5 ms·

I'm glad the charges were dropped. No one was hurt and that fact needs to be considered before ruining a kid's life. But in all likelihood she built a Drano bo

by nsxwolf 13y ago

I'm glad the charges were dropped. No one was hurt and that fact needs to be considered before ruining a kid's life. But in all likelihood she built a Drano bomb, probably after watching one of the millions of YouTube videos on the subject, and blew it up on school property. She's not a martyr for science, nor a role model for girls in STEM, and frankly it is a little offensive that's the line people are sticking with.

dmix 13y ago
> No one was hurt and that fact needs to be considered before ruining a kid's life. Victimless crimes are 86% of the federal prison population. There is a bigger problem of what types of crimes the state is spending it's time enforcing. http://www.policymic.com/articles/8558/why-we-need-prison-reform-victimless-crimes-are-86-of-the-federal-prison-population http://www.policymic.com/articles/8558/why-we-need-prison-re...
- dfc 13y ago
  Victimless crimes including drunk driving, weapons charges, immigration and liquor law violations. Moreover the statistics are listed for the most serious offense that the individual was incarcerated for. So it is very likely that the someone is serving time under a draconian drug law that also committed a lesser violent crime. http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p11.pdf http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p11.pdf
maaku 13y ago
Charges weren't exactly dropped. She plead guilty in order to get into a diversion program and have her record sealed.
- rz2k 13y ago
  I kind of wonder why having her record sealed would matter at all. I suppose it helps keep her off of inconvenient watch lists, but the extensive coverage has almost made her a public figure.
  - fyi80 13y ago
    Being famous isn't a problem. (It's a huge benefit, as we see in this article) Being on some official bureaucratic "troublemaker" list is the problem.
  - maaku 13y ago
    You ever filled out an application and gotten to that ubiquitous question: "Have you ever been arrested for ... or charged with ..."? Sure, this case will always be on the internet, unfortunately. But at least then someone googling will get some context. At the very least she doesn't have to (legally) lie on that question after this.
    - Spoom 13y ago
      FWIW, USCIS insists on all of its forms that you must tell them if you've ever been charged or convicted of a crime, even if your record was sealed or you were pardoned.
      - maaku 13y ago
        Consult a lawyer, but there can't be any repercussions to saying "no". Once it's sealed, legally it is as if it never happened.
        pvnick 13y ago
        It still feels like lying
        maaku 13y ago
        Re-writing history is an established common-law practice: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expungement http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expungement (and let me emphasize: consult a lawyer. I am not one, and neither this nor my other comments constitute not legal advice)
        Spoom 13y ago
        Technically true, but if you say no, and they later somehow find out about it, they will say you were misrepresenting yourself to USCIS and ban you from the country for life. This is not hyperbole; that's the response that misrepresentation carries.
ledge 13y ago
I think it's the potential for harm that makes her punishment somewhat justified. Not unlike charging someone for driving drunk, when they haven't actually run anyone over yet. I knew a guy in high school that got expelled in the middle of his senior year, because cops turned up an airsoft gun in the trunk of his car after they brought drug dogs through our school parking lot (this was done routinely, inside the school and also in the parking lot, probably still is). That to me is a much worse example of how far these "zero-tolerance" polices get taken.
- auctiontheory 13y ago
  How would drug dogs sniff out an Airsoft gun?
  - Everlag 13y ago
    Perhaps there were things in the trunk a drug dog would smell
    - auctiontheory 13y ago
      Perhaps, but that suggests we haven't really heard the full story why this guy got kicked out.
SwellJoe 13y ago
I made Drano bombs and set them off on school property when I was a kid, and I turned out pretty good. I mostly pay my taxes and everything. It's not my understanding that that's what happened here, but if it is, it's still a tragedy that this notion of charging a child with a felony for tinkering with interesting chemical reactions got as far as it did. Children are expected to behave irresponsibly. Adults should be expected to behave responsibly. It is horribly irresponsible to attempt to ruin a child's life over a mistake that lots of kids have made and will make in the future. This is a stern talking to situation, not a "call the feds, it's time to put this kid in jail" situation, and every adult that signed off on the idea of taking this to a criminal level should be really ashamed of themselves.
- bitwize 13y ago
  If she was making Drano bombs, she should have been punished. With a few days' detention, tops.

