Girls Get Detention for False Accusation (Against Homeless Man)

[Khephra]

ORANGE, Calif. -- Three 12-year-old girls who falsely accused a homeless man of attacking them in a park were sentenced to time in juvenile detention and will be on probation for nine years.

Eric Nordmark, who was jailed for eight months because of the allegations, criticized the punishments, saying police, not the girls, were to blame for his incarceration.

The girls were sentenced during a closed-door hearing in Orange County Juvenile Court after admitting to a charge of conspiracy. One of the girls also admitted to perjury.

Two girls received 45-day terms and one received a month of detention. Each received credit for 25 days already spent in custody.

Each girl also must perform 60 hours of community service and pay unspecified restitution.

more..........

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-ca-false-charges,0,569612.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

[haele]

1. It may sound "cruel"...

But if this is what happened - good.
False accusations and other petulant actions such as these are dangerous to society, just as dangerous as an actual deranged transient or child abuser is.
Everyone has to learn that they have the responsibility to insure that use of the law must be for justice, not for retribution or for the frivolous "fun" that often happens amongst groups of aimless, bored people (young or old).
False accusations demean the rule of law and tend to make subsequent real accusations devalued.
At twelve, no matter how foolish or socially protected these girls were, they should have known better. Even if their parents let them get away with murder or if they were minimally raised with poor or disadvantaged parenting, there are enough general social and educational training out there - even in poor, "disadvantaged conditions" - to give them at least three quarters of a clue that what they had done to a helpless stranger was wrong (especially if their favorite whine is "it's not faaaiiiirrr" - the mantra of most twelve year old girls I have and currently known).
This type of trick; the average eight year old would be ashamed to be caught at something like this - especially after he or she learned about the dreaded but necessary concept of "taking responsibility for one's actions" the hard way.

I'm glad at least one admitted to the perjury. As the punishment they received - how much damage did they do - how long did the innocent transient languish in "adult jail" and what did he go through because of what they did? 9 years probation and a scrubbed record at 18 doesn't hurt any of them. Community service is a benign punishment at the worse - a step up from "grounding" at home. The detention may have been a bit excessive depending on the conditions of the place they served it at, but it might have been necessary to give them an appreciation of what they had inflicted on another through bored malice.
Liberal as I am, I have learned the hard way that just telling someone "don't do that again" doesn't usually teach them anything if they already have shown that they don't care about the results of their actions. Nor has it stopped them from doing it again.

Haele

[Bertha Venation]

Stupid, stupid, mean, hateful, ugly students!

Damn!

Anyone see a recent episode of "Law & Order SVU" called "Mean" about three girls who killed a clique-mate? Ooh, they made me so mad I wanted to put my titanium foot through the tv.

[DarkPhenyx]

2. Shades of Salem.

Hopefully they will learn a valuable lesson. Don't lie on people.

[Voltaire99]

5. Exactly. (n/t)

[bhunt70]

3. good for them...their actions could have ruined someones life...

now maybe they wont make that kind of mistake again.

[manchu]

4. cruel hah!

They deserve every minute of anguish they get. The cruelty was done to eric who went through hell because of them.