Zero Tolerance In Action

Two kids were arrested for drawing this picture:

“When an adult or even myself look at the picture looked at it at first I was thinking there is really not much to the picture or I would not be that scared by the picture those children drew,” Ocala police spokesman Russ Kearn said. “However, we have to put ourselves in his mind and that’s the bottom line here. It is his well-being and the way he perceived that picture to be. It actually put him in extreme fear and he was in fear for his life.”

They were nine and ten.

Frankly, I’d be more concerned that that drawing represents the extent of their artistic ability, but that’s just me.

(Source)

This entry was posted in Unfiled. Bookmark the permalink.
  • http://www.precociousdesigns.com Chelle

    :lol: :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

    Hey now! Don’t go insulting their artistic ability or lack there of. It’s 100x better than anything I can do with physical artistic media.

  • http://www.hunny-hive.com Swt GA HunnyB

    Artistic ability aside, I believe children have been numbed by the violence on TV (even the news), movies, video games, and etc. They see a lot more blood and gore than we did as children. I’m not saying that it is their fault (TV, movies, video games, etc.) It is actually the parents fault for not sensoring things better or not explaining the things their children are watching or playing. They don’t realize the full impact a drawing like this could make. It is horrific, but I do think they were dealt with too harshly.

  • Kricket

    Considering what children today are actually capable of, yes, this would scare the shit out of me as well. What so many fail to realize is that most children aren’t “children” any more – most have lost their innocent look at life long before the age of 9. Who’s fault is it? I think it is the fault of everyone. The fault of parents for not monitoring their children’s tv and game habits. The fault of the predators out there, preying on our innocent children causing us to have to educate them early of the horrors that possibly await them as they stand at their bus stop in the morning. The fault of the courts for not properly punishing those predators for life, making sure they NEVER get out to hurt another child. The fault of rap industry and Hollywood for glorifying gang banging. I could go on and on. And the sad fact is it won’t matter.

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com Vinny

    I think Zero Tolerance has been taken to a level most normal people would find offensive. They’re kids. They’re 10. If a psycho analyst would’ve seen the things I did as a kid (drawings, and the like) they’d have had me committed by today’s standards.

    I just think that we’re too busy being alarmed about kids and worrying that every bad kid is going to turn into the next Dylan Kliebold.

  • http://www.precociousdesigns.com Chelle

    Scared? The drawing shows swords. Now if they were depicting guns, then I’d worry. The way it is, you could conclude that they’ve recently watched one of the LOTR movies or recently discovered D&D.

  • http://www.robertkbrown.com/ RKB

    In reading through the article, I also noticed that the kids doing the drawings (and, I assume, the kid who’s the “target”) were listed as “special education students.”

    Both of my daughters have attended pre-school that practices a policy of inclusion — all sorts of kids, with or without additional mental, physical, or emotional needs, learning and developing together.

    All this is to say that in the 8 some years we’ve been there, it’s clear that some of the kids REALLY have a hard time managing their anger, as well as being able to differentiate from right and wrong. Even at nine or ten, they might not have nearly the social development we’d expect.

    I’m not saying I necessarily agree that you’d ARREST these kids, nor do I agree with charging them with felonies, but there’s also a lot of information that’s been left out of the story.

  • http://www.precociousdesigns.com/ Chelle

    :lol: :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

    Hey now! Don’t go insulting their artistic ability or lack there of. It’s 100x better than anything I can do with physical artistic media.

  • http://www.hunny-hive.com/ Swt GA HunnyB

    Artistic ability aside, I believe children have been numbed by the violence on TV (even the news), movies, video games, and etc. They see a lot more blood and gore than we did as children. I’m not saying that it is their fault (TV, movies, video games, etc.) It is actually the parents fault for not sensoring things better or not explaining the things their children are watching or playing. They don’t realize the full impact a drawing like this could make. It is horrific, but I do think they were dealt with too harshly.

  • Kricket

    Considering what children today are actually capable of, yes, this would scare the shit out of me as well. What so many fail to realize is that most children aren’t “children” any more – most have lost their innocent look at life long before the age of 9. Who’s fault is it? I think it is the fault of everyone. The fault of parents for not monitoring their children’s tv and game habits. The fault of the predators out there, preying on our innocent children causing us to have to educate them early of the horrors that possibly await them as they stand at their bus stop in the morning. The fault of the courts for not properly punishing those predators for life, making sure they NEVER get out to hurt another child. The fault of rap industry and Hollywood for glorifying gang banging. I could go on and on. And the sad fact is it won’t matter.

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com/ Vinny

    I think Zero Tolerance has been taken to a level most normal people would find offensive. They’re kids. They’re 10. If a psycho analyst would’ve seen the things I did as a kid (drawings, and the like) they’d have had me committed by today’s standards.

    I just think that we’re too busy being alarmed about kids and worrying that every bad kid is going to turn into the next Dylan Kliebold.

  • http://www.precociousdesigns.com/ Chelle

    Scared? The drawing shows swords. Now if they were depicting guns, then I’d worry. The way it is, you could conclude that they’ve recently watched one of the LOTR movies or recently discovered D&D.;

  • http://www.robertkbrown.com/ RKB

    In reading through the article, I also noticed that the kids doing the drawings (and, I assume, the kid who’s the “target”) were listed as “special education students.”

    Both of my daughters have attended pre-school that practices a policy of inclusion — all sorts of kids, with or without additional mental, physical, or emotional needs, learning and developing together.

    All this is to say that in the 8 some years we’ve been there, it’s clear that some of the kids REALLY have a hard time managing their anger, as well as being able to differentiate from right and wrong. Even at nine or ten, they might not have nearly the social development we’d expect.

    I’m not saying I necessarily agree that you’d ARREST these kids, nor do I agree with charging them with felonies, but there’s also a lot of information that’s been left out of the story.