This past weekend in Illinois there was a Brawl/Hazing of female Junior and Senior students. There were no deaths, thank God but a few injuries. It did not occur on the High school premises but in a forest preserve I believe. There was video footage shown today on TV. It has not an easy thing to see. My question is do you think the students involved should be held respondsible for their actions? Should the school be able to take actions against these students since it was not done on school premises? I would like your input on this. I don't know what should be done. How do you stop this type of thing happening again? Any input would be appreciated.

Should they be held responsible? Sure. It doesn't seem necessary that the school has to become directly involved; it sounds like we're talking about criminal activities here. (Can you provide more details on exactly what occurred?) Treat this the way you would treat any other criminal activity by juveniles.

As far as prevention goes, maybe the only thing society can try to do is use education. Make it clear that bullying and hazing are not cool; that they are cruel, immoral actions.

Here's a link to the story and video:

Hazing story/video

I think this would come under assault laws. The kids should get their days in court and do community service. No prison time. I think the community service should be stinky, nasty work--like cleaning sewers or the such. Did that for two weeks in my hometown, paid position. Now I know why a lot of city workers are whacko.

Doing mom's homework - I also found a few links on this incident:

Glenbrook North officials consider disciplinary action over hazing
Criminal Charges In Hazing Case Could Come Today
Video & News Report from WMAQ (NBC) in Chicago
Interview with Student, WMAQ Chicago, VIDEO

One issue that is being brought up a lot on the pundit shows is the fact that it was all females from an affluent (cough, cough, white, cough) suburb participating in the actual hazing. Although it is evident many males were in the "audience". Would the handling of this matter be different if it were all males involved in this?

Held responsible? absolutely. Like AM, I do not think the school should be though.

I'm game for prison time, or TONS of AWFUL community service work. How about changing bedpans at the local hospice?

--cheers

Of course they need to be held criminally responsible.

I don't think the school should be involved, however.

(I guess I am just repeating many others' responses here.)

Just community service??? Absolutely not. These individuals performed numerous acts of violence and abuse, punching, kicking, and forcing the victim(s) to drink, among other things, paint thinner. Making these abusive individuals pick up an occasional Coke bottle on the side of the road will not, by any means, discipline them.

I am not saying that we should send these people to the Chair, but they do deserve time behind bars. They must learn right from wrong now, before they become independently-functioning adults.

It has always been my hope that, as human society evolves, we would leave such practices behind. Virtually every society in history has had harsh initiation rituals for various "mile posts" in life. But that doesn't mean it's OK. In a sense it is adapting the ancient ritual of initiation, but without any societal reward after. Alright, I'm sure a sociologist might argue otherwise, but this kind of behavior is pretty darn stupid.

Oh, and Marotte, when I see stuff like this, I have serious doubts as to whether these people will ever be "independently-functioning" adults!

I also agree that the students should be held responsible, but i also think the school should be too



If it was a school sponsered activity then the school should also have some degree of the problem. I think *more* security should of been present

How do you stop it from happening again? You make the risk not worth the reward. It shouldn't be too hard in this case, because the only 'reward' is hurting and humiliating others. I say they should make an example out of those girls. Forcing people to ingest toxic chemicals is not a misdemeanor.

These are high school kids, Not college kids. What they did was have a good old fashion brawl high school style. It has been happening since time began, But this time the press picked it up and made it into something bigger than it actually is. Years from now they will all look back at this and think" Boy was I an idiot".
As for criminal charges I say nahhh, Maybe community service for a couple weeks, Maybe cleaning pens at the local Humane Center. I just cant see how time behind bars is going to help them in their search for a life after they graduate.
Oh and BTW Jaime, If it would have been guys instead of girls, You and I would have never heard a thing about any of this.

These kids should be held criminally responsible for the injuries caused in the hazing.

Things like this is totally unacceptable

I'm all for arresting, prosecuting and sentencing those little snots to some seriously unpleasant community services.

Changing bedpans at the old folks home, picking up litter on the freeways and feeding soup to alcohol-sodden drunks seems like a good start. Then if there's any horse stalls that need mucking out...

