Good Debate!

We have had some fluff on here lately and nothing really interesting. I love to lurk but man has it been lame! Here is a good discussion-

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/10YearOld_Ja iled_for_Fight_wi

olice in Flower Mound arrested a 10-year-old girl over the weekend for fighting with her older sister. They handcuffed her, took her fingerprints and picture, and charged with assault.

Officers in the town about 25 miles northwest of Dallas say it's not the first time they've arrested a young child for family violence, because they say state law forces them to take action. This time, a young girl is charged with a Class A misdemeanor assault.

Reagan and Desiree Green get along pretty well most of the time, but they admit they sometimes clash like all sisters do.

On Saturday they were playing in a Flower Mound park when 10-year-old Reagan refused to follow 13-year-old Desiree's instructions. In fact, she went beyond just saying "no."

"She pushed me, so I just walked away from it," Desiree recalled. "The third time she pushed me, we just started fighting."

Someone saw them fighting and called police. An officer showed up and ultimately, the younger girl was arrested.

The girls were visiting family in Flower Mound and went back to their house. Officers arrived after them, minutes before the girls' mother.

Rhonda Green said the officers told her, "'This is criminal, and one of them is going to have to go to jail and it's probably going to have to your younger one because she was the aggressor,' and I said, 'Are you kidding me?' and he said, 'No, no.'"

"They handcuffed me and put me in the car," Reagan recalled. "He just told me he was going to take me to jail."

We asked the police what happened.

"Both of them had some injuries," said Lt. Clay Pierce of the Flower Mound Police Dept. "The one showed more serious injuries, so the other one was detained."

Pierce said this was a case of family violence.

"By state law we are required to take action and what we did, we detained the youngest one," he said.

"They fingerprinted my baby," said Rhonda Green. "My baby is in the system, for having a fight with her sister. She's ten."

When asked if the girls planned on fighting in public again, Desiree had a sensible answer.

"Not in public, but we're still going to fight like every other sister will," she said.

Flower Mound police are turning the case over to the Denton County District Attorney for further review.

 Should this sibling have been arrested for assault? Where do you draw the line between a regular sibling fight and one that could be deemed assault?

I remember my brother used to beat the tar out of me and I would tell my parents. They never did anything about it. Now he is a very angry man and has gone as far as hitting his now wife. I think parents sometimes underestimate their childrens "spats".

There have been studies in Japan, which has a very low violent crime rate, to see what the difference is.  In Japan, violence between small children is ignored, and the kids soon find out that if they fight, they lose friends, and sometimes get ganged up on and "taught a lesson".

Whereas in America, if you defend yourself in a school fight, you are suspended with no question.

I'll see if I can look up a study and add it in.

If it was an all out fight, I say yes.  If it was a slap fest then the moron who called the cops should get a ticket for wasting police time.

OK, well, I looked up violence in Japanese schools and it seems it is increasing to worrying proportions, so maybe my information is old.  Couldn't find what I had seen a couple of years ago - it was actually a TV show.

My point was that the preschool kids experienced "Natural punishments" for fighting, not an overlaid rule system that doesn't always make sense.

I think this is ridiculous, just for having a scrap with her sister...we used to fight all the time...sheesh!

Wow, I definitely don't think a 10yr old child fighting with her sister warrants arrest. In my opinion, if the parents weren't present, then the child should have been escorted home, or to the place they were staying, and let the adults sort it out. Do I realize some parents wouldn't care? Yes, I certianly do. However, that isn't something that should be automatically assumed, and this is a matter for parents, not law enforcement.

Hopefully the younger girl learned a lesson but it sounds to me like she got what she deserved.  Too bad the police had to intervene but as they say in Africa it take a village to raise a child.

This is the most asinine thing I have heard in awhile...think perhaps the DA ought to be shed of it quick.

This country is getting pretty damn soft in the head.

