)
That's the worst kind of stupid (perhaps intended mainly to garner effect, in which case it's hardly any different from the original case of Siri's adolescent accomplice). Really, it's complete BS that the police detained this child in the hope of "knocking some sense into him".
The police respond because they can't not respond, no matter how they assess the risk, because if a school shooting did follow from this, no matter how long the chain of events, and they had done nothing over the first comical wisp of smoke, they'd be roasted alive.
The preadolescent brain is not a reliable thing. It's changing in massive ways, and not very well equipped to even notice those changes in any systematic way.
I had a friend around the same age who once flew an aluminum foil kite into a pole-top power transformer. Kevin had big dreams, and he was always up to something, but he was just one of those kids with less than normal common sense. I liked him a lot.
After the kite explosion—yes, an actual explosion—boy did he ever get plunked down on the couch for a quadraphonic fusillade (both parents, both hydro workers). He was white around the edges for an entire school week. That was the appropriate response: a tiny taste of every adult in Dodge giving him the what for in WWE roof-raising double tag team.
Juvee would have scared (scarred) Kevin into never emerging from his basement ever again. It would not have knocked the least iota of "common sense" into his weirdly developed adolescent brain.
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The response doesn't have to include locking up and prosecuting kids who have no real intent to do anything.
"i want to shoot up..." (Score:5, Funny)
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I feel sorry for kids (Score:5, Insightful)
Having to grow up around paranoid, cowardly excessively serious adults who should know better.
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You can always count on the police to ruin a kid's life in the name of pretending to care about something or other.
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I'm more afraid some smart kid gets his or her life ruined by playing a stupid joke on Siri, then decides that the society fucked him or her, therefore feels justified to take it out on the society and decide to take revenge on said society (they won't be able to get a good job with the record anyways, so they put their skills to use for revenge). Of course, then all the paranoid will say how their joke was predictive of the tragedy that ensued, so the next kid that joked will just be put to death - better
I feel sorry for kids (Score:2)
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I will side with Waffle here.
There have ALWAYS been guns in America. They have even been in the hands of kids without issue.
Hell, we ran around as kids playing War. Shot fireworks and paintballs at each other. Did stupid kid stuff.
Only recently ( since Columbine ) have mass shootings in schools become a problem.
The availability of guns isn't the issue based on the above, but that is a discussion for another time.
Kids who " talk " about doing shit like this fall into one of two categories:
1) They're too
Siri can be pretty unpredictable (Score:3, Interesting)
Probably like Yelp... (Score:2)
A pendulum (Score:3)
My son was escorted to the office, by an armed SRO, for writing "Columbine" and showing it to a friend. Then he got to spend hours talking to the SRO, other LEOs, guidance, and the principals.
I get not wanting to miss warning signs, but is this too far?
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My son was escorted to the office, by an armed SRO, for writing "Columbine" and showing it to a friend. Then he got to spend hours talking to the SRO, other LEOs, guidance, and the principals.
I get not wanting to miss warning signs, but is this too far?
No. Commedia dell'arte is a slippery slope. Just ask Michael Moorcock.
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My son was escorted to the office, by an armed SRO, for writing "Columbine"
So, your son likes flowers [wikipedia.org]. A little bit sissy, if you ask me. But just sit him down in front of the Superbowl and I'm sure he'll be OK.
What threat? (Score:1)
The article makes reference to two kids, the incidents seemingly unrelated. The first kid, a 14yo, apparently posted pictures of guns. Fine, cops should investigate and make sure that he doesn't actually have access to them. (Who knows, maybe he scanned a picture out a Sears catalog, but check just in case.)
The second kid, a 13yo, told Siri he was going to shoot up a school. Cops want to charge the 13yo with "intimidation". WTF?
In a world with too many obsessive gun nuts, where there's a boogeyman in every
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The first kid, a 14yo, apparently posted pictures of guns....Who knows, maybe he scanned a picture out a Sears catalog, but check just in case.
Not taking a side, but just pointing out that one of those things is a bit easier to come by than the other.
Siri (Score:2)
totally irresponsible to charge this kid (Score:1)
I know Siri's got a dark sense of humor, but... (Score:2)
How about this alternative response:
totally unrelated cases (Score:4, Insightful)
Why are two totally unrelated cases mixed up in this one post?
