# Did the kid break the law? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 3, 2019, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-kid-break-the-law/828901 "2019-02-03T19:53:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-kid-break-the-law/828901/21 "2019-02-04T16:24:26Z")
I feel like this is similar to the “black hat”/“white hat” hacking issues that come up. If a hacker finds a vulnerability and in good faith tells the company that made the hardware/software, does a company say “thanks” or do they try to have the hacker arrested? ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-kid-break-the-law/828901/22 "2019-02-04T16:48:15Z")
I would be more concerned if Siri called the police. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-kid-break-the-law/828901/23 "2019-02-04T16:50:50Z")
> [@UCBearcats](#): > > It can be in a sterile, medical setting with anesthesia. It doesn’t need to be violent. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![sps49sd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@sps49sd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sps49sd)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-kid-break-the-law/828901/24 "2019-02-04T20:38:14Z")
> [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > I’m betting that the kid will be sent to a mental health facility for a week or so… Have you ever, or do you know someone who has, spent a few days in such a place? A dear friend of mine was sent for a weekend (fabricated claim made during an pre-divorce argument in front of her clever mother-in-law), and it was closer to hell than I’ve ever been. After 5PM, it isn’t polite people sitting in a circle of chairs. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-kid-break-the-law/828901/25 "2019-02-04T21:05:14Z")
> [@sps49sd](#): > > do you know someone who has, spent a few days in such a place? Oh my yes. Not happy places at all. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-kid-break-the-law/828901/26 "2019-02-05T03:39:00Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I’ll reserve comment until the case has been adjudicated. I think this is the wisest comment in the thread. Way too many facts and nuances yet to make any comment. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2019, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-kid-break-the-law/828901/27 "2019-02-05T03:42:02Z")
I guess Apple must have fixed Siri’s responses. The answer I get when I tried just now is, “I don’t know how to respond to that.” I hope the police aren’t on their way. I’ll try to check in before 24 hours have elapsed. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2019, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-kid-break-the-law/828901/28 "2019-02-08T11:00:47Z")
It sounds like exactly the idiotic throwaway, bad-taste bullshit that pretty much defined my early teenage years. Either I or my friends would be pretty much guaranteed to have thrown around equivalent offensive and off-colour concepts as a matter of course. I believe it is a fundamental property of being 13. Of course we didn’t have an always-on information source willing to respond to our our every distasteful whim. If we did have, we would have. Expect to see many more of these non-stories. When you have technology monitoring and broadcasting your every word and deed it is unavoidable. The fact that it made it into the public domain doesn’t make it any more serious or credible than the utter bollocks me and my friends spouted when we were 13. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2019, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-kid-break-the-law/828901/29 "2019-02-08T16:41:59Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > It sounds like exactly the idiotic throwaway, bad-taste bullshit that pretty much defined my early teenage years. Either I or my friends would be pretty much guaranteed to have thrown around equivalent offensive and off-colour concepts as a matter of course. I believe it is a fundamental property of being 13… The most sensible comment on the thread. Some of the other comments (e.g. " he should be expelled and punished (imo) but that’s a false sense of security. Restraining orders can’t stop bullets.") were, I hope, tongue-in-cheek sarcasm. This response is just one of many ways social norms have changed dramatically since I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Littleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ccd318/32.png) [@Littleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Littleman)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-kid-break-the-law/828901/30 "2019-02-11T02:21:48Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > It sounds like exactly the idiotic throwaway, bad-taste bullshit that pretty much defined my early teenage years. Either I or my friends would be pretty much guaranteed to have thrown around equivalent offensive and off-colour concepts as a matter of course. I believe it is a fundamental property of being 13. > > Of course we didn’t have an always-on information source willing to respond to our our every distasteful whim. If we did have, we would have. Expect to see many more of these non-stories. When you have technology monitoring and broadcasting your every word and deed it is unavoidable. The fact that it made it into the public domain doesn’t make it any more serious or credible than the utter bollocks me and my friends spouted when we were 13. Thank you. I’m so thankful to have the fortune of only having to have dealt with this non sensical "OMG wallet chains are weapons and your Elmer fudd t shirt has a gun on it you must be expelled and counseled for your violent behavior " bullshit. Makes a kid think all adults are mentally defecient at best and singling you out at worst. It’s completely counterproductive and I can see some kids going “oh, you want something to worry about”… You know where mass school shootings don’t happen?.. In the ghetto. Maybe we need to analyze why that is. > **[Why Don’t School Shootings Happen In The ‘Hood’? - The Source](https://thesource.com/2018/02/23/why-dont-school-shootings-happen-in-the-hood/)** > > Why don't school shootings occur in the 'hood'? A question which has circulated around social media since the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida. The incident left 17 students dead and 14 wounded after 19-year old, Nikolas... I’m sure it’s not that ghetto kids can’t get guns. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-kid-break-the-law/828901/31 "2019-02-11T08:34:02Z")
