Huh? Where?
Perhaps we're talking about different levels of behaviour.
I'm not saying that kids should be put in prison for one incident of playground fighting or such. I am saying that by the age of twelve kids do know right from wrong, and when they demonstrate consistant preditory behaviour, and commit violent offenses, they should be held legally accountable for them. Violent assaults (sexual and otherwise), rape, murder, and stalking are not matters to be dealt with by parents, teachers, or administrators.
Example (Article from the Columbus Dispatch): Here's a nice young boy that didn't commit the sexual assault - he only video taped it- so his folks say there is no reason to keep him from his schooling. Perhaps he should just be forced to give up some profits from his video- which is likely hosted somewhere on the net by now.
MIFFLIN STUDENT UNFAIRLY ACCUSED, SPOKESMAN SAYS
Published: Friday, April 22, 2005
NEWS 03C
By Jennifer Smith Richards and Eric James
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH, WBNS-10TV
The student accused of videotaping what authorities say was a sexual assault of a developmentally disabled student at Mifflin High School should be allowed to return to school, a family spokesman said yesterday.
Jerome McCorry identified the student as 18-year-old Kevin Bolling, who he said is battling his expulsion.
Bolling is guilty of nothing more than following a crowd to the unsupervised auditorium where he shouldn't have been, McCorry said. Bolling's mother sought McCorry's help because he is an advocate with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Dayton.
The 16-year-old girl said she was forced to perform oral sex on two Mifflin boys behind curtains on the auditorium's stage.
Bolling made an appeal to Columbus Public Schools yesterday.
He was expelled in mid-March "for sexual violations,'' McCorry said.
"That's a premise that was never established, and charges were never officially made against this young man. There was never a witness who saw him engaging in a sexual confrontation at all,'' McCorry said.
Police have said Bolling should be charged with pandering obscenity, though no charges have been filed.
Bolling and his family haven't seen the videotape mentioned in a district investigation, McCorry said. If it exists, "our understanding is there may have been some three to five seconds worth of tape on something, but they can't make anything out.''
Bolling is a senior who is eager to graduate, McCorry said.
"He's missed an awful lot of school,'' he said. "It's important for us to get this terrible thing off his record.''
Bolling has enrolled at one of Columbus' Life Skills Centers, charter high schools for at-risk students or dropouts, McCorry said. At least two other students also have been expelled in connection with the incident.
Two days after the March 9 incident, the four Mifflin administrators on duty during the incident were sent home on paid leave while the district investigated. A new team has taken over the school.
Principal Regina Crenshaw is being fired but has asked for a private hearing before the Board of Education. After serving 10-day unpaid suspensions, the three assistant principals have been reassigned to posts where they won't have contact with students.
Police are investigating the administrators' actions that day. They have said two boys involved should be charged with delinquency counts of rape.
So far, no one has been charged with a crime.
McCorry isn't a lawyer, but at least one of the boys accused of forcing the girl to perform oral sex has hired one. Attorney Gerald Sunbury is representing a freshman. Sunbury said he's waiting to see whether charges are filed. He also said he hasn't seen the video.
"But the variation in the (witnesses') stories just intrigues me,'' he said.
McCorry said he's certain that Bolling isn't guilty of anything.
"He's been crucified in the press. Things have been said to damage his character, and we don't believe he was involved in anything illegal,'' McCorry said.
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