Parents
have been telling their children to get a job for ages, but when a judge
does it, that's definitely new.
A Western Massachusetts boy who spray-painted graffiti onto his neighbor’s
homes as an 11-year-old was ordered Wednesday to get a job so he can
pay the victim’s $1,000 restitution – and learn a life lesson
at the same time.
The boy, who was identified in the Massachusetts Appeals Court ruling
by the pseudonym of “Avram,” had previously had charges
of juvenile delinquency put on hold for one year in return for his promise
to make restitution to his Easthampton neighbors.
After he failed to pay a single penny within that year, Juvenile Court
Judge James G. Collins extended the now-12-year-old boy’s probation
for four years and ordered him to get a job – an order defense
attorney Craig R. Bartolomei said was contrary to juvenile law and to
the reality of society today.
Problem is, what kind of job can a 12-year-old boy legally do? The kid's
defense attorney pondered:
“The state itself limits what they [12-year-olds] can do,’’
Bartolomei said in a telephone interview. “They can be actors,
with a permit. They can work a farm, and they can basically deliver
newspapers. But kids don’t deliver newspapers any more.’’
John Ellement of the Boston Globe reports:
Here.
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