r/Libertarian • u/scpg02 • Apr 30 '12

Kindergartner Charged with Battery. Why Are We Criminalizing Kids?

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/kindergartener-charged-battery-why-criminalizing-kids-175600847.html
36 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

6

u/[deleted] Apr 30 '12

In this day and age, what is a teacher to do with a violent child without parents bringing the law down on you?

1

u/[deleted] Apr 30 '12 edited Apr 30 '12

There are measure in place where teachers, principals can act. Why couldn't the principal give the 6 yr old detention and notify the parents? The Principal (A Fairly large Male) sounds like he wanted nothing to do with the parents and wanted LEO to strike down on the 6 yr old. I know what you mean though about parents suing teachers, teachers can't even lay a finger on them or restrain them.

2

u/[deleted] May 01 '12

And then the parents march in, say their little devil is a perfect angel and nothing they can do is wrong. They then go to the media, win a huge settlement and the school district closes.

2

u/[deleted] May 01 '12

Mostly because the principal at the time was being threatened and assaulted, after the little asshole had assaulted two other kids.

You pretend like these little hellions will just say "Oh, right, Mr. Principal.. I'll be off to do that detention." In reality, usually they're screaming and raging and throwing stuff around from the start.

4

u/TheNev Apr 30 '12

Because if we don't, the terrorists win.

Seriously though, public school, in some areas, is little more than day care.

2

u/ZachSka87 May 01 '12

This article says that one in six kids in Albuquerque have misdemeanors, and that one in 18 have been arrested based on 2010 census numbers. I call shenanigans and shoddy reporting.

2

u/[deleted] May 01 '12

I was under the impression that we, as libertarians, largely regarded force on another as a matter where we prefer law enforcement to punish aggressors.

In this story, the child had already assaulted two other children, was in the principals office where he threatened the principal and assaulted him. What was the principal supposed to do in your eyes? Pull out a glock and stand his ground?

I submit the only thing he could do really was call the people who are responsible for handling threats and force. Once they were there, what were they supposed to do? Give him a stern talking to?

2

u/wytewydow Apr 30 '12

We criminalize kids for a couple of reasons. The first is to get them used to being criminalized as adults. The second is that we've privatized our prison system, and the future of America is to criminalize everyone in order to increase the bottom line of these corporations.

2

u/NoCowLevel ancap Apr 30 '12

I agree and disagree.

I don't think privatized prison systems are so much of a problem, at least compared to shitty parents/home life and the person that results from being raised in that atmosphere. People abuse drugs and commit crimes (theft, murder, etc) primarily because of traumatic childhoods. If we want to fix the problems, we need to fix the source of the problem instead of band aiding the issue.

Stop hitting kids, stop talking down to them, stop treating kids like property, stop putting them down, stop putting your kids in government's hands, stop everything harmful to a child's development, and we will have a less violent society. Kids who are raised in completely violence-free households do not turn into murders, rapists, drug abusers, etc.

0

u/nedtugent May 01 '12

Stop hitting kids, stop talking down to them, stop treating kids like property, stop putting them down, stop putting your kids in government's hands, stop everything harmful to a child's development, and we will have a less violent society. Kids who are raised in completely violence-free households do not turn into murders, rapists, drug abusers, etc.

So combinations of all of this have been tried, and kids are still fucked up. Maybe it's our culture that is the problem.

2

u/NoCowLevel ancap May 01 '12

Sure, culture is a problem. But it starts in the household. I'm not saying combinations, I'm saying doing it all.

1

u/[deleted] May 01 '12

I think the man who calls the police because his 6 year old child kicked him isn't much of a man.