Does the Punishment Fit the Crime?
 

19 of our local HS kids entered the school Sunday before last and taped alarm clocks to the walls, all set to go off at 9:15 AM Monday morning. (This is part of a long tradition of pre-graduation class stunts.)

Someone leaked, the authorities were called, and the 19 have been charged with felonies(!) They will all miss graduation (tonight).

There were a larger number of kids who donated money, and they were all given community service gigs (5-10 hours) and allowed to attend graduation. The 19 + the enablers are among the school's most known kids - elite athletes etc.

What do you all think about the crime and punishment?

Charging them with felonies seems very severe. If there was no property damage and this is an annual stunt/prank that was not meant to hurt anyone I think they should have let it go.

As Alan Dershowitz says, Justice should be tempered with Mercy. I think the felony charges should be dropped, but they should be excluded from graduation. Missing graduation is enough of a punishment, why ruin the rest of their lives

Funny how the authorities know who did it and who contributed money

I should have provided some more details....

The 19 were arraigned Monday on felony charges of placing a false bomb after sneaking into the school and planting dozens of alarm clocks throughout the building - set to ring in unison during the last day of classes - triggering a bomb scare June 10.

The 19 teens could have been charged with more serious crimes, such as third-degree burglary, which has a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.... The false-bomb-placing charge carries a maximum four-year prison penalty.

Police could not confirm the incident was a harmless prank until the next day, when the situation was discussed fully with school administrators and the student body.

Can't do the time? Don't do the crime.

The principal was probably pissed to have been awakened from his napping desk.;)

Tom W

I think it does. They intended for someone to think that they were bombs. Some people actually thought they were bombs. Mission accomplished.

If you took a fake gun to school and pointed it at the head, no, just showed it to someone and said I'm gonna point it at principle sleepy's head, you would probably be charged with a felony too.

Actually they were plastic clocks that looked like... well, plastic clocks.

BTW, I coach the younger sibs of one of the soon-to-be-felons and one of the enablers, but other than that I have no horse in this race.

Just interested in the viewpoint of this panel.

X2. Your talking about a time when school administrators get their panties in a wad because some kids want to glue plastic soldiers with guns to their motar boards....you can't screw around anymore...

It seems kind of harsh and stupid to charge them with felonies. I am glad I am not in high school now, I most likely would have never gotten out of prison for the stupid crap we did back then.........

I'd still be doing time.....

Jeeze - wonder what they would have done to use for putting the coaches MGB in the cafeteria

how did you pull that off?

You guys really don't see why they take this kind of stuff seriously after VA Tech?

Pearl, Mississippi
Paduka, Kentucky
Columbine, CO..........

Unfortunately in this day and age, it's hardly harsh. They weren't the brightest bulbs on the tree to pull that off either. You've got to be aware of the environment you're living in.

Back in H.S. and early on in college, Assassin was a fun little game we played where you'd pick your target out of a hat and stalk them with a water pistol. Often they were wrapped in black tape to make them a little more durable and look "cooler". The Super Soakers were still new to the scene and except for being bright and multi-colored, were shaped similar to a sawed off shotgun. With a little flat black paint and some tape they were pretty sinister looking. Back in the 80's there was little more than a "Knock that off until after school" command from the teachers or the RA in college dorm. We never thought twice about chasing someone down the hall or across the quad with a "weapon". It's a totally different atsmosphere now and if you were lucky you'd only get arrested and not shot do death.