Pubdate: Wed, 10 Jan 2001
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2001 San Jose Mercury News
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Author: Kathleen Parker, Orlando Sentinel

JAIL ISN'T WHAT YOUNG OFFENDER NEEDS

The middle school fanny-slap heard 'round the world has angered all
the wrong people and increased confusion over everything from sexual
harassment to zero tolerance in U.S. schools.

As you may have heard by now, a 14-year-old boy last month slapped the
fanny of a 13-year-old girl at Espanola Middle School in Espanola,
N.M. A school official witnessed the incident and summoned police,
claiming a "criminal sexual assault."

So began a saga that, like so many tales, has taken on an Internet
life of its own. I've been e-mailed at least a dozen copies of the
original story, accompanied by commentaries of outrage and gender spin
from the usual suspects.

Men's groups are angry that an innocent lad playing cheeky games is
being herded into the juvenile justice system. Women are angry that,
once again, boys-will-be-boys at the expense of a female's dignity and
personal space. Zero-tolerance critics, whose company I generally
enjoy, are angry that this seems to be yet another over-the-top
reaction to ordinary child's play in the politically correct asylum.

Those who are not angry include the 13-year-old girl who was slapped
and her mother, who didn't want to press charges. But who cares about
them? We know what we know, and when a male's hand inappropriately
makes contact with a female body, we've got a national sexual
harassment issue of chad proportions.

Or do we? This time, everyone's a little bit wrong and a little bit
right. What's wrong is the assumption that the offending boy is an
innocent. He may be a victim of life's lousy deal, but his angel wings
are a little tattered. This is his second brush with a girl's behind
and his fifth with the New Mexico Department of Children, Youth and
Families (DCYF).

He has been charged three times with possession of marijuana, which
though not necessarily a serious crime (certainly not in New Mexico,
where Gov. Gary "I Inhaled" Johnson is an advocate of
decriminalization), is nonetheless a problem for any child. He has
also previously been charged with theft.

In other words, "This is not your National Junior Honor Society
student," says Romaine Serna, DCYF spokesperson.

What's right about the case is appropriate concern that this boy could
end up spending two years in juvenile detention for what amounts to
aggressive bad manners and a history suggesting he needs more help
than punishment. Investigators with DCYF completed their investigation
on Wednesday and are recommending that the district attorney formally
charge the child with assault.

They determined that there was no sexual content to the slap and
therefore no justification for sexual harassment or criminal sexual
assault charges.

The district attorney will decide what charge to bring, but Serna, who
admits to feeling sorry for "any kid that's having trouble with
boundaries," is hoping for a combination of probation and therapy,
which seems reasonable given the boy's history.

Still, lovers of common sense can't help wishing that the school
official hadn't called police in the first place. That instead he had
grabbed the kid by his collar and said, "That's it, punk, you're
staying after school and cleaning bathrooms for the next three months!"

Maybe during those after-school hours the kid might have learned
something about consequences. Maybe the supervising teacher might have
learned something about a boy who lives with a guardian, who is
smoking pot and stealing, who hasn't been taught to keep his hands to
himself.

Instead, we seem to have reached a point when common sense can't be
applied and draconian responses are the norm rather than the
exception. We've learned, meanwhile, only this: The female derriere is
off limits until further notice.
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