Glenn R. Stutzky: State’s terror law is abused:
According to the article, Glenn R. Stutzky is a clinical instructor at Michigan State University’s School of Social Work. The law he is referring to is the law that convicted would be school shooter Andrew Osantowski. He has some issues with Michigan’s terror law…
The terrorism statute was designed to assist law enforcement in dealing with adults who threaten to commit acts of terrorism and not for use against school-aged children.
So what you’re saying is that school-aged children, in this case, 17-years-old, are not capable of acts of terrorism? I think there are some people in Colorado and Minnesota who probably disagree with you.
Here is the problem: The terrorism law does not distinguish between a student “making” a threat and actually “posing” a threat.
Did Andrew Osantowski really “pose” a threat?
That may not be the best question; a better one might be: “Where was he along the continuum between just blowing off steam and actually taking action?”
Andrew Osantowski did, in fact, pose a threat. Or was having guns, ammo, and bomb-making instructions just blowing off steam?
Mr. Stutzky also pushes some well-meaning but probably doesn’t apply in real life program…
Oakland Schools has developed “Guidelines for Assessing Threatening Dangerous Behaviors in Schools”, a systematic and comprehensive process to assess threats made by students and a means to address dangerous behaviors through an integrated intervention plan.
The intervention begins immediately and ultimately involves the student, family, school, and community. Every threat is taken serious and initiates a process that results in a determination of the level of concern that exists – strong, moderate, or minimal and has a clear threshold of when to contact and involve the police.
Law enforcement benefits from GATDBS by not having to immediately come out to a school every time a threat is spoken, e-mailed, or written on a bathroom wall.
Emphasis mine.
That’s some good thinkin’ there, Glenn. If the police didn’t take every threat seriously, how many shootings do you think would have happened by now, including the one involving Andrew Osantowski? How many people do you think Andrew Osantowski would have killed if his threat was not taken seriously? Do you want that kind of blood on your hands? You probably wouldn’t care. You’d just blame it on something else. Like the oppressive legal system or some such other nonsense. And the fact that you consider yourself an educator is frightening.
