Teens Learn the Hard Way: That’s Not Cocaine – It’s Fido

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Five teens had a real OMG! moment.  They broke into a house and stole electronics, jewelry, and something else they mistook for cocaine or heroin.  The kids must have thought they hit the jackpot and they snorted it. When they didn’t get high the teens realized something was wrong.  Very wrong. They saw a TV news report about the burglary and the list of stolen items, which included urns filled with ashes. Instead of cocaine they were snorting the cremated remains of two dogs and a man.

Teens Arrested for Creating Vicious Phony Facebook Page

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Two Florida high school girls were busted for cyberbullying after creating a degrading phony Facebook page for a fellow classmate. Police say Taylor Wynn, 16, and McKenzie Barker, 15, posted graphic, lewd messages on the page and photos with their schoolmate’s head pasted on the body of a naked, prepubescent girl.  Wynn told police they created the page as a joke because,“Nobody liked her.”  The page, created in April, had 181 friends. A classmate of the victim alerted school authorities to the page, which was quickly taken down.  Police say the two girls created a new page attacking the victim soon after that was also taken down. The victim has reported that because of the Facebook page she has been subjected to “numerous incidents of teasing and ridicule.”

Unfortunately, cyberbullying is nothing new but, as JJIE.org reported in November, Facebook has created an application that reports incidents of bullying.  In December we told you about a girl who tracked down two college students who were harassing her online.

Florida’s Juvenile Crime Problem a Mirror for the Nation

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There’s a steady increase in the number of kids sent to adult court for violent crimes in Central Florida, where 600 teens were tried as adults last year. The Orlando Sentinel reports on the dilemma facing prosecutors and judges, who want violent offenders locked up in prison.  While child advocates argue that exposing children to prison life is almost a guarantee they will reoffend. A criminal justice professor points out a problem that may sound familiar:
“The increase reflects a system-wide conundrum when dealing with violent repeat young offenders: The juvenile-justice system — oriented toward rehabilitating children — offers few alternatives for punishing young offenders who pose serious threats to the community”