Following the violent tragedies in Parkland, Florida, Santa Fe, Texas, and Uvalde, Texas, many schools across the state began to refer students to police and courts for two offenses called Terroristic Threat and Exhibition, Use, or Threat of Exhibition or Use of Firearms. These offenses can be charged as felonies when committed at a public school and students as young as 10 years old can be charged. Check out the charts below to see how arrests of students increased immediately after the tragedies:
Data obtained through Open Records Requests to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department
Law enforcement intervention should be used only in instances that pose a real threat to safety. However, students have been referred to court for very minor behaviors, like attempting to respond to bullying or texting inappropriate or insensitive jokes. Some students who have been charged have disabilities and were speaking or acting in ways related to their disability.
Sending students to court and charging them with a felony is harmful, particularly for behaviors that would be better addressed by simple guidance from an adult or from services and supports targeted at addressing the underlying fear or issue that the student is experiencing.
Check out Collateral Consequences, a report by Texas Appleseed, Disability Rights Texas, The Earl Carl Institute, and The Children's Defense Fund - Texas for more information about the dramatic increase in Terroristic Threat and Exhibition of Firearm charges in Texas since the Parkland and Santa Fe tragedies.