Amidst all this outrage that 13-year-olds, who tend to be impetuous, get in trouble for making stupid remarks, one important fact has been overlooked: > [@](#): > > The incident was reported to police in nearby Chesterton by the boy’s social media contacts . This wasn’t the case of the school or police overreacting. Other kids were worried about his “joke.” Nobody knows what it’s like to be 13 like people who ARE 13, and his peers were not amused. They were alarmed. And let me point out how rare those remarks are. There are 57 million kids attending school in the US. If all of 'em were so incapable of learning to keep their mouths shut, we’d be seeing thousands of arrests like the one in the OP every day. Kids can and do learn the consequences of saying stupid illegal stuff. They even understand why it’s illegal. ---
**Author:** ![Littleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ccd318/32.png) [@Littleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Littleman)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-kid-break-the-law/828901/32 "2019-02-12T00:08:06Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > Amidst all this outrage that 13-year-olds, who tend to be impetuous, get in trouble for making stupid remarks, one important fact has been overlooked: > > . This wasn’t the case of the school or police overreacting. Other kids were worried about his “joke.” Nobody knows what it’s like to be 13 like people who ARE 13, and his peers were not amused. They were alarmed. > > And let me point out how rare those remarks are. There are 57 million kids attending school in the US. If all of 'em were so incapable of learning to keep their mouths shut, we’d be seeing thousands of arrests like the one in the OP every day. Kids can and do learn the consequences of saying stupid illegal stuff. They even understand why it’s illegal. Assuming his social media contacts are all his age is a big assumption. Note it doesn’t say his classmates. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-kid-break-the-law/828901/33 "2019-02-12T12:29:57Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Are we pretending a thirteen year old doesn’t understand what’s wrong with this? There is nothing to pretend; it is one hundred percent plausible a 13-year-old really won’t get it. Absolutely. I have two kids, 14 and 13. They can be amazingly bright one minute and mind-bogglingly stupid the next. I can totally believe they or some other kid their age would not grasp how inappropriate such a thing would be. Doesn’t mean the police shouldn’t come have a talk, of course. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-kid-break-the-law/828901/34 "2019-02-12T15:03:48Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > Amidst all this outrage that 13-year-olds, who tend to be impetuous, get in trouble for making stupid remarks, one important fact has been overlooked: > > . This wasn’t the case of the school or police overreacting. Other kids were worried about his “joke.” Nobody knows what it’s like to be 13 like people who ARE 13, and his peers were not amused. They were alarmed. And 13 year old kids are not always the best judges either. > [@](#): > > And let me point out how rare those remarks are. There are 57 million kids attending school in the US. If all of 'em were so incapable of learning to keep their mouths shut, we’d be seeing thousands of arrests like the one in the OP every day. Kids can and do learn the consequences of saying stupid illegal stuff. They even understand why it’s illegal. I see it happen about once a week or so in the local news that some student in the area says or does something dumb and gets arrested for it. Some threats: [http://www.fox19.com/2019/01/21/extra-security-western-hills-high-school-tuesday-due-social-media-threat/](http://www.fox19.com/2019/01/21/extra-security-western-hills-high-school-tuesday-due-social-media-threat/) [https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/crime/crime-and-courts/2019/02/11/threat-prompts-increased-security-shroder-high-school/2835732002/](https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/crime/crime-and-courts/2019/02/11/threat-prompts-increased-security-shroder-high-school/2835732002/) [Here’s a really stupid overreaction by school officials](https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/crime/crime-and-courts/2019/01/14/taylor-high-school-student-suspended-after-school-shooter-comment/2570036002/) > [@](#): > > A Taylor High School student has been suspended with a recommendation of expulsion after officials said he told his friends another student “looks like a school shooter.” > … > “There was no plan, no hit list,” Hockenberry said. “But it could have incited panic.” > Police did not file any charges against the students, however, the school district suspended the student who made the “school shooter” comment Monday and is recommending he be expelled. > > “In this day and age, even if someone jokes about it, you have to stop everything,” he said. [Here’s a bullied kid acting out inappropriately.](https://www.wcpo.com/news/crime/juvenile-accused-of-making-threat-toward-ryle-high-school-taken-into-custody) > [@](#): > > Officials said a picture was posted online showing a person in dark clothing, holding a handgun, with a flag covering their face and a caption which read, “If ryle [sic] kids continue to pursue me, you will be capped…” [Which apparently turned into 3 students being charged](https://www.wlwt.com/article/juvenile-arrested-after-making-threats-toward-ryle-high-school/25453442) [Another threat](http://www.fox19.com/2018/12/22/teen-arrested-threats-against-deer-park-high-likely-isnt-able-comprehend-gravity-says-administrator/) [And, even adult ex-students still can be stupid.](https://www.wlwt.com/article/police-man-arrested-for-making-terroristic-threat-toward-nky-high-school/26098895) This is just a quick sampling I googled up really quick. There are several more than I remember reading in recent times that I did not see in this brief survey. These are all within a 50 mile radius. Unfortunately, these remarks are not nearly rare enough. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-kid-break-the-law/828901.md?page=1)