by nsxwolf 13y ago

dmix 13y ago

> No one was hurt and that fact needs to be considered before ruining a kid's life. Victimless crimes are 86% of the federal prison population. There is a bigger problem of what types of crimes the state is spending it's time enforcing. http://www.policymic.com/articles/8558/why-we-need-prison-reform-victimless-crimes-are-86-of-the-federal-prison-population http://www.policymic.com/articles/8558/why-we-need-prison-re...

dfc 13y ago
Victimless crimes including drunk driving, weapons charges, immigration and liquor law violations. Moreover the statistics are listed for the most serious offense that the individual was incarcerated for. So it is very likely that the someone is serving time under a draconian drug law that also committed a lesser violent crime. http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p11.pdf http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p11.pdf

maaku 13y ago

Charges weren't exactly dropped. She plead guilty in order to get into a diversion program and have her record sealed.

rz2k 13y ago
I kind of wonder why having her record sealed would matter at all. I suppose it helps keep her off of inconvenient watch lists, but the extensive coverage has almost made her a public figure.
- fyi80 13y ago
  Being famous isn't a problem. (It's a huge benefit, as we see in this article) Being on some official bureaucratic "troublemaker" list is the problem.
- maaku 13y ago
  You ever filled out an application and gotten to that ubiquitous question: "Have you ever been arrested for ... or charged with ..."? Sure, this case will always be on the internet, unfortunately. But at least then someone googling will get some context. At the very least she doesn't have to (legally) lie on that question after this.
  - Spoom 13y ago
    FWIW, USCIS insists on all of its forms that you must tell them if you've ever been charged or convicted of a crime, even if your record was sealed or you were pardoned.
    - maaku 13y ago
      Consult a lawyer, but there can't be any repercussions to saying "no". Once it's sealed, legally it is as if it never happened.
      - pvnick 13y ago
        It still feels like lying
        maaku 13y ago
        Re-writing history is an established common-law practice: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expungement http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expungement (and let me emphasize: consult a lawyer. I am not one, and neither this nor my other comments constitute not legal advice)
      - Spoom 13y ago
        Technically true, but if you say no, and they later somehow find out about it, they will say you were misrepresenting yourself to USCIS and ban you from the country for life. This is not hyperbole; that's the response that misrepresentation carries.

ledge 13y ago

I think it's the potential for harm that makes her punishment somewhat justified. Not unlike charging someone for driving drunk, when they haven't actually run anyone over yet. I knew a guy in high school that got expelled in the middle of his senior year, because cops turned up an airsoft gun in the trunk of his car after they brought drug dogs through our school parking lot (this was done routinely, inside the school and also in the parking lot, probably still is). That to me is a much worse example of how far these "zero-tolerance" polices get taken.

auctiontheory 13y ago
How would drug dogs sniff out an Airsoft gun?
- Everlag 13y ago
  Perhaps there were things in the trunk a drug dog would smell
  - auctiontheory 13y ago
    Perhaps, but that suggests we haven't really heard the full story why this guy got kicked out.

SwellJoe 13y ago

I made Drano bombs and set them off on school property when I was a kid, and I turned out pretty good. I mostly pay my taxes and everything. It's not my understanding that that's what happened here, but if it is, it's still a tragedy that this notion of charging a child with a felony for tinkering with interesting chemical reactions got as far as it did. Children are expected to behave irresponsibly. Adults should be expected to behave responsibly. It is horribly irresponsible to attempt to ruin a child's life over a mistake that lots of kids have made and will make in the future. This is a stern talking to situation, not a "call the feds, it's time to put this kid in jail" situation, and every adult that signed off on the idea of taking this to a criminal level should be really ashamed of themselves.

bitwize 13y ago
If she was making Drano bombs, she should have been punished. With a few days' detention, tops.