From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Mass. Court: Boy's Drawing a Threat
Updated 2:19 AM ET January 6, 2001
By MARTIN FINUCANE, Associated Press Writer
BOSTON (AP) - A boy's drawing that depicts him pointing a gun at a kneeling,
praying teacher was much more than a doodle - it constituted a punishable
threat, the state's highest court has ruled.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rejected arguments on Friday from
the boy's lawyers that the drawing was a protected expression under the First
Amendment, noting that the Constitution "does not protect conduct that
threatens another."
The court also said the teacher's fears that the Worcester boy could carry
out the threat were "quite reasonable and justifiable," given recent episodes
of school violence across the nation.
The incident happened two years ago when the boy, who was not identified by
the court, was 12. A Juvenile Court judge found the boy delinquent by reason
of making a threat and he was sentenced in May 1999 to more than five years
of probation.
The boy's lawyers had argued that a picture cannot be considered a threat.
And student rights advocates said the school had overreacted in the wake of
highly publicized shootings elsewhere.
The boy was sitting in the hallway outside his class when he first drew
himself shooting his teacher. After another teacher confiscated that drawing,
he made a second drawing of himself pointing a gun at his teacher - and the
teacher apparently begging for mercy. Then he entered her classroom and held
up his drawing, saying, "Do you want this one, too?"
The court examined both drawings, but the boy was ruled delinquent on the
second drawing because he had presented it to his teacher.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The boy's drawing was obviously - inappropriate - but perhaps the appropriate
reaction might have been a clip round his ear'ole from his Dad. But then,
what do I know? I'm a middle aged, middle class heterosexual male caucasian.
Kenneth Pantling
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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