Two more surrender, making 20 arrests in SAT/ACT scandal

[alp227]

Source: CNN

Two more students surrendered Monday, making the grand total 20 arrests in an SAT/ACT scandal, according to the Nassau County, New York, district attorney's office.

The scandal involved students who paid others to take the tests for them.

Five "test takers," and 15 "payers" have been charged in a standardized testing scandal that spans across Long Island, John Byrne, communication director to the Nassau County District Attorney, said.

Michael Pomerantz, 18, a "test taker" who received a 1710 on an SAT exam he took for another student, surrendered at 7 a.m. Monday, Byrne said.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/28/us/sat-act-cheating/index.html

[happyslug]

1. Reminds me of Mayor Curley of Boston

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Michael_Curley

Curley's first notoriety came as a result of having been elected to Boston's Board of Aldermen in 1904 while in prison on a fraud conviction. Curley... took the civil service exams for postmen for two men in their district to help them get the jobs with the federal government. Though the incident gave him a dark reputation in upper-class circles, it aided his image among the working class and poor because they saw him as a man willing to stick his neck out to help those in need.

[jobendorfer]

2. One just has to wonder

Okay. Cheating in school, or on an entrance exam is a BAD thing to do.
It's dishonest, it's all kinds of things, none of them good.

But is it really a *criminal* problem?

I'm just gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that the Nassau County D.A. has got lots more pressing issues to deal with than a couple of dozen kids cheating on a SAT. And if he doesn't, his budget needs some serious examination.

J.

[slackmaster]

3. Yes it's malum in se because one person's ill-gotten high score can displace a more deserving person

...from getting admitted to a college or university. It's not a victimless crime at all.

[jobendorfer]

4. I don't think it's victimless at all.

I just don't think it crosses a line that justifies prosecutor and police time.

My vote would be for the SAT/ACT operators, whoever they are, to ban the cheaters for two years or four years.
If the cheaters want to go to school before that, they go to an institution that doesn't care about test scores.
After that, they get another try.
Maybe a second cheating incident gets them a lifetime ban or something.

And reasonable people might disagree with me about this.
I just think it's pretty small beer compared to, say, insider trading, bank fraud, and a whole slew of large scale
white collar crime, to say nothing of violent crimes. I think this prosecutor has better things to spend his or
her time on.

J.

[No Elephants]

6. If it's any consolation, I agree with you. Seems to me that making it a crime while

not making cheating on other tests a crime unduly benefits the people who make money on that test.

[No Elephants]

5. That doesn't answer jobendorfer's question. Cheating on 9th grade algebra test can also displace a

more deserving student.

Issue is, why is cheating on the SAT's a crime?

[melm00se]

7. fraud

Fraud is generally defined in the law as an intentional misrepresentation of material existing fact made by one person to another with knowledge of its falsity and for the purpose of inducing the other person to act, and upon which the other person relies with resulting injury or damage.