# Dumb stupid kids doing dumb stupid things + Police **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 5, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750 "2010-02-05T02:26:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750/61 "2010-02-06T00:07:34Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > Can you support this claim with any evidence? [Raw numbers from the UCR](http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/data/table_38.html), showing a decline in total arrests by age group (sadly, crime \*rates \*by age cohort have proven surprisingly difficult to find online, so you’d either need better Google-fu than I, or you’d have to cross reference with census data). [A discussion of the age-curve in crime rates](http://law.jrank.org/pages/473/Age-Crime-Age-crime-patterns-U-S.html): > [@](#): > > The F.B.I.'s Uniform Crime Report (UCR) data, particularly the Crime Index (homicide, robbery, rape, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, auto theft) document the robustness of the age effect on crime and also reveal a long-term trend toward younger age-crime distributions in more modern times. Today, the peak age (the age group with the highest age-specific arrest rate) is younger than twenty-five for all crimes reported in the F.B.I.'s UCR program except gambling, and rates begin to decline in the teenage years for more than half of the UCR crimes. In fact, even the median age (50 percent of all arrests occurring among younger persons) is younger than thirty for most crimes. . . > > . . . **Explaining the youthful peak in offending.** In a general sense, physical abilities, such as strength, speed, prowess, stamina, and aggression are useful for successful commission of many crimes, for protection, for enforcing contracts, and for recruiting and managing reliable associates (for a review, see Steffensmeier and Allan). Although some crimes are more physically demanding than others, persistent involvement in crime is likely to entail a lifestyle that is physically demanding and dangerous. Declining physical strength and energy may make crime too dangerous or unsuccessful. . . > > . . . For those in late adolescence or early adulthood (roughly ages seventeen to twenty-two, the age group showing the sharpest decline in arrest rates for many crimes), important changes occur in at least six spheres of life (Steffensmeier and Allan): > > 1. Greater access to legitimate sources of material goods and excitement: jobs, credit, alcohol, sex, and so on. > 2. Age-graded norms: externally, increased expectation of maturity and responsibility; internally, anticipation of assuming adult roles, coupled with reduced subjective acceptance of deviant roles and the threat they pose to entering adult status. > 3. Peer associations and lifestyle: reduced orientation to same-age-same-sex peers and increased orientation toward persons of the opposite sex or persons who are older or more mature. > 4. Increased legal and social costs for deviant behavior. > 5. Patterns of illegitimate opportunities: with the assumption of adult roles, opportunities increase for crimes (for example, gambling, fraud, and employee theft) that are less risky, more lucrative, or less likely to be reflected in official statistics. > 6. Cognitive and analytical skill development leading to a gradual decline in egocentrism, hedonism, and sense of invincibility; becoming more concerned for others, more accepting of social values, more comfortable in social relations, and more concerned with the meaning of life and their place in things; and seeing their casual delinquencies of youth as childish or foolish. . . There’s a chart halfway down [this page](http://www.urban.org/publications/410402.html) with arrest rates by age. (Hey, I found it!) [Crime rates decline “substantially”](http://www.jstor.org/pss/3006012) by age in self-report statistic as well, which \*suggests \*that it’s not merely a matter of arrests leading to an aversion to committing future crimes. [Backfire: When Incarceration Increases Crime](http://www.doc.state.ok.us/offenders/ocjrc/96/Backfire.pdf). Not directly on point, as it mostly addresses adult offenders, but illustrative of a mechanism that may apply to one degree or another. [This article](http://www.apsu.edu/oconnort/1010/1010lect01a.htm) concludes thusly: “On the street, the study of what keeps people from a life of crime, or turns them away from it is called the desistence field of research. Theoretically, such variables as vulnerability and insulation (also called buffering) are important, which refer to conditions or states that turn good people bad or bad people good. However, researchers have been more interested in the deterrent effect of imprisonment, which has been estimated as having no more than a 10-20% deterrent effect per year (Shinner & Shinner 1975). **The fact of the matter is that more people age out of crime than for any other method of desistence** (Gottfredson & Hirschi 1990), and the so-called age-curve constant is remarkably stable, even for high-rate, persistent offenders. In fact, as Golub’s (1990) research shows, **imprisonment may actually disrupt the normal pattern of desistence**.” [emphasis added] Lamentably, the first paper referenced above (Shinnar) is not available online without a fee, and the second (Golub) is not available online at all, but the referenced book is [partially available](http://books.google.com/books?id=loNPs7n94p0C&dq=A+general+theory+of+crime&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=Yq9sS_CwDc-vtgeu7P2KBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCIQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=&f=false) via Google (don’t know how helpful that will be, however, as the online portions include less than half the book, and what is there is pretty chopped up). Anyway, finding research that \*directly \*backs up my \*specific \*claim is difficult (at least for those of us unwilling to shell out for a jstor subscription). But do you have any evidence that I’m incorrect, direct or otherwise? Do you really believe that there’s a large difference in adult crime rates between those who, as juvenile offenders, either were or were not arrested? ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750/62 "2010-02-06T05:24:56Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > It’s about two things. First, kids will, in fact, be kids: most delinquents stop being delinquents as they grow up whether or not they get wrung through the justice system. I do not believe this bit in the slightest. I was a teenage boy myself and managed not to be a delinquent. Teenagers mugging someone isn’t a kid being a kid, it’s a criminal being..well a criminal. > [@](#): > > Second, it’s not a slam dunk that using the juvenile justice system will yield a better result (for the kids and for everybody else) than just doing nothing. It’s not a matter of the system either helping or not helping; it’s that the system will either help, or not help, or make things worse. What is the better result you’re looking for? I would need a little more clarity on what you’re talking about here to agree or disagree. > [@](#): > > How confident are you in the juvenile justice system’s ability to avoid bad outcomes? If one’s answer is “not very,” then letting them go is entirely reasonable (though clearly not obligatory). No idea whatsoever. I’ve never dealt with the juvenile justice system. ---
**Author:** ![Cesario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Cesario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cesario)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750/63 "2010-02-06T06:05:27Z")
Count me among those who are utterly baffled by this “kids will be kids” bullshit. (Considering the same line was used by an authority figure after most of the bones in my face got shattered in an unprovoked attack, I have a certain dislike of that line in general.) You press charges and let the courts decide whether it’s in the best interests of society to be lenient. By refusing to press charges, you are refusing to give society an oportunity to protect itself from these antisocial behaviors. Age is no excuse for this sort of criminal behavior, and excusing it because of some sob story or because of “so much wasted potential” is really nothing more than prejudice. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750/64 "2010-02-06T07:11:38Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > I do not believe this bit in the slightest. I was a teenage boy myself and managed not to be a delinquent. Teenagers mugging someone isn’t a kid being a kid, it’s a criminal being..well a criminal. You don’t believe that juvenile delinquents tend to age out of delinquent behavior? Because the evidence is pretty much irrefutable. > [@](#): > > What is the better result you’re looking for? Would pressing charges lead to a better result for the kids (better quality of life both now and as adults) and/or a better life for everybody else (in that the kids would be significantly less likely to offend I the future)? ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750/65 "2010-02-06T07:15:53Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > You don’t believe that juvenile delinquents tend to age out of delinquent behavior? Because the evidence is pretty much irrefutable. Or they escalate into worse crimes because their actions never have consequences. > [@](#): > > Would pressing charges lead to a better result for the kids (better quality of life both now and as adults) and/or a better life for everybody else (in that the kids would be significantly less likely to offend I the future)? I don’t give a fuck about the criminal’s quality of life. If you don’t want to be treated like a criminal, don’t commit crimes like mugging people. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750/66 "2010-02-06T07:16:22Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > You don’t believe that juvenile delinquents tend to age out of delinquent behavior? Because the evidence is pretty much irrefutable. It was more the ‘kids will be kids’ part. Youth is no excuse for criminal behavior. > [@](#): > > Would pressing charges lead to a better result for the kids (better quality of life both now and as adults) and/or a better life for everybody else (in that the kids would be significantly less likely to offend I the future)? I haven’t done a lot of research on the topic since it’s not one that I have cause to think about often. For the most part, I am of the opinion that criminals should be prosecuted. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750/67 "2010-02-06T08:19:30Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > I’ve got a call in with the district it occurred in to have the attending officer call me back. At this time it doesn’t look like there’s any recourse, but I want to beat the horse one last time. It sounds like if you say you’re not pressing charges at the time of the incident, you can’t go back. Which sucks. 30 minutes into the event with 30 seconds to evaluate and make a decision doesn’t give a guy a whole lotta time to weigh the options. > > It occurs to me that when I talked to the perp, he had a bloody nose. The consensus around the office is that he probably got a good cop tackle out of it. > > At this point, I can hope to aid in the correction of a kid…or be happy I’ve retained my anonymity. I suspect the latter is what’s going to happen. c’est la vie. > > And I hope there isn’t a next time…but next time, I will press charges. I don’t believe that this is the case. I have never heard of a 24 or 48-hour deadline on pressing charges. It’s probably just a hassle for them and they don’t want to go back and find the witnesses, etc. You have every right to press charges. Don’t let them persuade you not to just for their convenience. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750/68 "2010-02-06T08:44:58Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > Anyway, finding research that \*directly \*backs up my \*specific \*claim is difficult (at least for those of us unwilling to shell out for a jstor subscription). But do you have any evidence that I’m incorrect, direct or otherwise? Do you really believe that there’s a large difference in adult crime rates between those who, as juvenile offenders, either were or were not arrested? You’ve given me a lot to think about. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750/69 "2010-02-06T14:21:56Z")
