I’m not certain the school need call the cops in this specific case. (Apologies if this is inconsistent with anything I wrote earlier. Consistency is over-rated! ;))
But I think it certainly IS up to the school to make a studied judgment of whether or not to call the cops. The school has specific duty of care with respect to the persons in their care. Parents are legally required to send their children (tho not 18 year-olds) to school. In return, the school owes the parents that they are keeping the kids in a crime -free environment (or at least as much so as reasonably possible).
Sure there is a continuum - and I don’t know where this incident fits on the spectrum. Cops need not be involved in every schoolyard tussle that might fit the legal definition of assault. But the administration may wish to involve authorities should one of the participants be injured - or any other aggravating factors.
Another reason they may wish to be over-reactive in involving authorities is self protection. They don’t want to be in a situation where handling things internally allows a future charge of tolerating a pattern of behavior. Say this same kid - or another - pantses another girl next week. How the school dealt with the first incident may affect whether they can be accused with “creating an environment” where this type of thing was tolerated. So the school may wish to contact authorities to cover their ass.
Final thought - some actions are dealt with more harshly if they take place at or near schools. Drug or weapons offenses come to mind. The punishment for selling drugs in a schoolyard is higher than on the street. Schools are intended to be safer environments than the rest of the world. So the pantser might well face less severe punishment if he had pantsed her at the park (or - heaven forbid -
the mall!)
Kinda relevant anecdote: I remember several years back I was in a federal district court. The case before mine involved some poor schmuck who was charged with something minor like a traffic or alcohol possession offense. I was thinking, “What the hell is this doing in federal court?” Answer - the dummy chose to commit his misdemeanor in a federal park.
That was my point. We’ve seen increasing criminalization of things that were once just considered pranks, but pulling down a girls pants was never considered a prank, at any age and in any time.
WHAT! Do you mean to tell me an 18-year-old boy sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl right in the middle of school? Hope they lock that pervert up and throw away the key. Let him know what it feels like to be sexually assaulted in rape-me-in-the-ass prison. She’ll be going to bi-weekly intensive therapy sessions for the rest of her life and he will henceforth be known as “Cupcake”.
Actually, no. He pantsed her. She’ll live a full life without the debilitating, agonizing flashbacks to the day she got pantsed in school. Hell, a month from now I doubt she’ll give it much thought at all. Project much, people?
Everyone’s so fucking knee-jerky when it comes to teens and anything remotely sexual, which this wasn’t, by the way. I remember my buddies and I stealing bras from the girls’ locker room in high school. Or one of my lacrosse teammates pulling down his pants and sitting his sweaty post-practice balls and asshole on my gear bag. This is the shit teenagers do… don’t be so damn sensitive.
Sorry if the language was a bit much for outside the Pit, but the oversensitivity just really grates my nerves.
If we are projecting, it is perhaps because these ‘antics’ similar to yours are something that we DO flashback to and DO give thought to far past the month you are suggesting. And perhaps our projections are evidence that your assumptions are not sound about how damaging this might be.
This is not a case of sexual assault and I’d be willing to bet that a kid in grade school would not be suspended or expelled.
We put beer in kegs…is it Friday yet?
The point is that it’s the schools responsibility to make that distinction. Why should they bother the police if they don’t think the offense rises to that level? After all, an administrator witnessed the event so they have a reliable account of the incident.
I think you’re leaving out the most likely case here, and that is that he didn’t think about it at all. The teenage brain is known to act on impulse and I’m pretty sure there are brain studies out there that show this. It’s not that he doesn’t see anything wrong with it, but just did something stupid without thinking about the consequences. If this was a first time offense that falls under the umbrella of “I done a stupid thing” then he deserves the punishment from the school. If this is a repeat offense or he’s harassed girls in the past, then I agree that it should be escalated.
I would bet that such a kid would be suspended, at the very least. If not, then he should be.
That’s all irrelevant though, since we’re not talking about elementary school students. We are talking about an 18-year-old adult here, someone who should know better.
The school is not trained in criminal law. Members of the justice system are. I’m not sure why the school should make the distiction or not - and if I were the girl’s parents, I’d insist that that decision be made by legal authorities.