1. A 13 year old asks Siri a joke question and posts photos of the result.
2. A 14 year old posts photos of himself posing with a weapon.
Apart from both being young boys there is no correlation.
The first case is definitely not worth even investigating.
In the the second I question why a boy at that age has unsupervised access to a weapon and if he was supervised, why photos were taken and published. The parents should be investigated.
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easy solutions (Score:2)
The actual post? (Score:2)
Does anyone have a link to the actual social media post? Or a copy of it?
I think it's impossible to form a valid opinion on whether the kid should be charged or not without it.
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School shootings have become a regular occurrence in the USA. A "normal" part of everyday life. How did this happen?
A culture of individualism over collectivism, and easy access to deadly weapons. And the US is a very big country. Next question.
Re:The kids are only partly to blame (Score:5, Interesting)
School shootings have become a regular occurrence in the USA. A "normal" part of everyday life. How did this happen?
Sensational news media mostly. The rates were much higher in the early 90's and just like most crime, the overall rates are much lower now than in the past. However, the old saying of "it bleeds, it leads" is still relevant and no one wants to read stories about how things are generally better than in the past. That's essentially what Trump's Make America Great Again boils down to: the notion that things have gotten worse and we can see that people like to buy into this notion when it isn't true.
I do recall reading some previous research that linked gun violence in schools with economic troubles. I couldn't find a full-text version of the paper, but here's an overview of the research: https://www.ipr.northwestern.edu/about/news/2017/infographic-hagan-school-shootings.html [northwestern.edu]. The authors are just claiming that there's a correlation, so the cause may be deeper, but it was an interesting take that I hadn't seen before.
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To quote Aristotle, "Whoooooooosh!"
The GP's point isn't whether school shootings may, or may not, now be more common in the USA. It's the fact that it's even an issue. It's an anomaly not only in the developed world, but the world as a whole. It's an indicator that something in its society is really quite fucked up.
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Posting to undo erroneous modification - I attempted to mod another post flame bait and hit this one instead, sorry.
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To quote Aristotle, "Whoooooooosh!"
The GP's point isn't whether school shootings may, or may not, now be more common in the USA. It's the fact that it's even an issue. It's an anomaly not only in the developed world, but the world as a whole. It's an indicator that something in its society is really quite fucked up.
Yes. This. This is what I meant.
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That's essentially what Trump's Make America Great Again boils down to: the notion that things have gotten worse and we can see that people like to buy into this notion when it isn't true.
Things have gotten worse for the working class even though the economy as a whole is booming. Of course, the policies put in place by Trump (lower taxes on the rich) and the policies he fights for (dismantle the healthcare system for non-wealthy people) make the situation worse, not better. The tragedy and danger of electing Trump is that his policies exacerbate the economic problems of the working class, generating more fear and causing more people to turn to Authoritarianism as a way out.
Wait, if it's an old saying... (Score:2)
Violent crime's down all around. The growing consensus seems to be getting lead out of the air is why. That means less violent youths and so less school shootings.
As for why they're getting more coverage? Not sure, we'd need more studies, and there's a ton of laws and rules in effect to discourage them (yeah, I know they're not banned outright, that's not how you suppress a thing. Ban
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You say:
The authors are just claiming that there's a correlation, so the cause may be deeper, but it was an interesting take that I hadn't seen before.
But the article says:
...which might cause despair over how getting an education does not necessarily lead to finding a job.
Which is a conjecture but, since it offers no alternatives, functions as a claim. Also, they've chosen to plot the graph, which shows a weak-moderate correlation at best, over only 2 1/2 decades. What happened before that?
Re: school shootings in the USA, they go back to at least the 1800s & they've been increasing steadily in recent years.
And a bias towards making anything that makes "g.g.g.g.guns!!!" look bad.
Are you saying that the constant stream of films & TV shows that depict "good guys" portrayed by attractive actors, running around wi
Damned if you do, damned if you don't (Score:2, Insightful)
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There have been more than a few school shootings where the shooter had posted shit like this and people shrugged it off as "no threat here, kinda funny." Then they cart bodies out of the classrooms while people wonder why the police didn't take action on pretty blatant warning signs. Now that people are doing their due diligence, retards like you are shouting "OVERSTEP! OVERSTEP!" There's no god damn winning here.