The documenting officer has not returned my calls. Since I have connections with state government, I’m working on getting in touch with someone at RTD to see if we cannot reduce (at least temporarily) the opportunity of this crime of opportunity. I propose posting the following: > [@](#): > > BE AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS > > Approx 3:30pm, February 4th, my phone was taken from my hands while riding this train. RTD and Denver police did a GREAT job in returning my property. I declined to press charges. > > YOU NEED TO KNOW > > There were between 3 and 5 kids, aged 14-17, dressed alike, and stationed at the top of the steps of the train. Their goal is to snatch an item, scatter, and confuse witnesses so that a positive I.D. cannot be made. > > THEY NEED TO KNOW > > A great many phones cost more than $500 to replace out of contract. Anything above $500 is considered grand theft, in which case the charges are significantly more serious. > > LASTLY > > They have already done this once. IF it happens to you, PRESS CHARGES. If it happens again, they obviously did not take my advice to do the right thing. I’ll let you know if it amounts to anything. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750/70 "2010-02-06T14:32:27Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > It sounds like if you say you’re not pressing charges at the time of the incident, you can’t go back. Which sucks. 30 minutes into the event with 30 seconds to evaluate and make a decision doesn’t give a guy a whole lotta time to weigh the options. I certainly hope this is not true. What happens if you go to the doctor and it turns out that you broke a bone in your hand and didn’t realize it? Information you didn’t have at the time certainly could be a factor in your decision, and then they tell you TFB? That’s not right. ---
**Author:** ![flyboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4da419/32.png) [@flyboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flyboy)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750/71 "2010-02-06T16:14:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > This is the reason we have police. We live in a society of laws. Now, maybe these kids deserve a break, being young and all, but that’s the reason we have courts and judges. Your role here, as a member of society, is to press charges. It’s now the job of the police, the courts, and the juvenile detention system to sit down and have a talk with these kids, and whatever else is necessary. > > In other words, of course you should press charges. Why shouldn’t you? This, except for the “maybe the kids deserve a break” part. Thieves and muggers deserve incarceration, no matter their age, no matter their particular circumstances. It’s your responsibility to start that ball rolling. Letting them off enables them and hurts society. You were 100% wrong in not pressing charges, and are now IMO somewhat morally complicit in any further crimes they commit. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750/72 "2010-02-06T16:19:46Z")
I don’t buy that. It’s a nice soundbite, and it’s a good way to make someone feel guilty and second guess their situation. It’s one thing to say it from the comfort of a screen in the safety of the house, It’s quite another to be standing there, out of breath, shaking off the adrenalin. As far as being complicit in any future crimes they may commit. Bullshit. Someone geared to break the law will continue to break the law. Short of chaining them to a wall, there’s not a lot you can do about it. I _can_ _slightly_ raise awareness to the situation in the hopes other folks don’t give them the opportunity. Will I press charges next time? Probably. Will I second guess my decisions of the previous week? Nope. I made the best decision I could with the information at hand. ---
**Author:** ![flyboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4da419/32.png) [@flyboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flyboy)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750/73 "2010-02-06T17:03:23Z")
> [@FallenAngel](#): > > if you don’t press charges if they’re caught, you’re just as responsible as they are the next time when they do it to someone else. I’m not as harsh as **FallenAngel,** at least. I’m just saying you’re only somewhat complicit, since IMO it’s your responsibility as a member of society to press charges. You owe that to the rest of us, especially to those who have been in your shoes and elected to press charges instead of turning their back. We in turn owe you and the rest of society the same service. The offenders are entirely responsible for their actions if they proceed to commit crimes. However, you’re somewhat responsible for putting them in a position where they can do just that. Yes, it’s easy for me to say that here in the comfort of my home, but it’s something I deeply believe, and I guaranfuckingtee I’ll be just like **Enderw24** if something like this ever happens to me. I’m not trying to say you’re a dirtbag like those teens, but I am saying you made a choice antithetical to the best interests of society. Sorry if I sound harsh. But your “probably” and “I made the best decision” lines make me think your decisions are made more out of selfishness, fear, and laziness than out of a desire to benefit society and punish the guilty. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750/74 "2010-02-06T17:11:09Z")
