Resource Pages

May 2, 2012

Kindergartner Charged with Battery. Why Are We Criminalizing Kids?

Shine - When a six-year-old boy kicked his school principal last week, the school called in police, not parents. 
The student had already been suspended for kicking and biting another official, when he allegedly threatened a teacher and kicked Principal Pat Lumbley. This time, the child was placed in police custody and charged with battery and intimidation. 

Increasingly, precincts have become de facto detention centers. In Albuquerque alone, 90,000 students were arrested between 2009-2010. In Texas, an estimated 300,000 kids were give misdemeanors in 2010. That number includes children as young as 6. 

...Over the past year, kids under the age of 13 have been arrested, or threatened with arrest, for giving wedgies, having a food fight and spraying perfume. In more serious circumstances, children are facing real prison time over hockey game fouls and threatening classroom notes.

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