RSSWhy Crimes Don’t Just Happen … TN Teens Released after making On-line Threats
There are supposed to be consequences to one’s actions. When there are not we serve 
neither the public at large or the people acting irresponsibly. Such is the case in Tennessee where six teen girls were released after having made on-line threats.
DUNLAP, Tenn. – A juvenile court judge on Friday released six high school girls from police custody two days after they were accused of making threatening online posts about classmates, teachers and others, including President Bush.
They first considered it a joke, but authorities then found the ninth-graders’ online MySpace pages and postings with the word “kill.”
The girls were released as it was deemed that they were not a threat and that there was no imminent threat of attack. The girls were charged and ordered to under go evaluation.
The girls were also removed from school and told to take classes off campus, prosecutors said. They cannot have access to weapons and must undergo psychiatric evaluations.
The question arises in these situations, “One is that it’s very serious; the other is that it’s just goofy girls?” What do you think? Does a situation that goes unpunished and is brushed off as just kids being goofy have the ability to escalate to something greats? By not taking actions seriously in their inception, does it create a fixation and escalation to something more violent? Threats are threats. Who is to say that that such a situation does not escalate into things that we have seen all to recently. High school kids beating up others in on-line videos, other acts of violence and children bringing guns to school to get even as in the case of Columbine.
All to often we take the approach when dealing with crimes that it does not meat a certain level until it ultimately winds up in a murder. It happens all the time with child predators. We do not take it seriously until they have done the unthinkable. Nipping problems in the bud may be the answer.
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We all know the results that have been sufferred by many that use their means to free their children from the consequences of their actions.
I can recall one such story about the son of a police officer that had gotten in trouble several times with the law. As a juvenile, his father had always pulled a few strings, to keep his son out of detention, which is easy to do in the Juvenile Justice System.
In many cases, the juvenile system operates more like an out-reach program, than a penal system; offering free family counseling, drug treatment and anger-control management classes. The boy grew up having many problems, all of which were never confronted. The boy, soon, had a false sense of security that his father could get him out of anything.
However, it wasn’t long after this boy grew into an adult that he had to learn the hard way that the adult justice system is alot different. He became involved in an armed robbery, to buy drugs, that resulted in the death of a storekeeper. His father had, virtually, robbed him of the lessons that could have prevented this from happening. The man is currently serving a life sentence.
He has cooperated with authorities to produce a short film that is now used by many Juvenile Justice Centers to show parents the importance of having our children learn those important lessons of life, as a juvenile. He wishes his father had of let him learn those lessons a long time ago. Perhaps, he would have gotten the help he needed to fight his addiction, control his anger and learn the consequences of his actions; and, perhaps the storekeeper would be alive today.
We all love our children. We never want to see them in trouble; but if they manage to get into trouble as juveniles, let it be considered a blessing. The lessons that they learn in the juvenile system could serve them well in assuring that they don’t make the same mistakes as adults.
These are ninth graders. Sick twisted little brats, but still children. Exactly how long should they be locked up? They were removed from school and have psych follow up. The thing that I would want to see is some sort of probation, where they get themselves right back in the clink if they do anything like this again, and that the psych follow up is ongoing through age 18.