A Teenager Didn’t Do Her Online Schoolwork. So a Judge Sent Her to Juvenile

Re:A Teenager Didn’t Do Her Online Schoolwork. So a Judge Se... by mpoteat on Wednesday July 15, 2020 @08:15PM (#23854159)

It's worth keeping in mind that judges have a lot of leeway in determining the conditions of probation. As well, a person is free not to agree to the terms, and just do their time.

You don't have to break the law again to necessarily break probation.

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Re:A Teenager Didn’t Do Her Online Schoolwork. So a Judge Se... by kennywinker on Thursday July 16, 2020 @12:19AM (#23855725)

Yes, judges have a lot of leeway, and that's how you get things like brock turner's "good kid" sentence while a black teenager gets years for a minor drug offense.

The US legal system also thrives on plea deals. Prosecutors charge people with WAYY more than is fair, so the risk of going to court is too high (years in jail) and defendants are bullied into plea deals that suck.

If you'd like to learn more about how messed up this system is, season 3 of the podcast Serial is a pretty good starting place.

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Re:A Teenager Didn’t Do Her Online Schoolwork. So a Judge Se... by clawedjird on Thursday July 16, 2020 @11:13AM (#23859799)

> As well, a person is free not to agree to the terms, and just do their time.

In a case like this, there's no "time" to do. It's not as if this girl narrowly avoided incarceration on the condition that she agree to probation. Probation was the "time." Her offenses didn't qualify for a term of incarceration.

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