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

A few things. First of all, one of the final sentences in the story says, "Officials at Ridgeview Charter School say the student will face a tribunal and is being charged with making terrorist threats." That word tribunal is a nasty word that evokes images of the trial at Nuremburg, but we're probably talking about some PTA kind of thing. And secondly, the article does not mention any immediate involvement of law enforcement so I'm skeptical about what this kid is being "charged" with...I think this story is a bit of bombast, but whomever--if anyone--is pursuing this kid with criminal charges is a d@uchebag simpleton.

One last thing. Autism varies GREATLY in its severity among individuals from barely, if at all, perceptible to most "normal" people to utterly debilitating and obvious. Where this kid is in that range is probably an important, and omitted, part of this story.

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.

How tragic.

I once drew my school (when I was in school mind you) being blown up by a nuke. The teacher asked if I was in there too, in a smug sarcastic way (the sort of way that influenced the image).

I said no, I was the one dropping it.

Hey, I never got arrested, charged with a crime or anything at all for that.

Sorry to say that a 3rd grader is a 3RD GRADER and not a flippin terrorist.

Originally posted by riley
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]

Exactly, ha!

I remember there was always this kid in school, who used anything, rubbers, leggo, blocks, toy people, to pretend to be Germans and Americans (and this is Australia, 30 odd years ago).. always flying them into each other making boom noises, running them towards each other making aargh bam sounds.

By this logic, he was plotting a war, and should have been charged with war crimes for killing prisoners of war.

All Hollywood should be imprisoned for promoting terrorism. Look at the movies they produce. Where did he get the idea from, uh?

reply to post by badw0lf


No matter what you did when you were a child, that is neither here nor there.
Once again I also did not say that he is a terrorist now did I?
READ what I said. Did I not say it was ridiculous?
Don't put words in my mouth. If that's what I meant, that's what I would have said.

Originally posted by Maxmars

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!

Yep, those were my exact thoughts. This kind of stuff is being done to the next generation so that they grow up in this environment, and therefore conditioned to think within this small box of oppressive laws and standards. At some point, one would have a hard time imagining that it could or should be any different.

By the way, I heard that terrorists now use stick figure drawings to plan their attacks on America. That's why they must charge this kid, because he could be part of an Al-Qaeda sleeper cell, duh. Government knows best. If you question the government, you're probably a terrorist anyway: and we will find your stick figure drawings which are actually secretly your attack plans. Pew pew pew.

The ones Charging him are the true terrorists in this subject!
Insane and totaly stupid. How the people continue to allow acts like this,with out a revolt, totally amazes me!

[edit on 15/5/10 by Umbra Sideralis]

I always assumed that a crime had to be committed before someone is charged with it. Like many have pointed out we all occasionally think of and make imaginary plans of robbing a bank, killing someone we dislike etc.

This has less to do with autism, children, school, police, law-enforcement, authority etc. but more to do with expanding the definition of law and acceptable social conduct to include activities that constitute freedom and being human. As many have posted in this thread, the US has been very successful in doing that. In other words, fascism.


[edit on 15-5-2010 by TheSloth]

[edit on 15-5-2010 by TheSloth]

Originally posted by TheSloth
I always assumed that a crime had to be committed before someone is charged with it.
[edit on 15-5-2010 by TheSloth]

True, but maybe they the ones in charge are fans of the "Minority report" movie!!...

Of course you're right. What mentally unstable person or simple minded kid has ever harmed anyone let alone kill them in the last 50 years?

Wow, this is really weird! You should see the doodles in my notebooks. I would sure as helll be charged too.
But seriuosly, they're overreacting. The boy has Autism, probably Asperger's given that he's in 8th grade. I doubt he made the drawing as a threat.
It's really sad tat now even a simple stick drawing will suffice to charge children as terrorists.

Originally posted by Tragic
reply to post by badw0lf

 

No matter what you did when you were a child, that is neither here nor there.
Once again I also did not say that he is a terrorist now did I?
READ what I said. Did I not say it was ridiculous?
Don't put words in my mouth. If that's what I meant, that's what I would have said.

Oh so sorry mister!!

I was actually replying to others posts in general also - sorry to offend.

Sheesh!!

Get off the cranky and get into the life is life mood, pls.

funny tho, how one person can affect another - I hope you did NOT take my post and dwell on it, definitely was not my intent. Have a smile, share it.

crikey

reply to post by rcwj1975

So I hear here say he has the mind of a 3 year old, yet he is in 8th grade...and its like...WHAT?

