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IP: is this America?: WSJ Opinion Journal
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sat, 07 Jul 2001 06:33:38 -0400
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 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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