An arrest warrant was issued for a 9-year-old boy in Idaho who’s accused of stealing a pack of gum. The child failed to appear in court because relatives had no way of getting him to the courthouse, and so a warrant was issued. Has our “justice” system gone too far?

 

 

 

 

Arrest warrant issued for 9-year-old boy who stole a pack of gum! | EpicTimes

What a waste of money and resources...

Not condoning it, but if your child steals and doesn't show up for court what should the court do within the law?

Not condoning it, but if your child steals and doesn't show up for court what should the court do within the law?

 

It's a pack of gum. Why is that going to court to begin with? Make them pay the $1 and be done with it.

I would be interested in the store owner's story. I had a past next-door neighbor who owned a neighborhood market, and he said he annually lost hundreds of dollars if not more due to shoplifting. It is a big issue for retailers, and it has to stop somewhere.

 

If I were this child's parent, and they were in trouble, I would make sure I got them where they needed to be. Maybe the government is looking at this situation with an end goal of getting the children away from deadbeat parents. Of course, my imagination starts running wild...

Police Chief said that if he had known the kid didn't have a ride he would have made arrangements to get him to court before it ever got to being a warrant issue.

 

Store owner pressed charges, not much else the police could do but cite him to court. When he doesn't show up at court it doesn't leave the judge many options either.

 

I know we (where I worked) usually didn't press charges on amount this low unless it was a repeat offender. This kid and his brother were both caught, store owner may have been fed up with them stealing and decided to press charges even if it was a small amount.

I'll admit this is probably a little extreme. Could be that it's being used as a teaching moment, although an expensive one. Simple, if you're ordered to court and don't show, warrant is issued. The parent(s) needed to contact the court about the difficulty if there was one.