Child May Get Ten Years for Slapping Girl's Behind

Too much

The pendulum swings.

In the 70s in my Lutheran grade school we were beat up all the time by the Principle and nothing happened to him, even after he kicked a kid so hard he broke a kid's spleen.

Now it's gone too far the other way?

Just don't hit kids. Just don't hit people.

BUT FOR THIS TO BE ABOUT KIDS, themselves, horrors!

I'm sure the heart is in the right place, with these anti violence laws, but I hope the judge remembers his own crazy "horse play" as a kid!!!!!!!!!!!!


GOD did I do stupid things as a kid!

I agree, too much. These kids probably don't understand what sexual harassmet is. I think 5 days in juvenile detention is a bit much plus the possibility of fenoly charges on top it. Give him detention or suspension. don't throw him in jail.

Every workplace has some sort of sexual harassment program. They should develope one for schools so kids understand what their actions, while harmless as it seems them, may do to others.

I keep thinking about the quote they put on the screen from the mother of one of the victims. The mother is saying her daughter was offended by this. Was she really (and she may very well be) or is the mother just putting words in the daughter's mouth?

They are taking things overboard with all this stuff.. how crazy.

This whole atmosphere lately between Iraq, Impeachment concerns, Katrina concerns still...the failure of No Kid left behind...laws being broken by some of our leaders and no one seems to care...the black kids who are going to jail for 20+ years found guilty by a white judge white prosecutor and white defense and total white jury over a fight about who can or cannot sit under a certain "white tree with hanging loops" on it...it seems the the more educated someone is the dumber the decision or direction....there seems to be noooooooo common sense any more...

What has gone wrong with us? It is no wonder the Bush regime can manipulate us when we allow such atrocities!!!!!!

This is just another example of our law makers driving regular citizens into the ground with ridiculous laws. I seem to remember a few girls pinched my butt in school, and I sure didn't want them to go to jail! I even worked at a place where a stupid guy there pinched a woman's butt in the hallway. He was fired, but no legal charges were brought. We are getting a bit wierd on what we call sexual assault.

Olga, I am so grateful you have brought this to our attention. This case is one where the DA appears to be the one with the sexual-abuse problem... or it's politically motivated. It is a miscarriage of justice almost beyond anything I have heard of recently in America. Having been a teacher in America myself, if I had witnessed this, I would have taken the boy and girl aside to talk it out, see if it were a mutual game, and then ask the boy (and perhaps the girl also) to write a little paper on how to treat and respect each other's boundaries.

The only thing that troubles me is that there currently is a sort of "slapping" game going on in Europe right now, where teens attack or slap random people, video it with a cell phone, and then upload it all sorts of places as a sort of contest to see who can do the most or worst, or whatever the point of this is. Some of those cases begin a bit like this innocent play at the school, but it can so easily escalate into something rather more violent.

Well, here's another example that proves that an overzealous public official can be more dangerous than a career criminal. Such a draconian application of sex laws upon boys so young is more unjust than letting the incident go completely unpunished!

I can tell by the video that this poor boy is barely old enough to feel the first pangs of puberty, let alone understand what those feelings mean. I fear that his trial will be over long before he is mature enough to understand why some people felt such great offense over such an innocent prank.

Remembering my experiences back in Junior High School, I would have LOVED to have had this DA (and the laws he's(she's?) using) available to me some 35 years ago. (Don't ask. I'm not going to share.)

All I can say is we live in a violent, vengeful and fearful society. This probably has some of the same dynamics as the Genarlow Wilson case [the teenager who got 10 years for concensual oral sex with another teenager] -- now everyone's afraid that children will become depraved [it used to be 'deprived'] so, "let's teach them an early lesson." It's all about people who are afraid and want CONTROL.

Brent mentioned 'slapping.' There is also 'choking.' [I think glue sniffing is on the wane -- it more about aggression now]. All the more reason that our educators be paid and trained to be professionals -- rather than poorly trained and barely paid baby sitters. Not, I hasten to add, that the vast majority of our teachers don't perform above and beyond, in spite of everything that is woefully wrong with the system. Whatever happened to common sense?

yet another case of zero tolerance madness.

It is insane when we start sentencing our children to incarceration for purposes of correcting child's play.

Had these boys been to the principle's office for this offence before ? I think they could of came up with a different punishment than this one. A day in juvie if they were known for horse play And other things had been tryed. Young kids don:t need to start life with a record.

I agree. The US justice system only makes criminals out of innocent children, when they are sent to a jail or detention center.

Sexual assault in a crowded school hallway. Is that even possible? If it had been in an alley, maybe, if there had been follow through, perhaps. Assault might be a legitimate charge. But to brand a child as a sexual predator possibly for life, is extreme, and for this it is outrageous. This is an example of criminal justice. That is justice that reaches the level of being criminal in itself.