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High School Drama and Legal Issues

ResonantResonant Registered User regular
edited March 2008 in Help / Advice Forum
Alright. I've got 3 more months here in HS, so this isn't important. It's more looking out for my friend.

Meet my friend. Let's call her Amanda. There is another girl. Let's call her Bailey. Bailey just got off house arrest. She is still on probation.

Amanda, her boyfriend, and other acquaintances walk out of a concert last night. Bailey punches Amanda in the back of the head and disappears. No one saw it. They cross the street, and Amanda is separated for a few seconds. Bailey jumps out and punches Amanda a few times. In the back of the head.

Amanda's friends find her again, and pull Bailey off. Bailey runs away. Amanda is obviously in pain.

Now, question is, what can be done? A few details:
    Both girls are 17. Bailey is on probation. Amanda has never committed a crime a day in her life. Bailey has a shit-talking problem. A severe one. Both girls are in school, etc, etc.

Amanda's parents want to press charges. I say it's a good idea with bad consequences. Bailey's friends, just like her, are psychotic. They will hunt you down and beat you down. Ironically, they are all 18+. So Assaulting a minor applies for her older friends.

I would personally like to see Bailey locked up forever. But that's my opinion. What should be done, H/A?

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Resonant on

Posts

  • SoggychickenSoggychicken Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Avoiding the problem out of fear will just make it worse. I think it will show Bailey that there will be no consequences to her actions and it will get worse. In my opinion this should be reported to the proper authorities.

    I am curious though if you are telling the full story. Did Amanda do anything to provoke the assault?

    Soggychicken on
  • Bionic MonkeyBionic Monkey Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited March 2008
    Yeah, you don't do anything, and Bailey knows she can throw down with zero consequences. You go to the cops, and her friends "might" retaliate. More than likely though, they won't do shit to endanger their own skins when Bailey's the one that caused the whole problem.

    Bionic Monkey on
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  • GophermasterGophermaster Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Get a lawyer, press charges and hope for the best, or press charges without a lawyer and probably lose.

    Gophermaster on
  • OremLKOremLK Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Franky, I'm not sure there's much you personally can do in this situation. Except offer to testify if it goes to trial and offer emotional support to your friend, I guess. If the person beating on Amanda was a dude, I'd say kick his ass, but as that's not the case...

    OremLK on
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  • ResonantResonant Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Soggychicken wrote: »
    Avoiding the problem out of fear will just make it worse. I think it will show Bailey that there will be no consequences to her actions and it will get worse. In my opinion this should be reported to the proper authorities.

    I am curious though if you are telling the full story. Did Amanda do anything to provoke the assault?

    Alright. Social Hierarchy confusion:

    Amanda has a best friend. Kate. Kate used to go out with Bailey's bestfriend's roommate.

    That's it. Really.

    So in order to get at Kate, they took down Amanda. Makes a lot of sense.

    Resonant on
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  • DrezDrez Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Press charges.

    I had someone arrested in junior high school. He was a bully and he pulled a gun on me one day. He claimed it was a lighter to authorities that looked like a gun. Guess what? I didn't care. And neither did the police. Expelled, arrested, and he and his bully friends stayed far away from me after that.

    I'm not saying that my anecdote proves that Amanda won't be retaliated against. But it does prove that there's no certainty of it. I think her parents should absolutely press charges. Hell, it's probably the healthiest thing for Bailey too, or else she's going to end up dead in ditch somewhere some day. The world has a way of rejecting people like Bailey and sweeping them under the rug. Maybe she'll never learn, but maybe getting arrested gives her a second (third?) chance to wake the hell up. Not that I think Amanda owes this lesson to Bailey. But I do think, while fear of retaliation is a very real thing, she is protecting herself more if she presses charges than otherwise.

    Drez on
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  • Descendant XDescendant X Skyrim is my god now. Outpost 31Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Bailey is on probation. This means that she likely has a whole slew of general and special conditions the she must uphold if she wants to continue to remain in the community without consequence. I imagine that assaulting someone breaches at least one of those conditions. If I were her probation officer I would certainly want to know that one of my charges was out assaulting people.

    Call the police.

    Descendant X on
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  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Gophermaster wrote: »
    Get a lawyer, press charges and hope for the best, or press charges without a lawyer and probably lose.
    You don't need to get a lawyer to press charges. You need to file a police report, and the DA will take care of the rest.

    Thanatos on
  • The SnertThe Snert Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Descendant X wrote: »
    Bailey is on probation. This means that she likely has a whole slew of general and special conditions the she must uphold if she wants to continue to remain in the community without consequence. I imagine that assaulting someone breaches at least one of those conditions. If I were her probation officer I would certainly want to know that one of my charges was out assaulting people.

    Call the police.

    True. Assault is definately a violation of probation, and I'm certain her PO and oither authorities would want to know if someone who's been released conditionally to. you know.. not commit anymore crimes has commited a crime. If she's on probation, they'll deal with her that much harsher,

    The Snert on
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