IP: is this America?: WSJ Opinion Journal

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

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> Hi Dave,
>
> For IP, if you deem it relevant.
>
> - ----
> Jamus Jerome Lim
> Regional Economic Studies
> Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
>
> - -snip-
>
> Zero-Tolerance Watch
> (http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/2001/departments/2001_06_28/upfront_1.h
> tml)
>
> That same question--is this America?--came to mind when we read this
> horrifying story from the Las Vegas Weekly. It seems that a
> 14-year-old boy, whom the paper identifies by the pseudonym "Joseph
> K.," was arrested at school and jailed for 10 days. Every time his
> grandparents, who are his legal guardians, came to visit him in
> prison, he was invasively strip-searched. Police didn't even tell him
> why until he'd been arrested until he'd been behind bars for three
> days.
>
> So what was his crime? A couple of girls had called to ask him to
> hang out. He said no, and they called back 15 minutes later.
> Irritated, he told them, "It's people like you who get on the
> Columbine lists." After his arrest, the Weekly reports:
>
> School police also found in Joseph K.'s locker and backpack more
> "evidence:" a class report he'd been writing about the Holocaust,
> which included sketches of Nazi symbols. Also taken was an essay he'd
> written for another class, answering the question: What's the biggest
> problem facing schools today? Joseph K.'s essay focused on school
> violence.
>
> After questioning the teen--Is he depressed? Did he have a "list?"
> Did he hate anyone?--police took him to his grandparents' house,
> grandpa signed a consent form specifically letting them search Joseph
> K.'s room, according to the grandfather. They not only searched the
> kid's room, including his computer files and email, they also went
> through grandpa's closet, where they found his shotgun. They took it
> and the boy's BB-gun.
>
> Prosecutors charged him with "harassment," then dropped the charges
> two months later. But  Woodbury Middle School
> (http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/in-depth/schools/2000/middle/woodbury.h
> tml) nonetheless kicked him out for a quarter. His grandparents were
> also told that he fits the "profile" of a school shooter. What would
> that profile be? "He's well-groomed, gets good grades and is
> well-liked."



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