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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

#661

Post by landemva »

pessimizer wrote: post #524
bhelkey wrote: post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A woman one block away had called the cops to report a boy walking outside alone. That lady had actually asked Aiden where he lived, verified that it was just down the street, and proceeded to call nonetheless. I have no problem blaming this behavior. To be clear, it would not be productive to blame only the neighbor.

That woman has no certification or authority to decide whether a child is in danger, and the fact that the kid was a block away from home is not some undeniable indicator that he wasn't. That woman has a civic responsibility to call authorities when she's worried about the welfare of a child. The authorities have a responsibility to be competent. The woman fulfilled her responsibility, the entire justice system faile…

> The authorities have a responsibility to be competent.

Not in clown world USA. The USSC said there is no government responsibility when USSC created the doctrine of government immunity.

Re: Mom handcuffed, jailed for 8-year-old son walking half a mile

#662

Post by midoridensha »

derefr wrote: post #420

Is there anywhere in the world where people still practice "free-range parenting" — I can't believe there even has to be a term for that — on a cultural level? Where being a "helicopter parent" would be seen as ridiculous and uncouth by the locals? A community that's intentionally trying to set things up in such a way that their kids can be given historical levels of freedom to roam? I know about the Nordic countries…

Have you never been outside the US? It's only the US that's like this.

Re: Mom handcuffed, jailed for 8-year-old son walking half a mile

#663

Post by nullc »

scarby2 wrote: post #386
nullc wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The word Karen in your post is an ageist and racist dog whistle and it is also incredibly insulting to people who happen to be named Karen.

> The word Karen in your post is an ageist and racist dog whistle and it is also incredibly insulting to people who happen to be named Karen. Karen is now an accepted and understood term referring to a very real phenomenon. Anyone with half a brain knows it's not aimed at people named Karen. There's a huge difference between being named Karen and being a Karen...

Many racist sterotypes have some basis in reality-- at least statistically, that doesn't make them any more excusable.

Re: Mom handcuffed, jailed for 8-year-old son walking half a mile

#664

Post by midoridensha »

dusted wrote: post #202

Instead of making sure it's safe for kids to walk outside, police throw the parents of the kids walking outside in jail. Only in america.. Downvoted ? Really? People agree that it seems reasonable to put parents in jail for letting their kids walk outside ? I walked to and from school when I was 6 years old, no problem... If society has degenerated to the point where it's not safe for a kid to walk on the street, the…

You're probably getting downvotes from butthurt Americans who resent the "only in America" comment you made, even though it's generally correct (it seems like some of the Anglophone countries have copied some of this insanity though, to a lesser degree).

Re: Mom handcuffed, jailed for 8-year-old son walking half a mile

#665

Post by [deleted] »

lupire wrote: post #630
pessimizer wrote: post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That woman has no certification or authority to decide whether a child is in danger, and the fact that the kid was a block away from home is not some undeniable indicator that he wasn't. That woman has a civic responsibility to call authorities when she's worried about the welfare of a child. The authorities have a responsibility to be competent. The woman fulfilled her responsibility, the entire justice system faile…

The woman is an authority. It takes a village. Instead of calling the police, the guys with guns whose job is to detain and sometimes kill people, she should have asked the child what's up. The police are the guard dogs who arrest criminals.

[deleted]

Re: Mom handcuffed, jailed for 8-year-old son walking half a mile

#666

Post by landemva »

necovek wrote: post #627
threatofrain wrote: post #624

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Police are obligated to act out on all reports. The police are not obligated to act out on all reports and they exercise this executive discretion all the time. In this case the police choose to arrest and the DA choose to file charges. Nothing obligates the law enforcement professionals to behave this way — not even a sense of PR as this only stains their image. This train could've been stopped by professionals at…

They are, at the very least, obligated to show up at the scene: this is what I meant by "acting". If you are not used to having police at your door, the mere event can be intimidating.

> They are, at the very least, obligated to show up at the scene.

Not in USA. Supreme Court said cops have no duty to protect any individual. Supposedly cops provide general protection, or something.

USSC said cops don't have to do anything.

Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 545 U.S. 748 (2005)

Re: Mom handcuffed, jailed for 8-year-old son walking half a mile

#667

Post by dredmorbius »

nicolas_t wrote: post #649
dredmorbius wrote: post #433

Let's look at the outcome of this case: After two weeks, child services closed Wallace's case, finding the complaint was unfounded. Keep in mind that Reason.com is essentially an anti-government institution, for which such stories, often presented with an extreme slant or selective take on facts, are catnip. HN's own archives will show many instances of similar articles: https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=reason.…

CPS closed the case, the DA didn't so the woman pled guilty to child endangerment and lost her job. There's a bit more than "After two weeks, child services closed Wallace's case, finding the complaint was unfounded." if you actually read the article to the end. That said I agree with you that Reason is a bit biased.

Fair point.

Re: Mom handcuffed, jailed for 8-year-old son walking half a mile

#668

Post by emodendroket »

cbsmith wrote: post #643
emodendroket wrote: post #638

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it though? If that’s necessary why isn’t it necessary to lock someone up while you investigate whether he might be involved in drug dealing, just in case he might be guilty and destroy the evidence?

Wait... I think you've got cause & effect backwards here. The police arrested the mom, not CPS. There was no interaction between the family and CPS prior to the arrest. The arrest is what brings CPS in to the picture. Just by virtue of arresting a parent, CPS should to get involved, because arresting the parent potentially puts the kids at risk... and then you double down on that because they've been arrested for end…

What I’m objecting to is the imposition of the “no unsupervised time with your children” rule, which, to my mind, is a punishment just as much as a precaution.

Re: Mom handcuffed, jailed for 8-year-old son walking half a mile

#670

Post by malermeister »

woodruffw wrote: post #139

This is (one of) the logical conclusions of suburban, car-enforced social alienation: if you don't know your neighbors and your neighbors don't know you, then everything that isn't immediately familiar to either party is treated with suspicion. And this holds for the entire "food chain": police who don't live in the areas they patrol, DAs and CPS employees who don't understand their communities, &c. It's civically an…

Here's a really good video on this exact topic: https://youtu.be/oHlpmxLTxpw
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