How would Massachusetts judges handle this one?

[Sir_Galahad]

I have seen and read news reports of the judges here releasing child molesters only to have them commit new crimes. So, I would like to know how they would handle this.

http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0408/508308.html

[earendel]

I have seen and read news reports of the judges here releasing child molesters only to have them commit new crimes. So, I would like to know how they would handle this.

http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0408/508308.html

Interestingly, msnbc.com had this article, with the headline "Experts dubious about 3rd-graders' plot"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23905909/

[gsabc]

Been reading about this. As with all cases, it would depend on the judge and how solid the evidence is. And it's not just MA judges. There is currently a judge in NH who has been letting guys with long histories of domestic violence go on personal recognizance or very low bails, after they've repeated the offence. In one case, he even said his decision was based on "intuition".

To the "entertainment" powers-that-be: Tell me again how the realistically portrayed violence in your video games, in your movies and on your television shows isn't influencing kids.

[Sir_Galahad]

I have seen and read news reports of the judges here releasing child molesters only to have them commit new crimes. So, I would like to know how they would handle this.

http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0408/508308.html

Interestingly, msnbc.com had this article, with the headline "Experts dubious about 3rd-graders' plot"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23905909/

I am unsure as to who I would be more wary of: the students or the liberal-minded folks who provided the fodder for this report.

[Bob Juch]

The experts obviously haven't seen Children of the Corn.

[VAdame]

The experts obviously haven't seen Children of the Corn.

Or Home Alone, or Matilda, or countless episodes of Scooby Doo........or read any Little Orphan Annie stories or the adventures of Huck Finn & Tom Sawyer......

Seriously! Bright, plucky kids getting the better of evil and/or simply clueless adults has been a theme of children's stories since, well, there have been children & stories! Not to say this particular teacher is "evil" or even clueless -- I don't know her well enough to judge that

One thing they weren't mature enough to understand: if you let too many people in on a "secret plan" -- it won't stay a secret for long! But then, plenty of adults haven't learned that yet either.

[Estonut]

To the "entertainment" powers-that-be: Tell me again how the realistically portrayed violence in your video games, in your movies and on your television shows isn't influencing kids.

Interesting ... I didn't see a single word in either article describing anything that had influenced these particular kids.

[VAdame]

To the "entertainment" powers-that-be: Tell me again how the realistically portrayed violence in your video games, in your movies and on your television shows isn't influencing kids.

Interesting ... I didn't see a single word in either article describing anything that had influenced these particular kids.

Historical/Biblical/Fantasy violence works too -- and also has the theme of children overcoming the oppressive/evil adult.

David and Goliath
Hansel & Gretel (cooked the witch in her own oven)
Snow White (Wicked Queen chased off the cliff)

etc., etc., etc......

Ever seen Heavenly Creatures, or heard of the Parker/Hulme murders? Juliet Hulme & Pauline Parker never played a video game in their lives (in 1954 New Zealand, was there even television?) Their influence, if any, was fairy tales. One thing that struck me about that story, or at least the film version, was the contrast between the exciting fantasy of planning a murder and the absolute horror of actually committing it.

I'm trying to think back to when I was that age; how much I could distinguish "pretend" from "real." I recall once around age 7 or 8 we were watching a Dick Tracy cartoon -- my Mom came in and turned it off because she didn't like us watching "all that shooting and killing"! Now, Mom.....I don't think anyone was ever actually "killed" on Dick Tracy! (Looking back, if anything it was kinda racist/ethnic stereotyped, with a Mexican deputy named Go-Go Gomez and a Japanese martial arts guy called Joe Jitsu -- but graphic violence, no....) Our parents had no problem with us seeing the nightly news -- with "all that shooting and killing" in Viet Nam. And I certainly knew without a doubt that that particular violence was "real" as opposed to Dick Tracy being "pretend." And they had no problem letting us be educated by Nuns who took great delight in telling us little Catholic kids exactly what horrors the Romans inflicted on the early Christian Martyrs -- and, um....that was undoubtedly "real," too.