What’s being done to punish minors who make school threats?

WALTHAM – Nearly a dozen schools across Massachusetts have been the subject of violent threats in the past week and while there are penalties for making a threat, one question is are they tough enough.
“I want to be able to make sure my son is OK,” said Ladeaina, who lives in Waltham with her 3-year-old, Canaan. They’re interviewing at day cares and live across the street from McDevitt Middle School, where just days ago, a shooting threat forced police to surround the school.
“It does concern me,” said Ladeaina.
Waltham isn’t the only town with a school facing threats of violence. On Wednesday alone, Hingham, Everett, Boylston and Carver all received unfounded threats too. It’s a nationwide epidemic and one agency in Florida is cracking down on consequences.
“How many times can we put these kids in lockdown?” said Michael Chitwood, the sheriff in Volusia County, Florida. He went viral after his office received almost 300 school threats since class began three weeks ago. He’s since announced drastic measures – kids caught threatening violence will be outed publicly and so will their parents.
“Let the word go forth. We’re releasing your arrest photo, we’re perp walking you and I’m coming after your parents,” said Chitwood.
Shortly after that announcement, that’s exactly what happened. An 11-year-old was taken into custody for flashing weapons on social media and writing a hit list.
“We and the school district are not going to tolerate it, it’s the best I got,” said Chitwood.
While Florida allows agencies to release the identification of minors who commit felonies, Massachusetts doesn’t. So what can be done to hold minors accountable for making school threats?
“The concept of publicly shaming somebody, perhaps it’s a deterrent but is it legal? One of the most basic constitutional rights is innocent until proven guilty,” said WBZ-TV legal analyst Jennifer Roman. “And I don’t see those constitutional rights changing, no matter how horrific the crime is.”
Roman is confident a push to punish parents could be in Massachusetts’ future.
“It will make the accountable adults think twice,” said Roman.