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Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

reason.com

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Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#51

Post by freehorse »

nickff wrote: post #26
beaviskhan wrote: post #15

The Venn diagram of people who think it's ok to treat parents like this and people who vote "for liberty" is a circle.

Could you please explain why you believe this to be the case? One of the major advocates of 'free-range parenting' (and who allowed her child to ride the New York Subway unaccompanied) is a frequent contributor to a leading libertarian magazine (Reason). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenore_Skenazy

Who is actually the author of the present article in that exact magazine's website.

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#53

Post by Aurornis »

__turbobrew__ wrote: post #31

I don’t know what is up with the USA and its obsession that kids cannot have autonomy. I think many of us grew up where our parents didn’t know our location at all times. My parents used to tell me to be home by a certain time, but I used to roam the neighborhood, go get candy at the gas station, explore the forest. Maybe it is a sign of the eroding social trust in the USA where people do not believe that others in t…

> I don’t know what is up with the USA and its obsession that kids cannot have autonomy.

This is a news story and a controversy because it's a weird thing that happened.

The US is a big place. Societal norms and law enforcement practices vary widely from location to location. This appears to be one sheriff pushing a personal agenda.

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#54

Post by thinkingkong »

There are a few components to this that I can see being frustrating. One is that many people here likely had a more free roam childhood and this kind of behaviour from law enforcement and society in general is quite peculiar and off-putting. Being socially outcast because I let my child walk to the store is one thing. Being actually arrested and threatening to remove the parent of a child in the name of their safety is another.

Another part is the data / justification for this behaviour. From 1999 to 2010 at least, it seems that motor vehicle accidents are the number one cause of teenagers dying. Then it's homicide and suicide. Homicides are mostly committed by people the person knows. I don't have a full complete data set here but ~85% of homicides against youth are committed by family members or people that know the family. Not strangers. It's not to say you should't protect your kids from strangers, just that... walking to the store isn't that.

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#55

Post by BLKNSLVR »

I only just read the article linked below, before checking HN. The contrast between the two is just jarring. O' what money can buy, freedom in the land of the free, for those with the resources to purchase it.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-13/donald-trump-moves-to...

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#56

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

When I was 9 back in 1991, we lived in the Keflavik Navy Station, and my 12 year old sister and I would ride our bikes all over the base. We'd frequently ride to the youth center which was over a mile from our apartment.

The next year, we moved back to Virginia Beach, and I'd frequently ride my bike by myself to the video rental store about 3/4 a mile away.

Are kidnappings really more common now than then? Aren't most kidnappings actually done by close relatives? I knew not to trust strangers.

What really bothers me is how the generation that grew up with the least supervision is now the generation that's calling the cops for children being unsupervised, while also wearing their lack of supervision as a badge of honor.

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#58

Post by smeej »

ridiculous_leke wrote: post #7

> She (the Sheriff) kept mentioning how he could have been run over, or kidnapped or 'anything' could have happened, This is weird. Is the crime so bad in the town? Even the good-for-nothing cops in my (developing) country do not come up with such nonsense.

Instead, the sheriff is going to come handcuff mom and ~kidnap~ arrest her, in front of the kids. That shouldn't harm them at all, right?

There's something missing about this story somewhere.

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#59

Post by MostlyStable »

quantified wrote: post #44
ridiculous_leke wrote: post #7

> She (the Sheriff) kept mentioning how he could have been run over, or kidnapped or 'anything' could have happened, This is weird. Is the crime so bad in the town? Even the good-for-nothing cops in my (developing) country do not come up with such nonsense.

There is no crime actually mentioned. What are the charges?

>If the state does prosecute, Patterson could face a reckless conduct charge, a $1,000 fine, and a year in jail.

From the article, apparently it's "reckless conduct"

Re: Mom jailed for letting 10-year-old walk alone to town

#60

Post by gosub100 »

metalman wrote: post #22

my mom was taken into "adult protection custody" , for jwalking, this is happening now, and she is held in the hospital in bridgewater ns, on.the locked ward and has now had her cell phone taken for obsessivly calling and trying to be released she does have alzhiemrs but canadas constituion specifies that people are allowed to take there own risks held incomunicado for her own saftey I got banned from the hospital gr…

If she's meandering through traffic and doesn't know where she is, that's absolutely a case for taking her in. If she got hit by a car you could just as easy blame the government for "inaction".
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