Zero Tolerance

Schools across the state of Georgia are facing an increase in threats of violence. It has led schools to step up security. Each and every threat must be taken seriously. Some of these threats turn out to be real, so officials have beefed up security everywhere, including for example, Fulton County Schools implementing license plate readers on all of its campuses.

But,what if a threat is simply a result of a prank? What charges could result from calling in a threat that is not real? Criminal defense attorney Meg Strickler recently commented on NBC 11 Alive News about this very issue. Calling in a threat to a school can be very disruptive and it will always involve law enforcement. Teens can thus face charges ranging from misdemeanor to federal charges. And, the school can also suspend or expel a student for this conduct.

It is a complex situation especially in these times.

Zero Tolerance: A grand jury on Monday declined to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of 18 year old Michael Brown. It took months for the grand jury to contemplate this decision. It took St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch too long to actually announce the decision. It seemed clear that there would be no indictment since the grand jury took way too long to make their decision.

So, now there will be no state charges against the officer. And, if a grand jury cannot indict, any type of civil suit will fail as well. So, what does that leave as a recourse in this particular case? The Department of Justice? Will they intervene? That did work for the Rodney King case, but there are many examples where it did not.

So, where do we go from here?

Articles Posted in Zero Tolerance

School Threats Resulting in Criminal Charges

Ferguson and Zero Tolerance