Autistic Boy Charged With Making Terrorist Threats Over Stick-Figure Sketch

Autistic Boy Charged With Making Terrorist Threats Over Stick-Figure Sketch

www.myfoxdc.com

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. - A fourteen-year-old autistic boy is facing terrorist charges after a sketch he made in school.

The sketch shows two stick-figures. One of them is labeled ‘Me’ and is shown shooting a gun at another with a teacher’s name above it.

Karen Finn says that her son, 8th grader Shane Finn, doesn’t understand why he is in trouble. She says the boy is autistic and has the mental capacity of a 3rd grader.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Damn this world! Damn these people who have no compassion or understanding for anything! My daughter will be going to school in a few short years and this is the BS I am going to have to deal with.

Almost every day I see headlines where our children are being tazed, arrested, charged with terrorism for things that we would have been heavily scolded and hardly punished for!

This child has the mental capacity of a third grader and will be charged as a terrorist! There has to be a point when enough is enough! Where are we going to be in ten years if we, as a country, as a society, continue with this no tolerance crap we are dealing with in these days?



www.myfoxdc.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Fox News Atlanta

[edit on 14-5-2010 by Mudman21]

reply to post by Mudman21

Karen Finn says that her son, 8th grader Shane Finn, doesn’t understand why he is in trouble. She says the boy is autistic and has the mental capacity of a 3rd grader.

That's bull, he knew exactly what he was drawing. But that doesn't change a thing, maybe if he pulled a gun on the teacher there'd be more reason for concern...but a drawing...especially from an autistic boy...sheesh, show some lenience...that's way over the top...

EDIT: Mudman, that avatar disturbs me more than any other on ATS.

[edit on 14/5/10 by CHA0S]

I'm sorry to say that a 3rd grader (by his mentality stated) knows that they shouldn't draw a picture of himself shooting his teacher.
I will say though that maybe he didn't understand what happens when the trigger is pulled?
I have a cousin, who's son has autism. I know that he's really smart but there are simple things that just don't make any sense at all to him.
They need to do some homework on Autism and then make their decisions.
But facing terrorist charges? Are you F'in kidding me?!
It's a drawing, not a real gun!
Crikey, these people need to get a grip.


[edit on 14-5-2010 by Tragic]

reply to post by Mudman21


Autistic or not this is ridiculous to charge any kid based on a drawing. Art is a form of expression not a statement of intent.

I remember teenage boys were always drawing violent images at school. Soldiers, knives, guns, planes, bullets, lots of blood and of course the compulsary penises and boobies. By their logic they could be put on a sex offenders registry for drawing those.

[edit on 14-5-2010 by riley]

If the kid has the mental capacity of a third grader, then yes, he probably did know what he was drawing, but probably doesn't understand the accountability of his action. Everything on TV, video games, even cartoons show violence and destruction that could be easily recreated by any child at any level. The fact is a normal eighth grader would realize the implications of a drawing like that where a third grader wouldn't.

This really hit a nerve with me as my nephew just was handed a three day suspension and was interviewed by a psychiatrist b/c he got in a fight at school and in the heat of the fight told the other kid he would kill him. He was held by police until his parents picked him up and then had to be evaluated by the psychiatrist and cleared before returning to school after his suspension. Now my nephew feels he will be looked at as some monster at school and treated as some kind of freak for the reaction by the authorities in this particular situation.

[edit on 14-5-2010 by Mudman21]

I don't know what to say about this
This is severe paranoia, I never seen anything like this before

Is it just me or are schools becoming the enemy lately?
Not all schools of course but still, way too many it seems.
From spying on kids even while at home to calling autistic children that draws terroists.

Be this a lesson to all that call people that look a certain way or come from a certain place terroists. Soon your own country will call you the same, it's only a matter of time.

This just angers me, lately people are getting in trouble for the stupidest reasons.

Look at this for example:

A man bound to a wheelchair, who can't even feed himself, is charged with sexual harassment against a judge.

Chicho Mertsaris is accused of sexual abuse, although he can't control his arms, his legs, or his hands. He has cerebral palsy because his brain was damaged during his delivery at birth.

His father and an aide help him with almost everything, even eating.

www.myfoxny.com...

Now how stupid is that, is it me or are people that are challenged in some way are becoming something of a legal target or something?????

What's going on man, I swear having kids is scary these days.

Something doesn't make sense. I heard about this, since its a few minutes from me and what is odd is MOM is claiming he has the capacity of a third grader, yet he is in a standard 8th grade class???? How is that, how is he able to mentally complete his work and assignments if he truly is that handicapped, yet not understand his drawing?

