Experts doubt 3rd-graders would have attacked

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Experts doubt 3rd-graders would have attacked

Associated Press
Published on: 04/03/08

Waycross — As authorities try to prosecute three young children accused of plotting to attack their third-grade teacher, criminal and child psychiatry experts said Wednesday it's doubtful students that young intended to seriously hurt anyone and probably wouldn't have executed their plans.

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Waycross police say the third-graders at Center Elementary School brought a broken steak knife, steel handcuffs, duct tape and a crystal paperweight to school after hatching an elaborate plan to knock their teacher unconscious, then restrain and stab her.

Nine children were involved overall, police said, with some of them assigned specific roles such as covering classroom windows and cleaning up any mess.

Police say the children were apparently angry after the teacher disciplined one of the students for standing on a chair.

The district attorney is seeking juvenile charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault against three of the children: an 8-year-old boy and two girls, ages 9 and 10. The girls are also charged with bringing weapons to school.

Experts said children that age are certainly imaginative and capable of creating elaborate games. But Dr. Louis Kraus, a child psychiatry expert, said he doubts they would have actually attacked.

"The reality is it is highly unlikely they would have been successful at this," said Kraus of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. "Even if it had begun, it's unclear whether they actually would have followed through with it."

Most premeditated acts of student violence in schools usually don't occur until high school, Kraus said. Younger children have been known to bring knives or other weapons to school, experts said, but often it's more a matter of showing off or acting tough than part of a deliberate assault attempt.

Most children under the age of 12 don't generally experience the kind of long-standing anger necessary for that kind of premeditation, said Dan Mears, an associate professor at Florida State University's College of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

"Kids tend to be more spontaneous," Mears said. "If they're angry, they act on it right then."

News of the alleged plot spread quickly through this small south Georgia city on the northern edge of the Okefenokee Swamp, where residents are preparing for their annual SwampFest celebration this weekend.

Residents said they were stunned to hear of children planning an attack at one of their own schools.

"They were so young, I just couldn't believe it," said Euleathia Harris, 50, who lives in a public housing complex near the school. "I wouldn't think anything like that would happen in little ol' Waycross. I guess if it can happen in the big cities, it can happen here."

Police Chief Tony Tanner said the plot unraveled when a student reported to school officials Friday that a classmate had a knife in her backpack.

School officials say they punished all nine students, and some received long-term suspension, but they would not be more specific. Under school system rules, children who bring weapons to school may also face expulsion.

Shavette Owens, whose 7 and 8-year-old children attend the school, said she was glad officials had taken action, but was still somewhat shaken.

"Where were my kids at when these kids had all those weapons?" Owens said. "My heart just dropped, I didn't know what to think."

Georgia law prohibits bringing adult criminal charges against children under 13, but places no age limit on children sent to juvenile court.

Juvenile judges hand down sentences that range from writing apology letters to victims, mandated counseling, enrollment in 60-day juvenile boot camps and locking up young offenders in juvenile detention centers.

However, the children accused in Waycross seem far too young to face detention, said Randee Waldman, director of the Barton Juvenile Defender Clinic at Emory University School of Law.

"It would take an extraordinary circumstance for a child under the age of 10 to be detained," Waldman said. "Juvenile court is rehabilitative in nature. It's not designed to be punitive."

Children so young often aren't considered competent to stand trial, Waldman said, because they lack the maturity to understand even the basics of the legal system — such as the roles of the judge, prosecutors and defense attorneys.

They may also be deemed too young to have had criminal intent, she said.

"They need to understand the proceedings, which can be boiled down to the roles of the parties and how the process works," Waldman said. "They need to understand what the implications are for them and they need to be able to assist their lawyer."

Tanner and District Attorney Rick Currie did not immediately return calls seeking comment Wednesday.

———

Associated Press writer Russ Bynum reported from Waycross, Ga. Mike Stobbe reported from Atlanta.

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Comments

By charisse

Apr 16, 2008 12:58 AM | Link to this

Ok, I have been reading about the article and also the blogs that have been going with it. I must say that children are not vicious by nature, but they are a product of their environment. Don't get me wrong, there are the occasional exceptions with some form of mental illness, I kind of agree with one of the writers some what but only to an extent. I do agree that we have to stop labeling our children, and having them sent of to these � specials classes� that are nothing more that glorified babysitters, whose main goal to make the children sit, stay and be quiet.
But I have a 13 yr old child that has been diagnosed as bipolar and autistic. And I know the challenges that these children can face. I researched long and hard before I understood and accepted the diagnosis. I do understand the concept of act like a criminal get treated like a criminal. But what about the child that have some sort of illness. That kind of attitude would virtually ensure that the child would fail and ultimately go down the wrong road, due it would push them over the edge.
And what punishment did the teacher hand out that would cause such hysteria and angry in the students that they would rally together and devise such a plan. Because a child was standing in a chair, that is not a dyer offense. Children are not stupid. They know when they have some that truly cares for them and they know when they have been mistreated. Is there more going on in the class that the students felt was unbearable. Where are the parents in the story and why have they not spoken up?
Did they not see a change in their children? There are to many unanswered questions that need to be answered.

By Once_a_student

Apr 14, 2008 6:02 PM | Link to this

Too many children are being shunted aside into "special" classrooms when they are not retarded or disabled at all. "Behavioral disorders" is too vague to be a diagnosis or to label kids. We are shunting poor kids and kids with difficult home situations into so-called "classes" where they do not learn anything, and where making them sit down and be quiet is the extent of the teaching.

What about this teacher? Has anyone asked the kids why they were so angry? I don't think the focus should be on little kids doing wrong without seriously looking into the way the teacher was conducting the class. I would spend some effort finding this teacher another job doing something else.

By Once_a_student

Apr 14, 2008 5:09 PM | Link to this

By Sweetpea

Apr 4, 2008 1:17 PM | Link to this

If they went so far as to bring the items need for the attack to school, how can it be said they wouldn't have carried out the plan? I hope they all get counciling.

By Cassie

Apr 3, 2008 11:39 PM | Link to this

You shouldn't always blame TV and the parents. Children typically do what they want to regardless of what the parents say anyway. As for such a small punishment it's ridiculous! Come on! If they know enough to clean up after themselves and assign jobs they need to be punished. If they want to play adult they should face the consequences. If this had been a child a few years older everyone would be screaming for punishment. Children are a lot smarter than most people give them credit for and that has the potential to be very dangerous!

By Nick

Apr 3, 2008 7:21 PM | Link to this

Hey in my opinion i dont think the parents should be in any trouble. Because they really didnt do anything wrong, its just that there kids outsmarted them in stealing the supplies an evrything. so they shouldnt get into truble....

By lil wayne's wifey

Apr 3, 2008 4:52 PM | Link to this

i think this is hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!im lmao rite now

By Bea

Apr 3, 2008 2:08 PM | Link to this

Knigt, you're right on the money!

By Knight

Apr 3, 2008 1:58 PM | Link to this

Act like a criminal get treated like a criminal. They all need to see what happens when a crime is committed against another person.
Fingerprint them, mugshot them, spend one night in juvenile detention and see if that hits a note.
May save them from a life of crime.
Every action has a consequence.

Stop with the behavior excuses.....that has no bearing regarding teaching a consequence of an action.

By Knight

Apr 3, 2008 1:58 PM | Link to this

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