Criminalizing Kids
`An undercover officer saw Ansche eat the one fry and quickly placed her under arrest. The twelve-year-old girl was searched and her jacket, backpack, and shoelaces were confiscated. Her hands were cuffed behind her back and she was put into a paddy wagon and driven to the Juvenile Processing Center. Three hours after the arrest, Ansche was finally released into the custody of her mother. [..]
A 12-year-old with hyperactivity disorder told students ahead of him in the lunch line to leave some potatoes, or “I’m going to get you.” The principal called the police and the Louisiana boy was arrested for making a terrorist threat. He spent two weeks in jail awaiting a hearing. [..]
An 11-year-old girl was arrested after asking her teacher for permission to use a smooth-edged steak knife that she had brought from home to cut a piece of chicken that she was eating for lunch. [..]
Eight-year-old Hamadi Alston found an L-shaped piece of paper in a school book. While playing “cops and robbers” with his friends during recess, Hamadi used the paper as a pretend gun, exclaiming “Pow, pow!” At the conclusion of recess, Hamadi was taken to the school office and interrogated to tears. Hamadi was arrested by the Irvington, New Jersey, Police Department for “threatening to kill other students” with his paper pistol. He spent almost five hours in police custody and was required to make two court appearances before charges were finally dropped.’