He is also being charged with terroristic threats, NOT terrorist threats....HUGE difference.

Bottom line is we have kids showing up at schools these days killing other kids and teachers...should this be addressed, YES! Autism is a sad thing and I feel for this family and boy, but I never knew autism as an excuse to draw pictures of killing your teacher....last I heard autism causes kids to repeat things, restrict interaction, and body movement, NOT cause for drawings like this.

EDIT TO ADD: And when I say it should be addressed, I don't mean arrested...I mean the parents and school should take all measures to get him help. Talk to him, find out whats going on, etc....he doesn't need to be charged...I agree, but does need to be made aware of what he did isn't smart and why.

[edit on 5/14/2010 by rcwj1975]

The bottom line is that a child drew a silly stick figure drawing, and a bunch of adults got their knickers all in a twist over it.

Everyone latches onto the "autism" issue and completely glosses over the fact that a child's doodle on a school book is no act of terrorism, and such a reaction to it is a prime example with what's wrong in this society. Just like back a few years ago where everyone was a potential Communist, now we've got terrorists lurking in every shadow, even a child with a pencil could be one.

Oh, and autism isn't sad, it's a wonderful thing. The problems come in when so called "normal" people see Different and mistake it for Disorder, and try to force a human being to behave against his nature instead of encourage him to embrace his nature.

reply to post by rcwj1975


I have two friends that have autistic children. One you wouldn't know it unless you spent some time with, he is mildly autistic, the other is severely autistic. They both are in regular classes with the other children, the only difference is they go to a special needs class sometime during the day.

The child that is mildly autistic is very hard to deal with as he is very set in his ways and is strange about little things. For example, he loves McDonalds hamburgers but only wants the buns with ketchup, nothing else. He is also very tempermental. The severely autistic child amazes me how smart he is even though he can't do simple things like bath himself or even wipe after using the restroom.

My point is, without knowing this kid, like the mother does, no one should pass judgement on the kid.

And I realize we have kids coming to school all the time making real threats and killing other kids, but the no tolerance policies in place now are destroying kids lives. What is the kid going to do when he gets thru this (along with the hardships of being handicapped) and his record reflects he was charged with terroristic threats?

reply to post by Mudman21


I am definitly not passing judgement, and your right, MOM would know best about her son. I think i am just at a loss because i don't understand autism that well, and the limited stuff I do know isn't 5% of what its all about. So I hear here say he has the mind of a 3 year old, yet he is in 8th grade...and its like...WHAT?

All I know is he should be talked to by someone and shown/taught that drawings like that can be a sore subject in schools these days.....thats all.

reply to post by Tragic


Everyone on this planet hates someone and maybe more than one person, and they all wish bad things on people. It is called a fact of life.

I wonder how many times that teacher wished someone dead.

The people in power should look at themselves all hypocrites.

Originally posted by Tragic
I'm sorry to say that a 3rd grader (by his mentality stated) knows that they shouldn't draw a picture of himself shooting his teacher.
I will say though that maybe he didn't understand what happens when the trigger is pulled?
I have a cousin, who's son has autism. I know that he's really smart but there are simple things that just don't make any sense at all to him.
They need to do some homework on Autism and then make their decisions.
But facing terrorist charges? Are you F'in kidding me?!
It's a drawing, not a real gun!
Crikey, these people need to get a grip.


[edit on 14-5-2010 by Tragic]

This quote shows absolute ignorance of children, or anyone, handicapped or non-handicapped. That drawing = art therapy, releasing stress, problems and worries.
For example there are therapists, if you've been a victim of rape, abusive relationships, or any number of abuses that cause RAGE, who will tell you many ways to discharge rage, for it causes extreme physical and emotional consequences including but not limited to depression, changes in personality, coldness, illnesses, including cancer.

One way is to take a bat, and hit an old mattress repeatedly, screaming enraged swear words at the person who harmed you. This in addition to journal writing leading to metaphysics and forgiveness can work wonders, and can take a person short cut through years of abuse counseling, like coming out the other side in maybe 4-6 months.

Its not pretty.

Children, and teenagers who have problems with communications, either handicapped or special have a great deal of frustrations, inner turmoil, and rage! With the kind of teachers we have here in canada, that picutre would be like a breathrough, a way to understand that he was experiencing great frustrations, and anger over not being heard.

For autistic children, light, sound and stimulis can be an overload.

This is OUTRAGEOUS!

You inherit Facism by ALLOWING it. There are consequences to action, or disaction.

This would be a moment for large numbers of parents to literally storm the school, the sheriff's office and local leaders office and not budge, leave until they BACK DOWN.

