Schools Arresting and Charging Children as Young as Six? What about rights?

There are some stories that make me yell out in frustration. Frustration at the lack of respect for the nature of a child. Frustration at growing militarization and criminalization of behavior. Frustration at the abuse of children and adolescents by the society who is supposed to protect them.

My own, very direct, work with adolescents makes the recent Guardian UK story, “The US schools with their own police” that much more frustrating. The subtitle tells you the angle of the story, “More and more US schools have police patrolling the corridors. Pupils are being arrested for throwing paper planes and failing to pick up crumbs from the canteen floor. Why is the state criminalising normal childhood behaviour?” and it is very well done. My question is: How did it become socially acceptable for an adult cause a uniformed and armed police man to arrest and charge a young child with disorderly conduct.

“several districts ticketed a six-year-old at least once in the last five years”.

I have so many questions about the violation of children’s rights in these cases… legal friends? rights/ethics/philosophy friends? help?

• A child is, by law, not allowed to earn wages. By fining them with a monetary charge, you are requiring them to procure funds that are illegal for them to trade for. Did I miss something?
• Compulsory education laws in Texas require attendance until the age of 16, the law requires these children to be in these environment, or risk legal charges brought against them. The parents and children have no recourse for the charges. They are not part of the conversation that determines what the punishable offenses are, nor are they authorized to petition once the charges have been made. Isn’t this lack of representation a problem? The school board is an elected body (mostly), but they do not make the rules for offenses in the schools, I believe those are decided upon by the principles and superintendents, who are appointed, not elected. Legal friends, can you help me understand this?

I have written about the tragedy of zero-tolerance before and I encourage you to read this Guardian article in its entirety. Then ask yourself:

What are we teaching these children? What norms are we acculturating them to? What society are we preparing them for?

P.S. Here is an response to the article discussing the possible profit motive for these actions. It is useful to ask what the incentives for these kinds of decisions might be.

Texas Schools Have Police Arresting Kids-The Young Turks