No injuries, no damages, but felony charges

[Andara Bledin]

No one here thinks she should be thrown in jail. But setting off explosions in the middle of a school should have consequences. Just because no one was hurt doesn't mean the school/town should set a precedent of letting people get away with it.

Why is it that you seem to think that stating that arresting her on two felony charges for which she'll be tried as an adult is so far over the top it's massively excessive somehow equals no punishment at all?

There is a middle ground between the two, which is what most of us are advocating.

Well, except for the one person who never did anything stupid (which is a ridiculous assertion on it's face) who keeps using the most hyperbolic language possible to describe the event (plural? really?) in question.

[Duelist925]

No one here thinks she should be thrown in jail. But setting off explosions in the middle of a school should have consequences. Just because no one was hurt doesn't mean the school/town should set a precedent of letting people get away with it.

A: Not a single person here has said she should get away with it. This has been pointed out to you multiple times. Just about everyone here is saying "Should should be punished reasonably."

Please actually read peoples arguments and respond to them.

B: You yourself admitted you were not a "normal kid". Why, then, do you judge her falling to peer pressure using yourself as a rubrick? I rarely succumbed to peer pressure myself at the age (being too busy shoving my nose into books) but I know the vast majority of teens do dumb shit due to how their brains are wired.

[wolfie]

Back when I was in high school, I set out to "have a blast" by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen and then set off the result at Halloween (the day for fireworks in the community where I grew up). A science teacher for the local school system was fully aware of what I was doing.

My initial plan was to make enough to fill a garbage bag, then float it over a "mine" type firework (showers of sparks, then sends up a burst of flares at the end). Due to leaky aparatus, I was only able to make enough to fill a sandwich bag - just as well.

On "the big day", I took the baggie of hydrogen/oxygen mixture (and a bit of water from the basin where I transferred it from the collection jar to the bag) outside, taped a strip of paper to it, and lit the paper. It burned a hole in the bag, and set off the contents.

Note what I said about this being on Halloween (i.e. fireworks going off on a fairly constant basis)? From halfway down the block, I heard "What was that?".

A bit more planning involved than your typical "teenager making something that goes bang", but still a part of growing up and trying things out. The biggest difference between my experiment and that girl's is that I did it in my own front yard, not the school grounds. For pulling that stunt on school grounds, she should get SOME sort of punishment, but given her prior record a few days suspension would be appropriate. Expulsion and felony charges are definitely overkill.

[Panacea]

Not saying this is right, but this opinion piece does beg the question: is the punishment simply race related?

I read this earlier. And I have to agree. There is a well known racial bias in our criminal justice system. Racial bias is one of the reasons why I now oppose the death penalty.

I'm not missing that in the least. I'm merely objecting to the use of hyperbolic language to describe an event that happened.

What I find far more concerning is the fact this girl created an explosive reaction without really knowing what it would do.

When I tried to make gun cotton as a teenager, I knew exactly what it would do.


[QUOTE=Andara Bledin;136968If she didn't know what it would do, [I]how would she have known it was stupid[/I]?

If she didn't know what it would do, but she thought it would do something, then trying it in public is the definition of stupid on its face.

knew[/I]. Because inciting another to commit a crime, is, itself, a crime. And if the friend knew it would cause an explosion and failed to tell the girl yet urged her to cause the reaction, that makes it a real crime, and not just the crime of being a reckless teenager.

Fair enough. You're right on this. Did the friend admit to doing this? If so, she should be punished as well. If she hasn't, then she ain't gonna, and no one will ever be able to prove it. So she'll get away with it.

You'll pardon me if I choose not to believe that you were a model child in every way.

I don't think Greenday said he was a model child in every way. Just that he wasn't reckless like most teens.

Why is it that you seem to think that stating that arresting her on two felony charges for which she'll be tried as an adult is so far over the top it's massively excessive somehow equals no punishment at all?

What I think we should all acknowledge here, is that everyone here believes the girl did the wrong thing. It's the punishment, not the crime that's really at issue. No one here thinks criminal charges were the way to go.

But there's been some effort to minimize what the girl in question did, by stating that the explosive reaction really wasn't that big a deal because it was a small explosion, just made a little smoke and noise.

Well, she got lucky. She mixed chemicals in a closed container with strips of metal (aluminum foil, probably a catalyst for the chemicals) and did so without a complete understanding of what it would do. Then she activated the reaction with other people nearby.

What could have happened is the reaction could have been stronger than she anticipated. Shards of plastic or foil could have been projected into people's bodies. Chemicals could have been splashed in someones eyes. The smoke could have triggered a respiratory crisis in someone.

What was probably intended to be a simple prank, could have been a lot worse.

The right punishment is education and community service. That education includes learning and understanding that you don't fuck around with chemicals if you don't have any idea what they are going to do, or the potential damage or injuries you could cause innocent bystanders if you get it wrong.

