do you think they should get probation for it or is the mom right in they learned their lesson?
The article said the child was 8 months old, not 4 years old. Which strikes me as worse, though I’m not sure I can articulate why.
The charges seem like overkill. Teenagers are not renowned for impulse control or for thinking about consequences. I think that a good stiff talk from the Prosecutor’s office would suffice.
A four year old might actually regard it as a joke or a game, depending on the lead-in.
An eight month old would just be frightened.
Even worse, the baby was only eight months old. Yeah, I think the charges were appropriate. The baby was never in any serious danger, but was extremely frightened. The girls were very irresponsible, and they had only watched the baby for a few minutes. They’ll probably get probation, and the mother says they’ll never babysit for her again. And they’ll learn never to do anything like that again.
But on the other hand, if a 4 year old wasn’t on board and was forced or tricked into it, he’d probably be a lot more terrified. Regardless, it was a horrible thing for the babysitters to do.
Here’s the real test: Are these kids criminals, likely to re-offend? Deal with them according to that.
In other words, use some common sense, instead of using prison as the resolution of first resort. every time somebody has an oh-my moment.
Even at discounted rates?
Ban them from all social media and cell phone use for a year. Make it a term of their probation.
It will cause no real harm to the teens, but will get their attention.
Yeah, bringing actual charges are overkill. It was a really, really stupid thing to do, but it would not have actually put the baby in a lot of real risk. I think having the police and a prosecutor talk to the teens would have been enough.
However, since the teens are likely to be charged in juvenile court, this won’t be a permanent mark against them.
Wasn’t the baby in there for, like, 3 seconds? It’s harmless, just in bad taste. It’s a fridge, not a furnace. Getting the law involved is ridiculous.
nm
Maybe I’ve been watching too many videos of Nazis yelling but that video wasn’t even a tiny bit upsetting. In the video put the baby in a fridge and then take it out. AFAICT no damage to the baby occurred nor was there any real possibility of that. It’s very WTF inducing but charging them with any crime is ridiculous. Charging them with “child endangerment and assault and battery by means of a deadly weapon” is beyond ludicrous.
I think getting the law involved is appropriate. I don’t think the charges are, but scaring them a bit seems appropriate. It’s just that stupid of a thing to do. The shelves aren’t designed to hold children and could break.
Scare them so they don’t try to do something stupid like this again. That seems enough. But, to scare them, you need to tell them all the charges they could be charged for.
It’s similar to when a cop scared my sister when she drove the car out of the parking lot before she had her drivers license. He covered all the things he could have charged her with, but ultimately didn’t charge her. Makes sense to me, even if I did think the cop was a bit of a dick otherwise.
I’m sure they were watching the baby for free, since it was just for a few minutes while the mom was taking a shower. I don’t think you can go much cheaper than that.
Concerts and movies cost money. If you are going to use a baby for entertainment, you should at least pay for it. 