A Florida sheriff’s novel approach to countering school shooting threats by exposing online the identities of children who make them is drawing ire from juvenile justice advocates as well as others who say the tactic is counterproductive and morally wrong.
Michael Chitwood, sheriff of Volusia county, raised eyebrows recently by posting to his Facebook page the name and mugshot of an 11-year-old boy accused of calling in a threat to a local middle school. He followed up with a video clip of the minor’s “perp walk” into jail in shackles.
Chitwood, who has said he is “fed up” with the disruption to schools caused by the hoaxes, has promised to publicly identify any student who makes such a threat. On Wednesday, another video appeared onlineshowing two youths, aged 16 and 17, in handcuffs being led into separate cells, with the sheriff calling them “knuckleheads”.
Imma go with bad idea on this one. While one could think this will work for the individual kid, if any of those kids gets any accolade from some peers or possibly even receive money from a lawsuit, they become some version of “hero status” and the antics could become admired by others and more kids might want to do it.
One thing to always remember is, kids are idiots.
And a second thing to remember is, adults are idiots.
Just like school/mall/concert shooters or even worse, Kardashians, they should never be allowed time in public media.
Yep this is a level of vindictive punishment-obsession taken too far. Children are treated differently by the law for good reason. Their brains, wisdom, and maturity are not at the level of adulthood, and their understanding of risk and consequences is not the same.