But let's be clear on this: what was done was pretty fuckinginly redtardedly stupid.

[Rageaholic]

But let's be clear on this: what was done was pretty fuckinginly redtardedly stupid.

This I cannot argue with.

[Nekojin]

I don't think Greenday said he was a model child in every way. Just that he wasn't reckless like most teens.

The original point was that all teenagers do stupid things, and they do stupid things with friends. Greenday said point-blank that he never did anything stupid with friends. Not that he couldn't remember anything along those lines, but that it never happened.

By making it an absolute statement, he's closing the door to the possibility that he ever did anything stupid, while in the presence of friends. Which, in and of itself, is a pretty outrageous claim, right up there with some of PT Barnum's tall tales. Unless he never had any friends, which I'll concede is a possibility.

[s_stabeler]

OK, the girl was dumb. How I'd have dealt with it is an in-school suspension, posisbly describing/showing her how it could have gone wrong. I would not have expelled an otherwise good student. Certainly I would not have files felony charges. the effect of felony charges is wide-ranging. ( inability to purchase a weapon, ineligibe for welfare benifits, felons are barred from certian professions (mostly security-related), most banks will refuse to serve a felon, almost all landlords will refuse to rent to a felon...) which function to make it difficult for a convicted felon. For a convicted felon that has no experience? she would find it almost impossible.

in short, punish her, but make it a relatively minor punishment.

[Greenday]

The original point was that all teenagers do stupid things, and they do stupid things with friends. Greenday said point-blank that he never did anything stupid with friends. Not that he couldn't remember anything along those lines, but that it never happened.

By making it an absolute statement, he's closing the door to the possibility that he ever did anything stupid, while in the presence of friends. Which, in and of itself, is a pretty outrageous claim, right up there with some of PT Barnum's tall tales. Unless he never had any friends, which I'll concede is a possibility.

God forbid not every single teenager acts like a screw up. My friends were good people too. They didn't screw around. We all were straight-A students. We never once got in trouble in school or outside of school. It worked for us and we all went on to graduate college and get good jobs (One started what seems to be a promising business). We didn't act like idiots and life rewarded us for it.

[PepperElf]

Welcome to the madness that is zero tolerance.

This. In the wake of other school issues and public bombings many establishments are erring on the side of batshit crazy.


For example one college went into lockdown last month and police were sent out... because of a man walking around "with a gun". Many people posted comments about how wrong he was, and misquoting laws etc... and it turned out to just be a guy walking home with an airgun which isn't a weapon my most state laws anyway.


Same reason why some schools have kicked students out for wearing NRA shirts or for having images of guns on computers - they decided that it was somehow "dangerous".


Although on the other side, I don't see in the article where this was an official science project, except in the title.

Do students there normally run science projects on their own? I would think that any such experiment where there's use of chemicals or electricity, that they would have to have supervision or at least let the teacher know what they were planning first.

[Pixilated]

*snip*

But you can't compare what this girl did to what a science teacher does when he launches rockets for his class. He's planning out what he's doing, he understands the principals involved, and he takes appropriate safety precautions.

*snip*

Just to clarify: if this refers to my Gr. 7 story, it was not the teacher who was launching those rockets ... it was one of my classmates. I have no idea what, if any, checkup the teacher did on those rockets.

I wasn't a normal kid. I never succumbed to peer-pressure. It didn't make me very popular. I was more of an adult stuck in a kid's body. I learned faster than everyone else, I focused on world politics and understood them better than a lot of adults.

Point being, your supposed universal truth is no different from people who think all black people love fried chicken and watermelon, Asian people are bad drivers, etc.

I was an exception to your universal truth.

I don't know you so am not going to quarrel with your assertions, but ... so what? Many kids -- this one among them -- DO do stupid things. But the level of penalty for her stupidity is itself mind-blowingly stupid -- and IT is being perpetrated by so-called adults, who should know better.

[Gravekeeper]

Charges have been dropped.

[Nekojin]

Good. Now lift the expulsion, and everyone can get back to important things.

[Pixilated]

Thanks, Gravekeeper. Just spotted that myself.

[Gravekeeper]

Sounds like she's still being stuck with some sort of community service or something though. I doubt they'll take back the expulsion either.

[violiav]

For example one college went into lockdown last month and police were sent out... because of a man walking around "with a gun". Many people posted comments about how wrong he was, and misquoting laws etc... and it turned out to just be a guy walking home with an airgun which isn't a weapon my most state laws anyway.

I'm pretty sure that happened here. Maybe more than once. In their defense they are pretty high strung after that shoot out in the middle of student rental area central last August. I'm still pretty sure my house is the only one on the block without at least one gun. This is Texas after all. Not all the stereotypes are wrong.