WEBVTT - How Young Is Too Young to Face Arrest?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio, Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff Lauren Vocal bamb Here. Criminals come in all

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<v Speaker 1>shapes and sizes, though it may strain definition that we

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<v Speaker 1>can count as six year old throwing a temper tantrum

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<v Speaker 1>and an elementary school among them, yet welcome to America.

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<v Speaker 1>In late September nineteen, a Florida cop arrested two grade schoolers,

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<v Speaker 1>slapped a pair of handcuffs on at least one of them,

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<v Speaker 1>and sent them off to be booked, fingerprinted, and have

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<v Speaker 1>their mugshots taken. Both children, again six year olds who

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<v Speaker 1>misbehaved at school, were charged with misdemeanor battery. A bad

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<v Speaker 1>day for harried police officer, Well, yeah, maybe a bad

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<v Speaker 1>day for schools and the juvenile justice system. Absolutely. We

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<v Speaker 1>spoke with Marcia Levic, the chief legal officer for the

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<v Speaker 1>Juvenile Law Center, which bills itself as the country's first

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<v Speaker 1>nonprofit public interest law firm for children. She said, does

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<v Speaker 1>it get more ridiculous? It's absurd. It's a ridiculous abuse

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<v Speaker 1>of law enforcement power and authority. But it's also a

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<v Speaker 1>really unnecessary but all too common abdication on the part

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<v Speaker 1>of schools and school districts. And teachers to just defer

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<v Speaker 1>their management of school misconduct to police. The pure legality

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<v Speaker 1>of charging a juvenile as young as six with a

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<v Speaker 1>crime varies across the United States. To be clear, a

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<v Speaker 1>juvenile in forty five states plus the District of Columbia

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<v Speaker 1>is anyone younger than seventeen. In Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Texas,

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<v Speaker 1>and Wisconsin, it's anyone younger than sixteen. A juvenile offender

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<v Speaker 1>normally doesn't move through the criminal courts, but through the

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<v Speaker 1>juvenile justice system, which is guided, according to the Office

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<v Speaker 1>of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention quote by the concept

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<v Speaker 1>of rehabilitation through individualized justice for more serious offenses, though

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<v Speaker 1>juveniles may be tried in criminal court, where if found guilty,

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<v Speaker 1>the court focuses on punishment, not rehab. Of fifty one

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<v Speaker 1>jurisdictions that's the fifty states plus the District of Columbia,

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<v Speaker 1>the pready three have no lower level limit on holding

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<v Speaker 1>a young person criminally accountable. Levic says that includes Florida.

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<v Speaker 1>In effect, that means that an over zealous cop legally

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<v Speaker 1>can arrest even an unruly two year old. Of those

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen other jurisdictions, most put the lower level that a

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<v Speaker 1>kid can be charged with a crime at ten years old.

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<v Speaker 1>In those locations, a six year old like the two

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<v Speaker 1>in Florida simply could not be arrested or charged with

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<v Speaker 1>a crime. Levic said, Obviously, it begs the question, how

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<v Speaker 1>can that be? How can we possibly have created a

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<v Speaker 1>juvenile court system that allows for the possibility that six

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<v Speaker 1>and seven year olds can be arrested. I think they

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<v Speaker 1>never envisioned a six or seven year old would be

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<v Speaker 1>hauled into court. I think that's a fair assumption. That's

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<v Speaker 1>not who they designed the system for. So what happened

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<v Speaker 1>in Florida. A police officer with Orlando's Reserve Unit arrested

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<v Speaker 1>the two six year olds on separate misdemeanor battery charges

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<v Speaker 1>on September nineteen. One was a girl who lashed out

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<v Speaker 1>in a in term that was brought on by a

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<v Speaker 1>sleep disorder, the girl's family told The New York Times.

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<v Speaker 1>On Monday, September twenty three, the Orlando Police Department fired

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<v Speaker 1>the officer who made the arrests for not following protocol

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<v Speaker 1>that required he get approval from his supervisor to arrest

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<v Speaker 1>any minor younger than aged twelve. No charges were filed

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<v Speaker 1>against the two children. Cops in schools, of course, are

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<v Speaker 1>not new. Florida is one of many states that has

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<v Speaker 1>bumped up its police presence in schools over the years.

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<v Speaker 1>The Florida legislature mandated it after the shooting at Marjorie

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<v Speaker 1>Stone when Douglas High School in Parkland, the claimed seventeen

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<v Speaker 1>lives in February of The build up of police in

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<v Speaker 1>schools is understandable in some ways. It's been more than

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<v Speaker 1>twenty years since two students killed thirteen people and injured

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<v Speaker 1>twenty one others at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.

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<v Speaker 1>Since Columbine up until April of this year, America has

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<v Speaker 1>been through two hundred and thirty eight other school shootings,

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<v Speaker 1>according to a year long investigation by The Washington Post.

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<v Speaker 1>This increased show of force, though, does come with problems.

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<v Speaker 1>For one, as The Orlando Sentinel points out, citing a

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<v Speaker 1>report by the Education Week Resource Center, black students are

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<v Speaker 1>arrested at school at a disproportionately high rate. At least

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<v Speaker 1>one of the children arrested in Orlando was black, and

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<v Speaker 1>as the recent news out of Orlando shows, police and

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<v Speaker 1>school kids, even elementary school kids, just sometimes don't mix,

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<v Speaker 1>Levic said, we know where this is coming from. This

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<v Speaker 1>fear of what happens when a child acts out in school,

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<v Speaker 1>that there's going to be some catastrophic consequence emanates from Columbine.

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<v Speaker 1>For twenty years, we've been overreacting. I'm not aiming to

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<v Speaker 1>trivialize schools being so quick to call law enforcement. There

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<v Speaker 1>are obviously many situations in which that's appropriate, but this

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<v Speaker 1>is one that defies common sense. Most would agree that

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<v Speaker 1>slapping cuffs on first graders probably is crossing a line.

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<v Speaker 1>Zero tolerance certainly has its costs, Levic said. Initially, the

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<v Speaker 1>thought was that there would be some rationality, some reasonableness

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<v Speaker 1>injected into the school environment that would curb those extreme

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<v Speaker 1>and absurd responses. But it may be that trusting and

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<v Speaker 1>waiting for common sense to kick in isn't going to work.

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<v Speaker 1>It may be that it does require a legislative response.

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<v Speaker 1>Some movements across the nation aimed to raise the minimum

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<v Speaker 1>age that a child can be charged with a crime

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<v Speaker 1>to twelve years old. In some of those thirty three

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<v Speaker 1>jurisdictions where no minimum age is set, there are calls

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<v Speaker 1>to set something until then. Though school police officers may

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<v Speaker 1>have to lean on something much less complicated than legislative

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<v Speaker 1>action when faced with a prepubescent troublemaker, a deep breath,

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<v Speaker 1>maybe a countdown from ten, and a little common sense.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode was written by John Donovan and produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Tyler Clay. Brain Stuff is a production of I Heart

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<v Speaker 1>Radio's Has Stuff Works. For more in this and lots

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<v Speaker 1>of other topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works

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