This is the coming trend in America...total mainstreaming of children with disabilities so they can pick up appropriate peer behaviors and not be segregated into a portable at the edge of the school. 3rd grade level is not low enough to keep him out of the 8th grade class, he certainly can pick up some of the lessons. They were reading the Outsiders, about kids who are in trouble. The teacher must be out of her mind. The trouble, as I see it, is that Charter schools do not always hire fully credentialled teachers who are made to take classes about accommodating and modifying curriculum for kids with learning differences. As an example, in another charter school (from another thread on ATS??_:

www.longislandpress.com...

In public schools, which see this type of doodling daily, with overcrowded classes, there is no time to take offense because the class is full of kids. This truly is an outrage the way the teacher and school reacted. California is instituting a law that all teachers must be trained in autism to get a certificate.

I will look for the thread of the above link on ATS and post it when and if I find it.

Originally posted by daggyz
Of course you're right. What mentally unstable person or simple minded kid has ever harmed anyone let alone kill them in the last 50 years?

Everyone is unstable, and no one ever becomes an adult really. Everyone on planet earth wishes people dead,a nd your a hypocrite if you say you never done such a thing.

Just imagine all these teachers with there hate for some pupils, i wonder what they think of them.

This case is looney and the people prosecuting this person are loons, everyone on this planet does this.

Its like saying the sky is blue, dooh.

reply to post by LaMadameDuval

www.longislandpress.com...

I will look for the thread of the above link on ATS and post it when and if I find it.

Well the source came from an article, not from ATS after all.

I am a special educator, and years ago worked with adolescent boys out of juvvie with severe behavior problems. They could be provoking, etc. But as a teacher, you have to set the tone by modeling the behavior. Getting all pulled out of joint by a drawing is ridiculous; this teacher would have had a stroke if she had seen some of the drawings, antics, threats, etc. we put up with, understanding our kids. Expressing a drawing is not acting it out; things are getting crazy around here. And it isn't the kids.

reply to post by tectonic

The people that run this asylum (public education) are retards.

WHOA there!! This was a CHARTER school, not a public school.

I agree with other comments that this teacher may have used this as an excuse to get the kid out of her classroom.

Public schools usually have far more exacting standards of hire for teachers..at least in many states. Charter schools may or may not have credentialled qualified teachers.

reply to post by tectonic


I'm quite surprised you would use the word "retards" given you have a daughter with a mental retardation. It is as offensive as the n-word to some.

[edit on 15-5-2010 by riley]

@Fangula said :

Yep, those were my exact thoughts. This kind of stuff is being done to the next generation so that they grow up in this environment, and therefore conditioned to think within this small box of oppressive laws and standards. At some point, one would have a hard time imagining that it could or should be any different.

I totally agree. These kids are born in a big brother environment. To them all the monitoring of citizens through CCTVs, internet , mobile phone , and so on will just seem normal and acceptable.

I have to ask at this point who is supporting this infringement of our civil liberties. It is natural to blame the government as the source. But , at the implementation level, it is the narow-minded do-gooders amongs us who are lending support. In my own social circle, there are many people who say they don't mind stripping before flying as it is better to be safe. The same people have a total support for CCTV everywhere. Therefore the enemy is within.

As for the subject being discussed, of course this is going to far. I wonder what would have happened to me if they had seen the sketches of naked women I was drawing in class. Luckily I was of school age a long time ago when headmasters and teachers were allowed to apply common sense and the state kept out of school matters.





[edit on 15-5-2010 by crowdedskies]

Not so long ago an autistic man was charged with some form of spying offence for retrieving information from NASA . He did not hack the system, he merely found that he could get into thier systems and take data, without doing any hacking in the traditional sense. He saw nothing wrong with viewing and removing the unencrypted, unsecure data.
He fought an extradition battle against the US, which would ultimately fail, and he apparantly got 60 years or something. He was a UK citizen.
Now the US governent have given further proof that they have no understanding of this condition, by charging this boy with terror offenses over a picture he drew. Neither Gary Mckinnon , nor this Finn child truely posed a threat to either the government or the people of the United States of America, and both of them, suffering autism, have been singled out and punished for the results of a condition that they cannot change.
I find this as appaling as I found the execution of a probably scizophrenic gentleman, by the chinese over drugs charges a while back. There is no ethical difference to me between these situations.
If the US wish to be a democratic, and therefore non tyranical nation, then thier policy makers need to close up the holes through which persons, who have well documented ailments of the mind, often fall.
I am not saying that persons likely to do damage to the US ought to run amok without redress. I am however saying, that appropriate treatment of harmless folk ought to be more important than clamping down on the minute minority of freaks out there who wish true death to America. This boy, and Gary before him, should be given help to avoid behaviours which might imperil thier liberty, not have the book thrown at them at the first stumbling block. Shame on the US for its treatment of both US and UK citizens with this subtle yet difficult affliction.

reply to post by TrueBrit


The uk government is just as bad. They while being all hypocrites, will jump at the chance to destroy others.