I find myself expelled from school with four weeks before graduation for throwing a pair eggs at a wall.
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You know stories like this make me think about the experiences I and others I know have had with our wonderful legal system. Just a year ago I was accused of things I didn't do and had a restraining order placed on me. A friend of mine has been arrested twice in the past 6 months when he tried to brake up with a girl, and she got angry, and filed false reports claiming he threatened her. What makes this guys story a little more personal is that a close aquaintance of mine had pretty much the same thing happen to her in High school.
In that case she was suspended from school, coerced into a confession by the police (they told her if she signed it she could go home), and spent 5 days in the county jail because of that all because one of her teachers said she knew she had to have done it because of the way she dressed and the people she hung out with. Even after that teacher failed to answer a subpoena twice, the confession had been thrown out, and the police had no further evidence, the judge refused to dismiss the case. At the reccomendation of her lawer, she was pretty much forced to accept a plea deal that got her ROI'd as a minor because of a couple things. First of all the Columbine massecure had happened relatively recently and she probably wouldn't have had a very good chance had it gone to trial. Secondly the school system, and the prosecutors office were doing everything they could trying to make an example out of her. They didn't care if she was guilty or not, they were going to make it look like they had accomplished something.
What I'm getting at here is that the concept of "Innocent until proven guilty" no longer exists. Now you're considered guilty until you're proven innocent. In some cases it makes sense, but in others people go too far. For those of you who think taking away other people's liberties to save a life is worth it, wait until you're put in that situation, and then think of those who have driven to suicide when their lives fell apart when they were falsely accused of something. The friend of mine who was arrested twice could have been one of those who's blood belongs on your hands.
Assuming this kid is innocent, his whole life could be torn apart by this experience. To all of those judges, educators, and procsecutors who are polically motivated and trying to make examples of people, shame on you. In doing so you're shredding what faith, if any, people still have in our legal system. To those who support laws that allow mere accusations to brand a person as guilty until he/she can prove him/herself innocent, think of those they hurt. While you may believe that an innocent person sitting in jail for a couple days is a fair price to pay to save a life, you fail to consider the fact that you're sentencing that innocent person to much more than a couple days in jail. Just to start with that innocent person could lose his job, and possibly his family. From there the consequences of that few days in jail can continue to cascade completely ruining and potentially ending the lives of innocent people.
But I guess If someone you know has been hurt by something, it's fair to punish everyone else because you're hurt. Now I'm being sarcastic.
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