Young children could face bullying charges in city

Yahoo News ^ | 05/09/2014 | AP

[Rusty0604]

Children as young as kindergarten-age could face misdemeanor charges for bullying under a proposed law advancing in a Southern California city....who makes another person feel "terrorized, frightened, intimidated, threatened, harassed or molested" with no legitimate purpose.

First-time offenders could be ticketed for an infraction and fined $100. A second infraction would cost $200, and a third-time offense could bring a criminal misdemeanor charge.

It's unclear how the Sheriff's Department would enforce the law, since infractions and misdemeanors rarely are doled out unless the crime is witnessed by a law enforcement officer, officials said.

"A fitness hearing would be required to try a child as a criminal," Lt. Arthur Escamillas told the newspaper. "But if you see a 4-year-old riding a bike down the street without a helmet, are you going to give a 4-year-old a ticket? It's discretionary."

Whether officers cite and charge children with misdemeanors for bullying will have to be decided by the Sheriff's Department leadership, Escamillas said.

[Rusty0604]

Then they will have to set up a special tax to subsidize the kids whose parents can't afford the ticket.

[SgtHooper]

Once the chillin figger out how much power they have, the tail will wag the dog. But hey, let’s sit back and watch the folly unfold, for a little entertainment.

[BitWielder1]

Libs should not make rules for kids, that much is clear.
What ever happened to age appropriate stern talking-to?
That should be sufficient for 99% of all cases.

[windcliff]

Well at least it’s a new source of income for the Sheriff’s department.

[microgood]

A five year old is not legally responsible for his actions, except in the perverted bizarro world America has become.

[SamAdams76]

I agree with the spirit of this but not with the method. If the child is a minor, it should be the parents/guardians held responsible if their child bullies other students. Also, the child should be expelled from school.

I have zero tolerance for schoolyard bullies but it's lunacy to charge some child in kindergarten with a misdemeanor. Kick them out of school, absolutely. I'm all for that. But if a child that young is bullying others, there is a serious problem at home that should be addressed.

[Rusty0604]

If it is up to the sheriff’s dept. they will probably only ticket a kid that uses the term “gay” or even talks about the Bible. This is CA.

[PittsburghAfterDark]

Ah the tyrannical mind of those who once were pushed down for their milk money.....

By all means kick a kindergarten student out of school indefinitely. It makes perfect sense.

/sarc for the weak minded.

[SamAdams76]

Well here's my take on this. We all love to complain about how lousy our public schools are but we never do anything about it. Public schools should not be "day cares" and warehouses for juvenile delinquents who do nothing but disrupt class and terrorize their classmates. I say kick them out and let the kids who want to learn and make something of themselves learn in a safe environment. Like the saying goes, the world needs ditch-diggers too.

I brought up two sons and taught them not to bully others. Those who think this is a admirable trait to instill in their children can find a way to educate their children on their own.

[Blue Ink]

This law is not directed at kids — it’s society’s desperate response to lousy parents who have failed in their primary job, which is to mold monsters into civilized humans.

When I was in elementary school, if a teacher reported bad behavior to a parent, the parent assumed smoke = fire. The parent took the teacher’s word about what was going on. You were in big trouble at home, which was far worse than anything the school could do to you.

Now no parent believes their kid has done anything wrong, ever — so there’s no such thing as “big trouble at home.” Parents have decided their job is to be criminal defense attorneys. Admit nothing. Proclaim innocence. And if their kid hasn’t done anything wrong, why would that kid need correcting? The problem is the teacher doesn’t like their kid. Oh, and they’re going to sue.

So the anti-social bullies are free to run amok and terrorize kids from better parents.

Society has to let kids of parents like this into the school. Bad parents have brought this on themselves. They won’t do their job. So now they get the State stepping in.

[Gumdrop]

Can someone explain to me how this type of ‘anti-bullying’ law is any less threatening to our children than no law at all?

The idea that adults can pluck children off the street or out of a classroom and charge them with bullying for no legitimate example of bullying behavior, is anti-American. We must put a stop to it. This is the legacy of the PC ‘anti-hate speech’ laws.

[MHGinTN]

So what would you do given our litigious society if your fourth grade son/grnadson is being threatened and bullied by two or three boys shoving him around, tripping him in classrooms and hallways, grabbing his book bag and playing keep away or tossing it up on the roof, and threatening to ‘teabag’ him? He’s not a homo and is small for his age, but very bright. What do you do without getting physical with the redneck bullies, or feral blacks, or MS13 wannabees?