OK, you’re right, it wasn’t a spork—it was a camper’s utensil set, which has the same ring of lawlessness, doesn’t it?

The 6-year-old boy in Newark, Delaware, will be allowed back to school following the Christina School Board amending its “zero-tolerance” policy regarding weapons—you know, like sporks and other medieval weaponry used for eating pudding.

The fact that it took roughly 1000 phone calls and a national media bandwagon to allow a little boy back into school, rather than suffer a 45-day suspension, is so silly I could not think of a good simile for comparison.

Having previously worked for Justice Fellowship, the criminal justice reform arm of Prison Fellowship, I have some experience with “zero-tolerance” laws and policies. Zero-tolerance policies are championed by bureaucratic officials who would rather seem tough on crime, than actually be effective. Zero-tolerance laws do not make society safer. These policies just give officials a code to point to and say, “Sorry we can’t use our brains!”

These laws impose blanket punishments on people regardless of their intent in the action. Mens rea is a Latin term used in the study of criminal justice which means “guilty mind.” Traditionally, American criminal law required the intent to commit a crime to be a principal factor in investigations before guilt can be established. This foundational principle is why we have laws differentiating culpability in the killing of a person (i.e. homicide, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, etc).

For instance, if you use the self-checkout aisle of a grocery store and walk out having forgotten about the bananas you placed on the bottom rack of the cart, should you be charged with shoplifting? Some would say “yes,” and these are the same type of government bureaucrats who create zero-tolerance policies that place 6-year-old boys on 45-day suspensions for bringing a camping utensil to school.

Thank God this poor little boy will finally get the justice he deserves, rather than the fabricated version of justice implemented by non-thinking school officials.

If you’re interested in reading more about criminal law, I highly recommend a book titled In the Name of Justice, edited by Timothy Lynch of CATO Institute. In it you’ll find Henry M. Hart, Jr.’s excellent and relevant essay “The Aims of Criminal Law,” and the thoughts of several other experts on these issues.

(Image © Delaware Online)