High School Senior Faces Felony Charges Over Prank???

[Palehorse]

http://www.wthr.com/story/14828400/rushville-teen-facing-felony-charges-over-prank

Typical knee jerk reaction of today's society or acceptable???

. . .Morton was arrested Tuesday after school surveillance cameras captured a picture of a man dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and wearing latex gloves, concealing a package and leaving without it. Believing it contained explosives, the school was evacuated and the Indiana State Police bomb squad was called in. It turns out that the package contained a blow-up doll placed in the girls' restroom. Police say that Morton admitted putting it there as a prank. . . Facing up to eight years in prison if convicted, Morton will also miss his high school graduation and isn't allowed on school property. . . Morton, who has never been in trouble with the law is now wondering how a prank went wrong. His bond has been set at $30,000.

[me]

A little of both but not entirely a knee jerk reaction considering the things that have been going on in schools and elsewhere lately.  I do think the punishment is a little harsh considering he had never been in trouble before but his judgment was definitely faulty to do something like that. 

[Palehorse]

A little of both but not entirely a knee jerk reaction considering the things that have been going on in schools and elsewhere lately.  I do think the punishment is a little harsh considering he had never been in trouble before but his judgment was definitely faulty to do something like that.

Here is a kid, with his entire future in front of him, and with a history that is blemish free, (NO legal record according to all sources), who is having that future ruined by what the overwhelming majority of us would have very likely done ourselves, (and perhaps have, or worse), during our own senior year in high school. . . How is that right? ? ? How do we validate that happening????

If I had to "re-do" my own senior year in present society, I'd be serving life in prison for the pranks I participated in !!!!!! 

Hell, smoke bombing the women's head (as we did dozens of times) would have got us 15 to 25 years by this standard!

[Anne]

It is a different world than what we grew up in and not, imo, particularly a better one. I hope the boy gets off with a lecture and community service or something like that.

[The Troll]

It is a different world than what we grew up in and not, imo, particularly a better one. I hope the boy gets off with a lecture and community service or something like that.

  See what I have said about a Police State.  Too much power and no common sense and what is so bad the damn cops and the school administration just doesn't give a damn as long as they have their ass covered.

  If there was a trail I sure would want to be one it.  The kid would walk.  I guess if your got a badge and a master degree in education you can throw common sense away.   

[Henry Hawk]

I don't think this kid should be doing jail time, but what he did was stupid, to this day and times measures.....the cops did what they HAD to do....the kid's parents should be accountable, and IF anything, they should be accountable for the cost of having the school evacuated and checked.

What the hell did the kid think?  HOW, is this a funny prank?...

Now, smoke bombing the girls restroom....THAT is funny stuff...

[Palehorse]

I don't think this kid should be doing jail time, but what he did was stupid, to this day and times measures.....the cops did what they HAD to do....the kid's parents should be accountable, and IF anything, they should be accountable for the cost of having the school evacuated and checked.

What the hell did the kid think?  HOW, is this a funny prank?...

Now, smoke bombing the girls restroom....THAT is funny stuff...

By today's "standards", the use of a smoke-bomb would equate to an attempt to blow up a public facility, attempted mass-murder, illegal use and possession of an explosive device, and very likely a host of other charges. I would have been tried and convicted based upon reactionary application of local, state, and federal laws; just as this kid is having done to him. And I dare say the majority of the male members reading this would be just as guilty of similar.

We are allowing NO room for youthful exuberance within the development of our children. At a time in their lives when hormones are more plentiful and forceful than critical reasoning or common sense, we are by and large dooming them to the lower class within our social structure. And we wonder why our incarceration facilities are filled to 200%+ of designed capacity????

EVERYTHING is a felony these days too; from your dog biting the neighbor kid who was poking him in the eyes with a sharp stick, to high school pranks that used to be considered a "right of passage". . . And anyone who has happened to have to search for a job these days, or has been in a position of being a decision maker within the hiring process knows, you have a felony conviction listed on your background check, your are automatically excluded from eligibility surrounding any job that is worth having. . . Period. . .

Imagine being a kid who went to school, did the work, passed, and managed to stay out of trouble the whole time, being doomed to such a fate over a right of passage. . . That is so jacked up!!!!!! 

[Anne]

The laws don't leave enough leeway with the no tolerance standards for everything. Judges don't want to be seen as soft on crime.

[Palehorse]

The laws don't leave enough leeway with the no tolerance standards for everything. Judges don't want to be seen as soft on crime.

I wonder how they feel about being seen as child abusers? (Including the school administration and prosecutors) 

Last one out turn out the lights. Common sense has left the building. . .

[Y]

The things I can't believe are:

1)  That this kid has watched enough news, cop, and crime scene programs to know enough to hide his face from security cameras and wear gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints and yet didn't have a clue that the package he left would be suspected as some sort of dangerous device?

2)  That he disguised himself thinking there weren't any security cameras and that his actions weren't going to be discovered?

The kid isn't innocent here, and if nothing else he needs punished for terminal stupidity in thinking he was far cleverer than he was.  I'm not so certain he didn't realize that school would evacuated for what he did - and if so, that's a bomb scare and no 'prank'.

All that being said, our laws are out of hand.  I suspect the reason for that being twofold, 1) it creates a revenue stream and jobs; 2) far too many stupid, insecure, and scared busybodies vote control freak authoritarians into office.