Reactive policy never leads to winning. It leads to local optima and overstep as opportunity costs mount.
You get better results with policy based on rational statistically significant evidence not capitulating to feelings and cowardice.
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Better results yes but we are talking about people that have to defend their actions and inactions in order to remain in office and as it turns out inaction is seen by the public as a far more cardinal sin so in order to cover your ass you perform action even when nothing warrants it just so you can claim that you did something.
Same with governors that does not pardon wrongly convicted people because if there is just that one tiny chance that the one you pardoned then goes and commit a crime then you can ki
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What he said probably isn't. The OP talks in terms of there being no credible threat nor against specific people or places. That's obviously informed by the current Supreme Court standard.
That doesn't mean the police's ears can't perk up and take a closer look, but it is not prosecutable by itself.
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[...] is absolutely outside of the free speech modifiers in the constitution (see shouting fire in a crowded theater, if that is still taught in civics classes as opposed to weird gender things)
To be pedantic, shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater is probably protected [theatlantic.com] by the First Amendment, because it's not directed, nor likely, to incite or produce imminent lawless action. Though shouting "Fire! Trample the people around you to survive!" may be illegal.
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You're a moron. Guess what? This is the United Fucking States of America, not your beloved Communist China. In America people are allowed to say pretty much whatever they want. It doesn't matter that it scares you or makes you feel bad. You are the one who needs to be in prison for subversion.
He also didn't "post it," as you say (implying that he posted the threat, "I'm going to shoot up a school"). He posted a screenshot of Siri's stupid response to the statement.
see shouting fire in a crowded theater
Not even similar. In a theater such a warni
Re:As it should be (Score:5, Insightful)
Wrong. He told Siri he was going to shoot up a school, probably to see how Siri would react. Siri's reaction was. let's say "unfortunate", so he posted it.
I remember my 4th grade teacher explaining how America was better than Russia because we have freedom of speech but in Russia you had to watch what you say or you could be hauled away by the police.....
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He also wasn't arrested, just interviewed and let go; the kid that was picked up is another kid that posted some more serious threats with pictures of guns etc
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That's not what TFA says.
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Uhm, yes. You can say no to being interrogated and you'll be held/bailed until trial. Never talk to the police, a jury trial is the only place you have the opportunity to talk, anything you say to the police can and will be used against you, never to your benefit.
Re:As it should be (Score:4, Insightful)
Are you completely insane? Kids say and do stupid shit all the time and there is no evidence that he ever actually intended to do anything. Kids are not just small versions of adults, their brains are still developing and you can't expect a 13 year-old to make decisions like an adult. This kid needs counseling. Who seriously thinks it's going to be helpful to anyone to send this kid to juvi? It's certainly not going to help the kid and there's plenty of evidence to support that. I also think you also need professional help and I certainly hope you don't have any children of your own.
Re: As it should be (Score:1)
Plus, by the time this kid gets out of detention their mind will be wrecked by the whole experience, and let's hope they don't drop the soap.
The prison system today is designed to create criminals, not help them. More meat for the grinder.
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Re: As it should be (Score:1)
He didn't do that. He made a FUNNY video and posted it. People need to lighten up. There is zero evidence of anybody making a threat. Interpreting every thing as such is just retarded.
Re:As it should be (Score:4, Insightful)
Apparently it's not reasonable to expect adults to know the difference between a terrorist threat and teasing Siri, why hold 13 year olds to a higher standard?
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Apparently it's not reasonable to expect adults to know the difference between a terrorist threat and teasing Siri, why hold 13 year olds to a higher standard?
Look, as long as there is blood, the crowds will be happy. Whose blood it is is largely irrelevant. This isn't about justice, it is about blood.
In this particular instance, the kid was the easier target. *shrug* Gotta love the world we live in...
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A 13 year old is supposed to do this kind of dumb shit. It's called being a teenager.
Every single teenager in america thinks they are 1 stupid video away from career of youtube stardom.
Send the kid to film school, not juvie.
