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Virginia Parent Charged After Putting Digital Recorder in Daughter's Backpack to Catch Bullies

posted by janrinok on Thursday November 30 2017, @12:15AM   Printer-friendly
from the running-out-of-options dept.

takyon writes:

Mom charged after putting recording device in daughter's backpack

In late September, Sims says she had enough. She tells 10 On Your Side her 9-year-old daughter was getting bullied at Ocean View Elementary. She says repeated calls and emails to the school went un-returned. [...] Sims says she took actions into her own hands. She wanted to prove that nothing was being done to help her 4th grade daughter. She put a digital recorder into her daughter's backpack in hopes of catching audio from inside the classroom. "If I'm not getting an answer from you what am I left to do?" she asked. The recorder was found. The 9-year-old was moved to a new classroom and about a month later Sims was charged by police.

[...] Sims was charged with felony use of device to intercept oral communication and misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The felony charge could carry five years in prison.

Also at CNN and Time.

Code of Virginia § 19.2-62. Interception, disclosure, etc., of wire, electronic or oral communications unlawful; penalties; exceptions.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Zobeid Zuma on Thursday November 30 2017, @12:44PM (1 child)

    by Zobeid Zuma (6636) on Thursday November 30 2017, @12:44PM (#603406)

    You put discretion in quotes as if you don't believe it's a real thing, but it most definitely is an integral part of our criminal justice system in the USA. Law officers have discretion. Prosecutors have discretion. Judges have discretion. Even juries have discretion, in theory, though the courts have done everything possible to discourage its exercise. Discretion means that the state is not obligated to prosecute someone if doing so is not in the state's interest—or, in broader terms, if it's not in the interest of society or justice.

    Laws are not perfect. They can never be perfectly crafted, and it's always going to be possible for someone to run afoul of the law "as written" when they have, in fact, done nothing harmful and nothing that there's any good reason to prosecute them for. Discretion takes that into account.

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  • (Score: 2) by Arik on Thursday November 30 2017, @10:16PM

    by Arik (4543) on Thursday November 30 2017, @10:16PM (#603684) Journal
    Discretion is a real thing but it's NOT what happened here.

    Discretion is to come into play after a criminal act has been committed.

    What criminal act was committed here? By the lady in question, I mean, not by the police or school administration.
    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?