Florida Sheriff Shames Two More Kids for School Threats. Is This Effective?
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood is taking action on his promise to arrest and publicly embarrass children who threaten school shootings. After gaining national attention by parading an 11-year-old boy in handcuffs, the sheriff has now released images and videos of two additional teenagers accused of making threats.
Chitwood reported that a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old were arrested for making threats on Snapchat this past Wednesday. The identities of the teens are not disclosed due to their minor status.
The sheriff revealed that the 17-year-old shared a photo with the message “Imma shoot up the school” alongside an image of her school laptop. The 16-year-old responded with “Same,” according to Chitwood.
“We are wasting time and resources on this,” Chitwood expressed in a post on Facebook.
“It’s unfair to the 99% of kids who are behaving properly.”
Following a tragic school shooting that resulted in four fatalities at Apalachee High School in Georgia earlier this month, law enforcement across the nation is facing a surge in school shooting threats. Experts highlight that such spikes are common after significant violent incidents, and while most are hoaxes, they still disrupt school communities significantly.
While students in other areas have faced charges for similar threats, Chitwood’s unique approach of public embarrassment has generated mixed feedback.
Social media was rife with supportive comments for the sheriff from various Floridians. Some argued that the age of the 11-year-old was irrelevant and he should face consequences that match the seriousness of the threat. Others suggested holding his parents accountable as well.
However, Chitwood’s method challenges established practices in the juvenile justice system, raising concerns among some experts about potential negative effects.
“I understand the frustration and the need for law enforcement to respond in some way, but I’m skeptical that making a child do a perp walk is effective in preventing further incidents,” stated Deborah Weisbrot, a child psychiatrist and professor at Stony Brook Medicine who has studied students making shooting threats.
Warning to Students and Parents: Threats Will Not Be Tolerated
In Volusia County, law enforcement is tirelessly investigating numerous threats made against local schools, many of which have proven to be baseless. However, responding to these incidents comes at a high financial cost, warned Chitwood.
“Starting Monday, if your ‘little angel’ causes trouble, we will start publishing their image and showcasing perp walks when they are arrested, along with photos of you, the parents,” he announced.
Although juvenile records in Florida are typically confidential, they can be made public if a child is charged with a felony, like the minors recently arrested by Chitwood.
The 11-year-old who was showcased in a perp walk earlier this week faced accusations of threatening a shooting at either Creekside or Silver Sands Middle School in Port Orange, located just south of Daytona Beach. The sheriff’s office indicated that the child displayed weapons during a video chat and had a list of targets written down. He claimed the threat was a joke, similar to the defense offered by the teens arrested on Wednesday.
In the past few weeks, local news outlets and police departments have reported that threats led to school lockdowns or class cancellations in states such as Maryland, Alabama, Tennessee, and others. A school district in Missouri also informed YSL News that they canceled classes and postponed events due to threats made, with local authorities arresting two students over separate incidents in the past week.
“Emotionally, these threats understandably raised anxiety levels among students, staff, and parents,” commented Tim Roth, Superintendent of the Southern Boone County R-1 School District, in a statement. “We recognize that such occurrences can generate uncertainty and fear, and we are committed to maintaining a safe, supportive environment for everyone.”
Is Public Shaming an Effective Deterrent Against School Threats?
Research conducted by Weisbrot, which analyzed students subjected to threat assessments over the last twenty years, indicates that most students making school shooting threats have underlying psychiatric issues requiring assistance, or histories of abuse. None of these students escalated to becoming school shooters; however, Weisbrot notes that having access to guns is concerning.
“Fortunately, most kids who make these threats do so transiently,” Weisbrot stated. Essentially, the threats may not signify a real risk of harm and could be impulsive expressions, jokes, or exaggerated emotional reactions, as detailed in the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines.
As for whether public shaming will effectively deter children from making threats, that is unclear, and there’s little evidence to back this approach, according to Weisbrot. She worries that the practice of parading minors and posting their mugshots might produce adverse outcomes instead of preventing school threats.
“Sometimes, sharing their photos online can actually amplify a child’s wish for fame,” she explained. “In more troubling instances, when we fail to comprehend why a student might issue a threat, it can result in that child feeling traumatized, humiliated, and even further isolated at school, which won’t aid the situation either.”
According to criminology professor Daniel Mears from Florida State University, these actions are contrary to the principles of juvenile justice, which typically keep records private to give children a chance at rehabilitation.
Addressing the concerns raised by YSL News, Chitwood highlighted a significant rise in threats of school shootings in Florida.
“Regrettably, threats in Florida have surged to five times the level they were at last year,” Chitwood stated in an email.
The sheriff acknowledged uncertainty about whether public humiliation would be effective but insisted that action was necessary. “We have to do something,” Chitwood remarked. “Where are the parents in all of this?”
This isn’t the first instance of a Florida sheriff taking such actions.
Last year, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno publicly displayed a 10-year-old boy accused of making a threat, as well as two middle schoolers in 2021 suspected of plotting a school attack, according to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, part of the YSL News Network.
Experts indicated to the News-Journal that they had never encountered a child so young being showcased by law enforcement in this manner.
“He’s just 10 years old. He doesn’t fully understand his actions,” stated Suman Kakar, a criminology professor at Florida International University. “To take such drastic measures like parading him in front of the media in handcuffs, widely distributing his image – it reveals the officer’s desire for recognition as a guardian of our children, but it actually has the reverse effect.”
Weisbrot believes that if there are any positive outcomes from these measures, it could encourage parents to monitor their children’s online activities more closely. She emphasized that this complex issue necessitates a comprehensive strategy, calling for collaboration among families, schools, mental health services, and law enforcement.
“The key is not to take things at face value, but rather to evaluate the seriousness of the threat before proceeding,” Weisbrot mentioned, underscoring the need to dig deeper to understand what might prompt an individual to make such a choice.
Contributions by: Thao Nguyen, YSL News; Mary Ellen Ritter and Patricio G. Balona, Daytona Beach News-Journal