Judge Civarelli denied juveniles their constitutional right of the 6th amendment: right to counsel. He claims that only once did he deny the right to counsel to a juvenile and the rest, if requested, could have asked for counsel and they would have placed the case in a continuance. As we see in the …show more content…
The philosophy of zero tolerance after the school shooting in Columbine greatly influenced the “get tough” movement within schools and the juvenile justice system and greatly increased the number of youth in the juvenile justice system. What is the philosophy of zero tolerance? How did change within the schools affect the juvenile justice system?
The philosophy of zero tolerance was to deter students from suspension worthy activity or dangerous activity by incorporating police officers into the schools and programs that would suspend, expel and arrest you if you began to stray down the wrong path. This was a reaction to Columbine because they wanted to take preventative measures, not reactive measures. It is stated in the movie that they were scared if they didn’t address the issues in a serious way in the first place, even if the student had no prior record, then something more detrimental could happen. The change within schools to zero tolerance policies that could not only result in school related punishments but actual arrests as we see in this film led to the more placements in the juvenile justice system. Ultimately, zero tolerance rested on the notion that kids are mini adults and thought that a deterrence program would keep them from behaving like