Where I live there is a well publicized run-off election about to occur. And there have been a rash of yard sign thefts. Some have reported kids as young as 7th grade being caught stealing signs. One clever person put a tile tracker in a sign that was stolen by a HS senior (about to be graduate) and had video from their porch security camera… Police were called and went to the location where the student, the signs and the tile were located.
Here, the charge for stealing campaign signs can result in up to a year in jail along with $1000 PER sign. Needless to say, the student is scared out of his mind and his parents are too. If the high school is made aware, they are obligated to report the incident to the college. I hope he is required to report this to the college even if they revisit his acceptance. At the very least he should have some consequence- at a minimum, community service. Theft is a crime.
University of Virginia student, OttoWarmbier was sentence to 15 years hard labor in North Korea for stealing a propaganda sign at his North Korean hotel.
A member of his Va church offered him a 10K used car for the trophy sign upon return home.
^^^ IMHO anybody traveling to North Korea for any reason should consider it a 10-15 year trip with a mandatory weight-loss and exercise program included at no extra charge.
I know it sounds crass, but I have no sympathy for Otto. Going to NK isn’t just a dumb decision like stealing yard signs. It, among other things, gives money to a murderous dictator.
I’d be lying if I said I’d never thought about stealing yard signs. I’ve never done it but I’ve been tempted.
I think community service would be the exactly correct punishment in this instance. Contributing positively to the community is an appropriate response- not jail time and not college admission revoked. There are some things that I believe need extreme consequences that can greatly alter your future… stealing campaign signs isn’t one of them (even though, yes, it is theft).
Call me an idealist but I believe that for non-violent crime, the answer is not locking someone up or fining them into bankruptcy or jail. Who does that help? No one. So why not channel that into good with community service or some other related activity that benefits the community rather than just punishing the person. Seems far more appropriate.
Agree 100% with Romani. We are not North Korea and don’t need to lock kids up for stealing yard signs. Community service and/or small fine, if that. We don’t need to lock people up for every dang thing, just violent criminals. And losing college admission because of a prank? My God. Big Brother is watching.
But yeah, you shouldn’t get away with it. Community service would be appropriate.
Minors don’t vote and therefore don’t often have enough political will to steal yard signs. I can’t imagine that a minor would go to jail for anything like this. It is almost impossible to do anything to a minor.
What would be better would be if universities who espouse “honor” codes would taser their administrators off their chairs and to expel some of the students who are intimidating campus speakers and shutting down free speech.
Not sure who you are referring to, @lookingforward. I am referring to the kid I talked about in thr OP. He is a HS’er, just about to graduate. There is some suspicion that the teens were paid to steal campaign signs.
How many people have actually changed their voting decision based on seeing a yard sign?
Seems like it would be pointless both to put one up or to steal/vandalize one if people do not actually change their voting decisions based on yard signs.
I think, ucbalumnus, that the more local the election, the more important the lawn signs. I actually noticed during the last election that most of my neighborhood signs were more local (except for a big libertarian block). Those signs may be the only contact someone has for the ‘Vote ‘NO’ on amendment 10’ or who is running for the transportation board or the board of education. If I see a name 20 times a day, it may get me to vote for Brown over Smith. A young friend ran for a transportation board seat. He wasn’t in my district, but I told everyone I knew to vote for him. Most people really don’t care who is on the board, so one sign or on suggestion may be enough to get him a vote.
There was also a 60 Minutes (I think it was 60 Minutes) about the signs in rural areas for the last presidential election. Virginia was much closer than anyone (in the media) expected last Nov., and it was reported that if the press stepped outside the beltway, they could have seen miles and miles of lawn signs and road signs for the more conservative candidates. There was a guy in rural Iowa whose sign kept being stolen, so he bolted it to a more permanent structure.
I live in a city and I was surprised the state vote was so close. If I gone to the 'burbs…
@romanigypsyeyes your prejudiced comment aside, it is hard to argue that our juvenile justice system is harsh. I have seen, over and over and over and over again juvenile delinquents that get shunted into the mental health world. They are basically just misbehaving and nobody wants to punish them, just “rehabilitate” them. I think that is why we often see juveniles who commit terrible crimes tried as adults so that the punishment has some teeth, knowing that juvenile justice will not do much and often the record is sealed or expunged when they turn 18.
Well, I volunteer in a juvenile detention facility every month, and I disagree with you. The estimate is that between 60 and 80 percent of the kids in there have a mental illness. Last night, we mentioned to one kid that we were glad the weather had improved. “Huh, I haven’t been outside all year.” He’d committed some kind of offense and his outdoor privileges were revoked. Another kid, whom my husband was mentoring, took off when he was out on a work pass. Yeah, he shouldn’t have done that, but he was given an additional FIVE YEARS incarceration. We SEE how these kids live, and it’s certainly not summer camp.
They could leave his acceptance in place but revoke his financial aid, colleges sometimes do that with drug violations. Yeah, I can get behind putting a good scare into him. He thinks it’s just a prank because he thinks he won’t be caught. Owning his behavior now might save him from worse later.
Most of the kids in my roommate’s detention facility are there because of non-violent offenses. Many cannot get out because they do not have a place to go.
So sure, call my comment whatever you want. That doesn’t change reality for many poor and/or kids of color.
Oh, by the way, study after study after study backs up the undeniable FACT that the poor and kids of color are disproportionately thrown in juvey and given harsh sentences.