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You can and should expect a kid that age to understand there are consequences to his/her actions.
13 is well under the age of majority. It means the law itself doesn't expect that kid to understand the consequences of his actions.
Not stepping in front of traffic and not lighting gas fires in libraries are things that are taught early, because it is simple (traffic=dangerous, fire=dangerous) and it is important for survival. And still, we usually don't let 13 year olds alone in libraries.
But walking the fine line between what is an acceptable joke and what *some* adults interpret as a "public terrorist t
Re: As it should be (Score:3)
We have full grown adults that we don't have such expectations of and elect to political positions. See Anthony Weiner for the start of a long list of people. We can't have such expectations of anyone under 17.
I think the bigger problem in society is people like you who over react to things like this. Over punishing this individual won't help him. And worse, it doesn't do anything for all the others.
Re:As it should be (Score:4, Insightful)
Kid threatens to shoot up school. Kid faces charges. As it should be.
Unless the threat/joke was actually credible, the kid should not have been charged. Believe it or not, there are ways to discipline children without involving the police and courts.
A major problem in America is that we are over-policed. Crime rates have fallen dramatically over the last three decades, due mainly to demographic, economic, and environmental factors. Yet we have more police than ever. This surfeit of police without enough real work to do, leads to criminalization of silly things like inappropriate teenage social media posts.
Re: As it should be (Score:1)
If you think the cops are bored now, just wait till self driving cars free up all the traffic details. They will have to make more laws to enforce.
Re:Oh you're one of those nutjob libertarians (Score:4, Insightful)
By tracking down you mean visit a kids public social media feed and view an edgy video over the caption "lol wut?"
Maybe send an officer so that he understands the gravity of the situation, and put an embarrassing message on his his social media account from the local fuzz.
Our justice system ruins lives. The kid is a very dumb 13 year old. He needs his toys taken away, and his internet access restricted, not criminal rehabilitation.
There is no "justice" to serve here. Only court fines and shattered dreams.
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There is no "justice" to serve here. Only court fines and shattered dreams.
There is blood. That is sufficient.
Seen any witches recently?
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True story: I was called to school because of my 5th grader's "Aggressive use of colors" in an art class.
Common sense is truly no longer common.
Re:As it should be (Score:4, Insightful)
there are ways to discipline children without involving the police and courts
In this situation I can understand the police seeking to assure that there is in fact no threat.
I think they can also play a role in scaring a kid shitless in a "Dude, we nearly shot you. Stop fucking about!" kind of way that helps the idiot understand how silly he was while at the same time making him glad the police realised he was just being stupid.
Maybe I expect too much from the police in America.
Re:As it should be (Score:5, Insightful)
Had they not actually charged him with a serious crime and hauled him off to juvie, you might have a point.
Instead, all he has learned is that anyone who says the police are his friends or that we have freedom of speech is full of crap.
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Yeah, I'd rather have a prankster who sometimes goes too far than an ex-convict who hates society.
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In this situation I can understand the police seeking to assure that there is in fact no threat.
Except that is not what they did.
I think they can also play a role in scaring a kid shitless
"Scaring kids shitless" is not what police are for. Nor are they a replacement for parents.
Maybe I expect too much from the police in America.
Indeed.
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It's not the charge, but the sentence that matters. Sentences take intent into consideration.
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Kid threatens to shoot up school. Kid faces charges. As it should be.
Unless the threat/joke was actually credible, the kid should not have been charged. Believe it or not, there are ways to discipline children without involving the police and courts.
You know, if you really wanted to cut down on school shootings, maybe your culture should stop glorifying guns and violence. Just a crazy idea. Maybe, just maybe also control your guns better so that they aren't left out in the open for kids to grab, you know, be responsible with dangerous things you own.
But who am I kidding, there is an inevitable mod down waiting for even suggesting such sensible things. Thoughts and prayers to those modding this down, gourd press.
Re: (Score:2)
Kid threatens to shoot up school.
It's weird to threaten a school you can't even find without an automated assistant.
Re: Dale Earnhardt was the Intimidator (Score:2, Funny)
Dale was pushed by a known Russian agent, Sterling Marlin, son of a known crazy man.
Re: (Score:2)