School Fights Could Expose Children as Young as 5 to Felony Charges, Thanks to New Missouri Law
School Fights Could Expose Children as Young as 5 to Felony Charges, Thanks to New Missouri Law
Tanasia Kenney
Atlanta Black Star
The new law, which takes effect Jan. 1, would turn third-degree assault and certain forms of harassment into Class E felonies, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. If a victim is found to have suffered “emotional distress” as a result of said harassment — which lawmakers have considered a form of bullying — the perpetrator(s) could also be slapped with felony charges.
“I think that we are working very hard to stop the school-to-prison pipeline, and I think this might inadvertently increase the number of children who are referred to law enforcement,” Kelli Hopkins, a Missouri School Boards’ Association attorney, told the Post-Dispatch.
The recent changes to Missouri state law come amid a nationwide push to limit reliance on police and school resource officers to discipline students. The new efforts sought to reduce students’ negative exposure to law enforcement at a young age. In addition, education advocates have argued that replacing school officers with counselors and mediators puts learning institutions one step closer to halting the school-to-prison pipeline.
“We try to treat our students as children,” said Sharifah Williams, spokeswoman for Normandy schools. “We look at law enforcement as something that deals mostly with adults. We don’t want to add anymore people to the pipeline.”
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