Parent of a current elementary school student here. The schools, or at least our particular public school district, take inappropriate behavior involving clothing removal/displaying genitals/whatever, very seriously. If a child were to pull down another child’s pants, I would fully expect that child to be removed from school for at least a day. Whether the behavior has a cutesy name or not.
So what. The school has a code of conduct in place that outlines the punishments for various infractions, and includes provisions for calling the police in certain circumstances. Apparently we as a society accept that schools are able to handle certain infractions internally, even if an incident might be technically against the law. No one is saying that the kid’s parents can’t push this further.
I think the school has a responsibility to push it further. If it were my daughter, I would insist on it - but I would expect the school to do it without me needing to push for it.
I don’t understand. If he walked up to a girl on a public street, a park, or a shopping mall and pulled her pants down, the police would be called instantly and he’d be facing criminal prosecution.
Why go easy on him because it was at school instead of somewhere else?
Do have any idea how expensive those things are?
Seriously though, some of the comments here are making me sick. I’m not saying she’s going to need a lifetime of therapy, but this isn’t an “oh hey, it’s just a prank!” I’d’ve been humiliated if this had happened to me then. Not therapy-needing humiliated, but hello, excluded middle here people? It’s not a choice between “OH MY GOD, TRAUMA!!!” and “Meh, no big deal.”
What if the girl and her parents DON’T WANT to involve the police without at least being notified or knowing what the school’s punishment will be first? Why continue to completely ignore the likely possibility that schools are prepared to deal with this sort of thing on a case by case basis?
No one is going easy on anyone. The kid got a multiple-day in school suspension, and the school or kid’s parents had the option to (and may still) involve the police. If anything, doing it at school can result in a worse punishment. Or should schools not punish kids at all and just call the police every time there is a shoving match in the hall?
What about stealing? If a kid gets caught trying to steal a calculator from another kid’s locker (property is recovered), should the police be called just because that’s what would happen if the kid got caught stealing at the mall?
Sounds like this rises above the level of a harmless prank, and there ought to be some consequences. But sexual assault - a violent felony? Come on. That’s the kind of zero-tolerance brainlessness that leads to kids being suspended for having aspirin without a doctor’s note. One kid pantsing another kid at school is not the same as a middle-aged weirdo stranger feeling up a six-year-old and it ought not be punished as if it were.
The information upon which all of this turns in how the girl felt about it. If she felt unharmed, if it were a mutually funny joke between buddies, I bet it wouldn’t go further than whatever punishment the school meted out, I’m guessing a few days’ suspension to make an example out of the kid and deter future pantsing. If the girl really were upset, humiliated, or traumatized, and her parents complained or threatened suit, then I think things would escalate. As they should, because despite people’s snide comments to the contrary, I can easily imagine that being stripped down to your panties in public, against your will, in front of peer and teacher, might be very upsetting. Then it goes from being a joke to bullying in a very degrading way.
Aside from that, I agree with Justin_Bailey, it’s up to parents to call the police. If my daughter were hurt by a situation like that, I would definitely take it to the next level. OTOH, if she sincerely seemed to laugh it off, I’d drop it if I felt sure she was OK and that the school addressed it. That’s my POV on it.
Also, if someone stole my bra? I’d kill. Those bastards cost major $$$.
Nobody is caused any harm by a student having asprin without a doctor’s note, and that’s why zero-tolerance policies are stupid. If someone removes another student’s clothing without their permission (or are stealing other student’s property), they are deliberately causing harm to other people, and I have no sympathy for them, no matter what punishment they face.
I am not suggesting that pantsing be tolerated, just saying that the punishment should fit the crime. Others have suggested pantsing is sexual assault, full stop. That is exactly the mentality that leads to zero-tolerance policies.
Another perfect example of a total lack of moral discernment. Pantsing = prison rape.
What if your son was the perpetrator? Would you be in the courtroom demanding the judge throw the book at him?
As pointed out by someone else in this thread, if he pantsed someone in a public area where a school administrator wasn’t around watching everyone, it’s likely the girl would have pulled her pants back up before anyone noticed.
And again, at that point it would have been up to her to call the police.
