Juvenile Defenders: Part of the Solution (June 17, 2015)
Austine Long
Years ago when my son was in the first grade, he took a 3 inch plastic toy knife to school. I received an alarming phone call from the principal. She explained that he took the knife out of his book bag to show it to his classmates. He did not make any threatening statements or attempt to use it in a threatening manner. The principal said that even though the school had a zero tolerance policy, there would be no disciplinary action taken because of my son’s age. She also considered that he had no prior incidents or behavior issues and did not have any violent intentions when he showed his classmates the knife. Today, my son would likely have a different experience.