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Reason is a quality site picking out government overreach. Whether it belongs on HN is a separate question, but they're not some tabloid rag.
Mom handcuffed, jailed for 8-year-old son walking half a mile
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Re: Mom handcuffed, jailed for 8-year-old son walking half a mile
#52> Waco, Texas What? If this draconian policy is happening in Texas, the land of the free, can I assume it's even worse in the rest of North America? I hope Texans are up-in-arms about this government overreach.
I'm an American and my first reaction was "of course this happens in Texas"
That state has a lot of distortions and issues. The only "freedom" that exists is around ensuring the NRA keeps making huge profits.
Re: Mom handcuffed, jailed for 8-year-old son walking half a mile
#53Vaguely relevant, from Peter Grey's book "Free to Learn": > In our culture today, parents and other adults overprotect children from possible dangers in play. We seriously underestimate children’s ability to take care of themselves and make good judgments [...] Our underestimation becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy—by depriving children of freedom, we deprive them of the opportunities they need to learn how to take c…
Nobody wants to be the one parent out of a thousand who has their kid scooped up off the street because they were letting their kid explore and be free. Edit: Not sure why I'm being downvoted, this comment isn't a judgment on anyone or promoting any type of child-rearing philosophy. It's just an obvious truth. Nobody wants to be that parent, and that obviously influences behavior.
Your kid is 3x more likely to be struck by lightning than kidnapped. Literally.
Re: Mom handcuffed, jailed for 8-year-old son walking half a mile
#54In my twice-the-size European city, kids walk twice that distance to school and back home again, alone. Every. Single. Day. If this place isn't safe enough for kids to walk by themselves, maybe the question should be raised whether the police and municipal government really is doing their job the way they're supposed to.
The thing is that the US has much greater freedoms than Europe, after all, we did fight for them. It's every US citizens understanding that with greater freedoms come greater responsibilities to raise children to be future leaders. This can't happen if a child is mowed down in a driveby or if they accidentally trip over while walking.
Re: Mom handcuffed, jailed for 8-year-old son walking half a mile
#55I deal with similar worries every day (obviously not to same extent). I pick up one kid at school, then drive to after school care to pick up another. The second location also has a hockey rink and the zamboni drops their snow in the parking lot so there are snow piles 365 days a year. I let my 8 year old play in the piles while I go in and grab the other kid. I figure one day I will come out to someone wondering why this kid is playing alone.
Re: Mom handcuffed, jailed for 8-year-old son walking half a mile
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
There will always be people who overreact and call the police for inappropriate reasons. That isn't the problem. The problem is that the police, and then the DA, chose to make this a criminal matter. Either of them could and should have dismissed the issue after verifying that the child was not being put into a harmful environment.
Correct! There's a lot of crazy people out in the world who'll call the cops for all manner of things. The correct response would have been to ignore the call following a couple questions by the 911 operator. "Is the child in danger in any way?" the response would be "No." and then hang up on them.
""Is the child in danger in any way?" the response would be "No." and then hang up on them."
After informing them, that unlike childs walking outside, abuse of 911 is a real crime.
Re: Mom handcuffed, jailed for 8-year-old son walking half a mile
#57[deleted]
Re: Mom handcuffed, jailed for 8-year-old son walking half a mile
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
There will always be people who overreact and call the police for inappropriate reasons. That isn't the problem. The problem is that the police, and then the DA, chose to make this a criminal matter. Either of them could and should have dismissed the issue after verifying that the child was not being put into a harmful environment.
Don't forget about the child safety services/social workers - they should have to be reasonable too.
No one wants to be the weak link that gets their name blasted in newspapers when a kid gets harmed. Not that it would really be their fault, but the incentives are obvious to "play it safe".
Re: Mom handcuffed, jailed for 8-year-old son walking half a mile
#59What kind of Orwellian dystopia. To protect kids from sex traffickers, you lock up their parents, force them to perform unpaid labor, and then you convince them to confess their sins because they are terrified what the judge might make them do.
Re: Mom handcuffed, jailed for 8-year-old son walking half a mile
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
There will always be people who overreact and call the police for inappropriate reasons. That isn't the problem. The problem is that the police, and then the DA, chose to make this a criminal matter. Either of them could and should have dismissed the issue after verifying that the child was not being put into a harmful environment.
> There will always be people who overreact and call the police for inappropriate reasons. That isn't the problem. It's not the problem, but it is a problem. There's no reason we shouldn't try to work on both. > The problem is that the police, and then the DA, chose to make this a criminal matter. Either of them could and should have dismissed the issue after verifying that the child was not being put into a harmful…
The check and balance part isn't working. Any decent judge should see this lacks probable cause. But judges are not impartial and instead side with the DA/police by default.