The Judge Aged 10 And Other Classroom Bullies
“HERE COMES THE JUDGE, AGED TEN,” announces the Mail on its front page.
Young Jeffries will “deal with tearaways guilty of spraying graffiti, vandalism, anti-social behaviour and under-age drinking”. It’s termed the “peer panel” experiment, and it is a terrific idea.
The one drawback is that the ten-year-old who metes out instant justice is most often called a bully. But the scheme surely hinges upon the notion that the mind is stronger than Gripper’s Chinese Burn when it comes to extracting pocket money with menaces.
Although on further examination, the Mail reveals that the judge is older than the headline 10 years - the so-called “peer advocate” is actually aged 15 and hopes to put on a growth spurt any moment soon. He will not sit in a high chair (surely chair on high) but join all parties in around a “waist-high” (neck-high) circular wooden railing in the centre of the Restorative Justice Centre, Preston.
As reported, the dispenser of justice will have the power to force the villains to repay repatriations to the victim.
But adult voices are being raised. “Children do not have the balance to make a judicial decision,” says John Fassenfelt, of the Magistrates’ Association, that collective of dentists and other balanced individuals in the community.
“Justice is more than mere child’s play,” says the Mail’s comment. Indeed. The very real worry is that given the state of the nation’s youth (see stories like “Killer Kids”, “Death Classroom” and “Guns For Barbie”), the young judiciaries will operate a draconian-style system with instant punishments and summary justice.
And what then would the Mail make of it all?
Posted: 23rd, October 2007 | In: Tabloids Comments (12) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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October 24th, 2007 at 4:59 am
Got it.
Was brining up the pun also a pun?
October 24th, 2007 at 3:07 am
10
No, Bob. I doubt there are tons of those anyway, and lawyers could try to argue about those. I was just brining up the pun and the fact that the real legal courts lean in that direction as well, in case anyone else missed the pun…and it became an entire new discussion. That’s all.
October 24th, 2007 at 2:53 am
Does that mean you’re not going to post the true legal statistics?
October 24th, 2007 at 2:46 am
I’m going to assume that is a pun and let my smile remain. Otherwise, the true legal statistics of the real legal courts would have to come up and those are usually ugly…
October 24th, 2007 at 2:16 am
I bet black kids are convicted more
October 24th, 2007 at 1:36 am
I was just wanted to point out that it can be a range of kids that participate (I won’t go through the tedious ways people can be selected, plus people can just apply themselves). Also, prior defendants can come back and serve on the jury.
It’s imperfect in some ways , but it does have its perks, as you can keep it off your record (you have to be a first time offender to be involved). The real legal system is imperfect as well, and this is voluntary. (well, ours was, I don’t know about this one)
Also, I suppose it is better to focus on making amends if needed and actually trying to deal with the problem, than merely punishing the kids. The punishments aren’t usually that harsh either, it usually was a letter of apology, not getting into trouble again with a period of time, and helping out with a food drive or something (community service, and I had to do that anyway for other clubs, so it isn’t too terrible of a punishment-yes, I sadly was a tad whiter than white back then, I’m afraid). And really they normally didn’t get any of the more annoying community service things, like having to pick up trash (lovely, I assure you).
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:29 pm
That’s like vehicular use in India. Might is right. I’m bigger than you, suffer!
October 23rd, 2007 at 9:36 pm
lol, name tags were used. And no, Andrew, I don’t think they got beaten up later; probably because the smart quarterback, etc. (that is a massive stereotype isn’t it? But it’s true) participated as well, you have to remember, in America, it isn’t only complete dorky kids that do these things, as such activities are (sadly) picked up for the uni application, sounds bad I know…Anyway, I can’t speak of this set-up as I’m sure it is different; but I’m still no sure it is a great idea, however limited (as you are still messing about with someone’s life). Just my opinion though, I’m sure it has its supporters.
October 23rd, 2007 at 5:31 pm
They will just get double beaten up later
October 23rd, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Do they get a badge?
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:17 am
Good learning experience in that the “peers” went from both lawyers, to judge, and jury. And you had to go through steps, advised by adults, to get into such positions. And from different schools and what not.
It was a bit like Boys’/Girl’s State but for law and you had an impact on someone’s life (limited though).
I still don’t agree with it…
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:11 am
We had this when I was younger, it generally didn’t tackle any serious issues and was mostly confined to community service work. And yes, it was 15-18.
I still don’t agree that it should be in the hands of kids, although it does provide a good learning experience and as I said, it was limited to community service work for x amount of hours in our little set-up.