August 2009 Archives - Askthejudges
40-year-old charged with cyberbullying teen girl
A 17-year-old girl in Missouri started receiving calls, emails, text messages and pornographic photos on her cell phone from men she didn’t know. She had no idea why. She contacted the police and an investigation led to the ex-wife of her mother’s boyfriend. Elizabeth Thrasher …
Teens misuse of ADHD prescription drugs soar
Misinformation about FDA-approved, prescription drugs is leading to abuse of attention-deficit medications. Kids are taking ADHD drugs to get high or increase alertness with little regard to serious or life threatening effects. Between 1998 and 2005, calls by parents, emergency room doctors and others to …
Should 13-year-old be allowed to sail solo around the world?
That is the question put to a Dutch court this week. The Dutch Council for Child Protection (the same as Child Protective Services in the U.S.) has gone to court asking for temporary custody of Laura Dekker in order to stop her from setting sail in …
Gang members told to stay off Internet
A judge in England is fed up with gang members making threatening gestures in online photos. In sentencing nine members of the Fallowfield Mad Dogs on a variety of charges, Judge Clement Goldstone said, “The courts will not stand idly by when youths maraud menacingly …
Should you “friend” your teacher?
A new phenomenon facing school districts involves students ‘friending’ their teachers on social networking sites (Facebook or MySpace, for example) and teachers doing the same. Many schools are without policies on the subject while some have attempted to restrict the practice. Freedom of speech …
Facebook bully goes to jail
England has cracked down on cyberbullies. Believed to be the first person jailed for threatening messages on a social networking site, Keeley Houghton, 18, was sentenced in August, 2009 to three months in a young offenders’ institution. She pleaded guilty to online harassment of Emily …