Rather live in a state of constant revolution than allow the leaders the happy happy joy joy of a peaceful group of slaves. Take that expectation away and get with freeing your country.

Never let any issues slip under the rug.

I can only imagine if I was in high school now what the school would have done with me after I made a chainsaw wielding maniac out of clay in art class with the severed leg of my principal and head of my bus driver on the ground in the little clay piece....

The U.S. has lost its marbles, not this kid.

[edit on 14-5-2010 by Bobbox1980]

reply to post by Mudman21


Well we all know I have the mental capacity of a 3rd grader.
HEY! Look at me I'm a terrorist! RIDICULOUS!
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b6bd224e4d0e.jpg[/atsimg]

This is all thanks to the Monetary system.

You can blame who you want, but in the end the charges created are for money. Maybe the Teacher wants a piece.

It is pretty sick when people have too charge an innocent with something so minor, IMHO.

Autistic children should be in special schools where they can get enough attention and help with school work? No, yes, thoughts? (back to money again)

People are sick, look what money turns people into.

reply to post by Bobbox1980


I remember doing a report on Reagan when there was an assassination attempt on him. I was quite the artist and I made a poster and used magazine clippings and added my own artistic impression. I could imagine if I did that these days, the feds busting into the classroom, guns wielding and tackling me to the ground. I imagine I would be incarcerated indefinitely.

I am just thankful we have the protection from the authorities like we do now! God knows what would happen if children were allowed to make evil terroristic drawings. [SARCASM]

[edit on 14-5-2010 by Mudman21]

This is just absurd... it really is!

By these standards half my class in school (albeit it was 35 years ago) would have been arrested and classified as 'terrorists' or criminals.

A flipping DOODLE for heaven's sake... a drawing, made by a kid who is in the process of growing up.

The world really IS going mad

Originally posted by SLAYER69
reply to post by Mudman21

 

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b6bd224e4d0e.jpg[/atsimg]

Oh no you didn't!

Here comes the BAN hammer!

---------------------------------------------

Seriously though, how can you CHARGE an autistic child with anything over a drawing? The most incompetent DA must know this will end up in family court!

So the kid was mad at his teacher and expressed that anger in a drawing...,

What the hell kind of teacher can't cope with this?

This is a non-issue being inflated to level of "news" to ensure that governance by fear continues unabated... pathetic!

I'm going to restate a comment that I made in another thread about two high school-aged children that were plotting to shoot up their school in a bid of revenge for being bullied while attending there.

-----------------------------------------------

We should be very careful about throwing around the label "Terrorist." If some of you haven't been keeping up to date on your politics, Sen. Joe Lieberman I-Connecticut, has introduced a bill to expand the terms in which the citizenship of an individual could be stripped away from being labeled as a terrorist.

The definition of terrorist from wordnetweb from Princeton:

S: (n) terrorist (a radical who employs terror as a political weapon; usually organizes with other terrorists in small cells; often uses religion as a cover for terrorist activities)

Now, of course this is a term that has many connotations and many meanings. But the one that we are most familiar with is from a standpoint of political gain through the use of "terror." If we are going to use this as a template for judging this autistic child, then by definition, he does not meet the criteria of being a terrorist, foreign or domestic. Was there anything political to gain by drawing a stick figure picture depicting himself shooting his teacher? Is he a radical religious extremist? Did he have an agenda of anything else but maybe releasing stress or showing contempt for his teacher?

Back to my original point, this is from Lieberman's Senate page, outlining the new provisions to be included in the already existing list of acts that could strip you of your citizenship:

An existing federal statute, 8 U.S.C. § 1481, identifies seven categories of acts for which U.S. citizens lose their citizenship if they voluntarily perform one of those acts “with the intention of relinquishing United States nationality.” Under the Terrorist Expatriation Act, the State Department would also be authorized to revoke the citizenship of a U.S. national who provides material support or resources to a Foreign Terrorist Organization, as designated by the Secretary of State, or who engages in or supports hostilities against the United States or its allies.

(bold is mine)


Source: lieberman.senate.gov...


Do you see the dangers of labeling someone as a terrorist, and why it is important to keeps facts straight and to keep this terminology out of our heads?

This child may or may not have had the intent to shoot his teacher. It could be just a way for him to show disdain for his teacher. Is anybody here (including myself) qualified to comment on autism? No. But we are qualified to give great scrutiny to the charges being brought against this child.

He is not, and I repeat NOT a terrorist as defined by the guidelines listed on Sen. Lieberman's page.

Please, stop using this term so loosely, someone's citizenship and right to due process could be in jeopardy.



Peace be with you.

-truthseeker