Oh no doubt I was selfish about it…my overriding concern was: “I don’t want these kids, or their gangmates to discover where my wife and young boys live.” I’ll completely and totally cop to THAT admission. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750/75 "2010-02-06T20:08:46Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I don’t give a fuck about the criminal’s quality of life. You should. We’re none of us angels, and if the threshold for being cut off from our empathy is the theft of a cell phone as a minor, then there aren’t going to be many people left for us to care about. Or you could look at it in a more concrete way: a kid whose life is fucked up and unhappy is going to have a negative effect (one way or another) on the community at large, so, _all else being equal_, you should hope for him to be well (even if he is a little shit). ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750/76 "2010-02-06T20:18:00Z")
> [@flyboy](#): > > This, except for the “maybe the kids deserve a break” part. Thieves and muggers deserve incarceration, no matter their age, no matter their particular circumstances. It’s your responsibility to start that ball rolling. Letting them off enables them and hurts society. You were 100% wrong in not pressing charges, and are now IMO somewhat morally complicit in any further crimes they commit. But then he would also be morally culpable for any and all plausibly foreseeable bad consequences that arose from pressing charges; it’s not as simple as you suggest here unless you’re more confident in the virtues of arrest than (IMO) the evidence warrants. ---
**Author:** ![Pray\_for\_peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pray\_for\_peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pray_for_peace)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750/77 "2010-02-06T20:28:24Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > You should. We’re none of us angels, and if the threshold for being cut off from our empathy is the theft of a cell phone as a minor, then there aren’t going to be many people left for us to care about. > > Or you could look at it in a more concrete way: a kid whose life is fucked up and unhappy is going to have a negative effect (one way or another) on the community at large, so, _all else being equal_, you should hope for him to be well (even if he is a little shit). This wasn’t a $50 cell phone; the phone at issue cost more than $500, and the thief or thieves most likely knew that. It’s not like the item stolen was new to the marketplace and therefore unfamiliar to them. There should be some consequences that are in proportion to the seriousness of the crime, and appropriate for a juvenile offender. ---
**Author:** ![flyboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4da419/32.png) [@flyboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flyboy)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750/78 "2010-02-06T20:41:40Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > But then he would also be morally culpable for any and all plausibly foreseeable bad consequences that arose from pressing charges; Where do you get that? Once he presses charges, he acts in a manner that contributes to society. After that, the system takes the offender and does what it will. Any bad things arising from what that system does or does not do is the system’s problem, and society will somehow have to work to change the system. The individual pressing charges has no culpability for that, and no responsibility to individually (without the collective effort of that society) try to address that fault in the system. Just because he incurs culpability by not acting, does not mean he must incur culpability by acting. It seems very simple to me, but I certainly may be missing something–I’m not the brightest bulb in the box. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750/79 "2010-02-06T21:35:39Z")
> [@](#): > > IF it happens to you, PRESS CHARGES. This is excellent advice. It applies to you, too. I don’t see them retaliating for a stolen cell phone. And I have a hard time seeing you counsel others to do what you don’t do. I really hope you reconsider pressing charges. I do not believe that if you didn’t press charges that day, you lose your chance. It seems as though either they are bullshitting you, or you are not pushing the matter because of uncertainty on your part. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750/80 "2010-02-06T22:40:49Z")
> [@flyboy](#): > > Once he presses charges, he acts in a manner that contributes to society. It’s the obviousness of this statement that I’m contesting. He would be \*engaging \*society by pressing charges, but that hardly guarantees that society (or the OP, or the kids) would be better off in the long run for his decision. > [@](#): > > After that, the system takes the offender and does what it will. Any bad things arising from what that system does or does not do is the system’s problem, and society will somehow have to work to change the system. You absolutely can not have this both ways. Either we’re responsible for the foreseeable (though indirect and unintended) consequences of our actions, or we’re not. If any bad consequences that arise from pressing charges are merely “the system’s problem,” then any bad consequences that arise from \*not \*pressing charges are merely “the kids’ problem.” And while it’s not unreasonable to say we’d bear some responsibility for the future crimes committed by those against whom we declined to press charges, that statement is only accurate if, and to the extent that, pressing charges would make them less likely to commit crimes going forward (and then that must be weighed against the potential harm to the offenders, the monetary cost of processing them, etc.). In my non-expert opinion, people in this thread are displaying too much confidence in the ability of an arrest to straighten kids out. > [@](#): > > Just because he incurs culpability by not acting, does not mean he must incur culpability by acting. Choosing not to act is itself an act. You can absolve yourself of responsibility for the consequences of your choices neither by delegation nor by apparent inaction; man is condemned to be free. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dumb-stupid-kids-doing-dumb-stupid-things-police/527750.md?page=5)