I have three brothers, our scraps were frequent, at times painful, and completely normal in sibling behavior patterns, this is not a criminal act.

No, neither of the sisters should have been arrested. If the sibling fight really seemed serious enough, I think the police should have escorted the girls back to their parents. This could have been a good scare for the kids not to fight.

While it is true the police do have uphold the law, police also make discretionary calls all the time. Not every speeder gets a ticket. Not every jaywalker gets a ticket. Not every domestic violence call results in an arrest.

I agree with bagga: This is the most asinine thing I have heard in awhile

I think that most sibling fights are harmless and will happen. However, you can't chalk them all up to harmlessness. My brother should have had something done with him. Where do you determine that it has gotten out of hand?

if the girl got arrested for having a fight like that with her sister i think both my brothers should have been arrested multiple times a long time ago.

its ridiculous. siblings fight all the time. no one should be arrested. i agree with someone who posted before me - if the fight was really that bad then the cops couldve came and escorted them back home to the parents. but arrested and finger printed and all that?? wow.

My brother almost broke my nose once when we were younger, and I knocked one of his teeth out (luckily it wasn't a permanent tooth).  We fought like cats and dogs when younger, I think we got along maybe one day out of the week.  However if anybody else put a finger on my brother I'd kick their ass (and I actually almost had to once, because she was a girl and he doesn't hit girls that aren't family members, lol).  We still fight sometimes (verbally now) but neither one of us are violent to others or each other anymore - we grew out of that.  Like most normal people do.  And now we get along fine (most of the time).  My mom would have been PISSED if the cops got called on us, and it really wouldn't have done anything other than make our sibling issues worse.  Bad idea.

It troubles me how many of you condone this type of behavior between siblings.  The police would not have been involved if the parents were doing their job, IMO.

Original Post by trhawley:

It troubles me how many of you condone this type of behavior between siblings.  The police would not have been involved if the parents were doing their job, IMO.

 I don't condone anything - my brother and I were very harshly punished by my parents when we fought but it didn't change the fact that we were kids, and kids are going to fight.  Do you have siblings?  Did you never get in a fight with them?  Does that mean your parents weren't doing their jobs because you did?

Original Post by trhawley:

It troubles me how many of you condone this type of behavior between siblings.  The police would not have been involved if the parents were doing their job, IMO.

That's true to a point. The police were called because some kids were fighting. Someone thought it was serious enough to call the police. It could have been 2 unrelated kids fighting. It seems to me that once the officer found out they were sisters and that there were no serious injuries (bleeding, broken bones, etc.) that the officer could have used better discretion as to how he handled the situation.

I personally do not think a broken nose and whatever else is acceptable between siblings. If it were not between siblings it would have been unacceptable behaviour. My brother came after me with knives and kitchen chairs and I was much smaller than him, unable to protect myself. My parents just thought it was normal sibling rivalry. I had bruises and still have some scars. How is that acceptable just because he is my brother.

Original Post by trhawley:

It troubles me how many of you condone this type of behavior between siblings.  The police would not have been involved if the parents were doing their job, IMO.

Tom, were you an only child or someone with siblings much older or younger than you?

Look I fought with my brothers no permanent scars, I played games and sought mischief with them that I can still find the scars from 40 years later. 

Edit to add: But knives are a different animal altogether.

Wait. Lemme get this straight. Siblings wailing on each other (no matter what the back story is) is ok, but giving a kid a package of funyuns on a train is reprehensible?

Mkay.

Just checkin'.

Not ok Kathy, but normal to have these incidents happen. Mostly siblings scrap when the rents aren't around and usually not in the freakin' park though, oh and pass the funyuns please.

*passes the bag*

:)

Original Post by kathygator:

Wait. Lemme get this straight. Siblings wailing on each other (no matter what the back story is) is ok, but giving a kid a package of funyuns on a train is reprehensible?

Mkay.

Just checkin'.

Ha! Ha! I hear ya!