I think these girls should be held responsible. They call it a game of powder puff football. From what I have seen there was no football game at all. Just beatings and hazings.
I agree if it were boys it might not be made such a big deal. But that doesn't mean it shouldn't. Be it boys or girls, this clearly was not a football game but a brawl and hazing.
It is to be made clear that this is unacceptable. I think they should get at least 6 months of community work. I think they are lucky that the injuries were so little. It could of been a lot worse and if this incident is not taken seriously it would happen again and results could be a lot worse.

The more I think about this, the more prison makes sense--but just before the trial. I did spend a weekend in the county jail for a small indiscretion in my youth, just after college. Long story short, my imbibing in the whacky weed led to 18 months probation and $1,500 dollar fine, no adjudication.

Man, that was a long time ago!

But I'll never forget how that felt or the bad food, or the longing to be free again.

Okay, a little prison time. Not much. It won't take much.

Author, I agree with you. Funny thing about jail time is that it has the desired effect on a limited number of people. These girls fall into that category.

'Scared straight' works best on those who are basically law-abiding to begin with. Sometimes all they need is a little 'reminder'.

Okay, Give them a week-end in jail and try to scare them into becoming adults. But dont give them a criminal record to carry on in their lives.

Funny, I don't recall girls getting beat up by guys in any of my "good ole fashioned HS brawls"

I don't recall any hospital time either.

Hazing is one thing...this is another. They went too far plain and simple

--cheers

Ah, if a Court orders any type of sentence, they will get a record -- if they are of adult age in that State. I don't know what the State's legal age limit is. And why shouldn't they have a record of their criminal activities?

If nothing happens to these kids over this, they will be taught that their actions were okay. If they get a minor slap on the wrist, same message.

Personally, I think they should all be charged with Aggravated Assault (that's with using a weapon, and I saw one gal throw a bucket at, and strike, another girl in a shot of the video I saw last night). Then when their lawyers start dealing with the DA on this, they can find out who did what. Most might only be charged with Misd. Assault. But I agree that some jail time might be in order. How about weekends, where they have to also go out and work on the work teams? Also - a fine, and paying any restitution to the victims that had to receive medical treatment. I misd. assault can be expunged from the record if the person is a first offender after a certain period of time in most states.

Jo

Jolene,

I'm pretty sure all states work it where once the probation is served, fines paid, and service rendered, the record can be purged. It's called "sentenced without ajudication," and it's up to the judge to decide.

Now I hear that some of the parents enabled this party. There ought to be some punishment for these parents, but I'd be for mandatory family counseling rather than prison time.

A psychologist commented that this parental behavior stems from guilt for not spending much time with the kids. Both parents are working all the time. This results in good production figures for the economy, but at what price? Our families are getting sick.

Time for someone to wave the family values flag.

Now that the school has gotten involved, a couple of the girls are going to Court to stop the suspensions:

Second Student Files Lawsuit Over Hazing Suspensions

"The lawsuit seeks an emergency injunction against the suspension, an official in the clerk's office said.

The lawsuit came as the school announced it has now suspended 32 seniors, 28 girls and four boys, for their involvement in the incident. School officials would not say what role the boys played."


Further in the article there is a note that students have 3 days to appeal the suspension and that hazing is a violation of school policies -- so why are these girls going to Court? I can't find anything to show they went through the initial appeal process the school has.

I think these girls just flat don't want to have to pay for their actions - and I bet they will get off with nothing and go about the rest of their lives believing they don't have to pay for their actions -- but then again, maybe lightening will strike and I'll be proven wrong.

Jo

Perhaps a little jail time and community service helping the handicapped (like stroke survivors) would be a good idea for these brats. Seeing how less fortunate people struggle to perform simple tasks and take pride in their achievements might help the girls and boys think about somebody else for a change.

As far as the school goes, showing film footage of what happened at a strategic time each school year might make some girls less eager to subject themselves to this "rite of passage."

And I feel that something should be mentioned on the permanent records of the perpetrators. Remove some of their teflon coating.

Edited for readibility