The 5-year-old boy who attacked her own teacher will not be charged over the incident.
The Florida boy, who police say severely beat his teacher will not be charged over the incident because he lacks criminal intent that would be needed for prosecution.
According to Pembroke Pines police, the assault left a special education instructor at Pines Lakes Elementary School sitting on the ground against the wall when first responders reached her, as she appeared “to be in a faint state.”
Her union president has said that the teacher was hospitalized with a concussion and won’t return to the classroom anytime soon and Broward County Public Schools has declined to reveal any circumstances behind the March 2 incident.
Amanda Conwell, Pembroke Pines Police Department spokeswoman said in a statement: “We will not be placing charges against the child. In addition, the victim does not wish to prosecute.”
Jason B. Blank, chairman of the Florida Bar’s Criminal Law Section, agreed with the decision, especially with the attack happening in a special education setting.
Blank said: “I have never seen a 5-year-old criminally prosecuted for anything like this, especially with the set of special circumstances on top of it. I don’t think that was ever practical.”
Even if the police statement has been released, the ultimate decision whether to press a criminal case would land with the Local State Attorney or SAO and the spokeswoman for that prosecutorial agency has declined comments.
SAO already did cite the Florida statute that appears to rule out prosecution of any child younger than 7. However, that same code also implies that anyone suspected of “Forcible Felony”, such as aggravated assault, is eligible for prosecution no matter the age is.
Craig Trocino from University of Miami Law Professor said the likelihood of prosecution here was always nearly zero.
Trocino mockingly said: “Well we are in Florida, so I’d reluctant to say there’s no chance, but I would personally, professionally, and legally find it outrageous if someone decided to attempt to prosecute a 5-year-old for aggravated battery”.
He explained: “I just can’t conceive of a way the state would be able to lodge an argument that a 5-year-old is capable of generating the specific intent necessary to make this a crime. For purposes of the ability to prosecute children under the age of 7 appears to be reserved for the most heinous of crimes, if necessary.”
“That’s why they didn’t want to completely shut the door on that. But even so, you’d be hard-pressed to find a prosecutor who’d believe that it would be ethical to prosecute a child that young for something like this,” he added.
Jenny Root, a professor of special education at Florida State University, said she hopes the Broward Country incident highlights the daily challenges faced by teachers who work with children with special needs.
Root said special ed teachers across the nation have been limited by staffing shortages that have left them without a full array of resources to help students, such as speech pathologists, occupational therapists, behavioral therapists, doctors, and teaching assistants.
With all of the students losing their social development due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions imposed in March 2020, the challenges of special education have never been more severe than this.
Professor Root revealed: “As a result of the pandemic and staffing shortages, maybe they were used to being in a classroom with three teacher assistants and now they have one or two. And now they don’t have the resources to do what they know they’re able to do to be able to support their students.”
Jack Scott teaches special education at Florida Atlantic University and is executive director of the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities.
He said his worries the Pines Lakes Elementary School beating will lead some teachers and administrators to be less supportive of efforts aimed at integrating special education students into mainstream settings.
Scott explained: “People in general education, non-special ed, they’re often worried about having to deal with some difficult special ed kids. The staffing for that, the programming for that, has to be appropriate. You have to count on that.”
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