3 Maryland middle schoolers charged with hate crimes after displaying swastikas, officials say

Officials with the Calvert County State’s Attorney’s Office said the harassment began in December and the students refused to stop despite repeated requests. The victim ultimately reported the behavior to Maryland State Police, which investigated and filed charges against the students.

The defendants, all 13, are students at Plum Point Middle School in Calvert County, which serves students in sixth through eighth grades and is located about 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) southeast of Washington, D.C. Their names are being withheld because they’re underage.

Officials said the charges will be forwarded to the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services for appropriate action.

finickydesert,
@finickydesert@lemmy.ml avatar

What’s going on with MD?

sugarfree,
@sugarfree@lemmy.world avatar

Without violence involved it should be a school matter in my opinion, I fail to see how it is in the public interest to proceed with these charges.

stoly,

This was racial violence my dude.

DougHolland,
@DougHolland@lemmy.world avatar

If the school does nothing, it’s very much in the public interest to prosecute.

FenrirIII,
@FenrirIII@lemmy.world avatar

Maybe because this kind of behavior often leads to violence? Possibly find the parents in jail for this shit.

bhmnscmm,
@bhmnscmm@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah, because putting the parents in jail will definitely ensure these kids turn out okay.

sadreality,

I am sure charging 13 year old with crime gonna teach them a lot of good lessons haha

Fucking clown society gets what it deserves.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod,
Semi-Hemi-Demigod avatar

Once you get out of the DC/Baltimore suburbs Maryland gets racist real fast.

NakariLexfortaine,

Don’t know the truth of it, but there’s a particular old house in Germantown that was always whispered as “The old Klan house”. The story was that back in the day, it was owned by a high-ranking member. Was absolutely wild to think about when I was younger, just out of the sheer diversity I saw every day.

Wasn’t until I was older that I noticed how bad some places could really be. Kinda fucked me up for a minute, after growing up hearing how progressive the state was.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Shit kids from shit parents. I’m Jewish and when I was in high school, a kid stole a book I was reading and drew a swastika on every page and gave it back to me. He didn’t get in any trouble. This is why hate crime laws are a good thing.

quindraco,

I’m jewish and can’t disagree with you any harder than I already do. Those kids stole your property and then damaged it, both of which are crimes that should be prosecuted. Adding thoughtcrime charges on top damages the 1A without any meaningful benefit.

I was physically assaulted for years as a kid. I dreamt then and I dream now of school students being held criminally accountable for their criminal behaviour. And bear in mind, I also support noncriminal punishments, like school detention, suspension, or expulsion, for noncriminal behavior, any or all of which might have been appropriate for those swastikas. But there’s just no good reason to give those kids extra time in juvie because the symbols they chose were swastikas, not penises.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Hate crimes are often prosecuted as separate from other crimes and there’s good reason for that.

It wasn’t white people who were getting lynched in large numbers in the U.S.

Winter8593,

the students refused to stop despite repeated requests

Truly awful behavior. Most certainly ruined their futures. Hope the victim is okay.

TransplantedSconie,

Parents are trash. 100% that’s where they learned that.

andrewta,

Not saying it’s OK what they did. I’m about fifty years old. When I was in middle school, kids did this and they definitely didn’t get it from their parents. Some kids are just as assholes that think they are funny. The kids need to be punished. They need to take classes on what these symbols mean and what nazis did. But I can’t just blame parents. Sometimes kids just do stupid shit.

some_guy,

Or parents failed to counter it when they learned it online.

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