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Unable To Hack Into Grading System, Georgia Student Torches Computer Lab
McGruber writes: A 15 year-old Douglas County, Georgia high school student has been charged with five felonies, including burglary and arson, after sheriff's deputies caught him while responding to a 1 AM fire at Alexander High School. The boy admitted to investigators that he set fire to a computer after trying, unsuccessfully, to hack into the school computer system to change his grade on a failed test. "It's very sad and tragic. He could have very easily come to one of his counselors and asked for help," said Lt. Glenn Daniel with the Douglas County Sheriff's Department. "From what we can tell, (the student) was mad and frustrated because he could not hack into the system." Lt. Daniel said the charges could land the young man in prison for several years. The computer lab was cleaned up and re-opened in time for the start of that day's classes.
He did the crime (actually several), he must do the time.
If he wants to play big boy games then he must accept big boy penalties. Fuck your PC "Oh but he's a kid with his whole life ahead of him!" bullshit, he's chosen his path, let him reap the consequences.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
Just not this kid's day... First he fails his test, then he fails to hack into the grading system before finally failing to burn down the computer lab.
What kind of rational human being does this? Did you try to set fire to your schools property because of a bad grade? I'll look past the B&E and unauthorized access.
He is dangerous, to himself and others. If not juvie, then a psych eval and treatment.
Better question: What kind of kid who at least *thinks* he might be capable of hacking the school's system wouldnt be aware of cloud storage/backup? Clearly setting a fire would do nothing to cloud stored data.
He issued an HCF instruction.
So here is another example of bad parenting. How does a kid go from getting a bad grade to breaking and entering, to hacking a computer to change a grade to arson? Well its not because of the school, or a teacher, or the police. Its bad parenting and not teaching their kids right from wrong and frankly, not knowing where the heck their kid is at 1AM in the morning. When did it become correct to just let your child do whatever they want because you don't want to punish them because they may get made at you? Obviously, this person would rather break into a school to change his grade then actually do the work properly and get good grades.
Big boy games?
He was trying to change a high school grade?
He didn't realize it was harder to do it then it seems on TV, he probably thought he was some great hacker because he helped with a DDOS.
Then he got frustrated so he lit the computer on fire?
This doesn't sound like the actions of an adult. It sounds like the action of a standard undeveloped brain of a teenager.
Should he be punished. Yes, probably expelled from school, or in his case forced to take the year over again, and insure his transcripts for his high school tenure give him solid D-'s.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
"The computer lab was cleaned up and re-opened in time for the start of that day's classes."
Lol if we're calling that arson. More like a campfire sze at best. He probably barely even consumed the computer he tried to burn.
P.S. What an epic fail of a kid. Not only was he dumb even to fail a test in our NCLB schools, but he couldn't hack into a Windows computer and couldn't even burn down a computer. Pro tip - try gasoline next time.
Just wondering.
Why is Snark Required?
If you he have easily asked for help from a counselor, then he wouldn't have tried to hack into the computers and then torch the place.
Clearly, this kid is mentally unstable. However, it is also clear that the counselors did not present a viable alternative to extreme violence.
We must always prefer drugs and state intervention to failed approaches like, you know, parenting and involvement in a community of faith.
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
Perhaps prison wouldn't be appropriate for an adult either, here? There is evidence that harsher punishment is counterproductive, increasing the chance of repeat crimes.
A 1999 study tested this assumption in a meta-analysis reviewing 50 studies dating back to 1958 involving a total of 336,052 offenders with various offenses and criminal istories. Controlling for risk factors such as criminal history and substance abuse, the authors assessed the relationship between length of time in prison and recidivism, and found that longer prison sentences were associated with a three percent increase in recidivism. Offenders who spent an average of 30 months in prison had a recidivism rate of 29%, compared to a 26% rate among prisoners serving an average sentence of 12.9 months. The authors also assessed the impact of serving a prison sentence versus receiving a community-based sanction. Similarly, being incarcerated versus recidivism.
This is especially pronounced for low-risk offenders.
Researchers also find an increased likelihood that lower-risk offenders will be more negatively affected by incarceration. Among low-risk offenders, those who spent less time in prison were 4% less likely to recidivate than low-risk offenders who served longer sentences. Thus, when prison sentences are relatively short, offenders are more likely to maintain their ties to family, employers, and their community, all of which promote successful reentry into society. Conversely, when prisoners serve longer sentences they are more likely to become institutionalized, lose pro-social contacts in the community, and become removed from legitimate opportunities, all of which promote recidivism.
If one goes to the step of imprisoning people, then the prisons that perform best when it comes to low risk of preventing future crimes are ones like this one.
There is a reason we call them "children" and don't let them drive cars, play with knives, etc. Should every toddler spend the night in jail for jaywalking? The real problem is that any line that defines adulthood is an arbitrary one. Some kids are mature enough at twelve, others are not even at twenty.
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Absolutely. Gotta blame the parents and the church.
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
I think jellomizer was referring to the fact that hormonal adolescents who do not yet have a fully formed prefrontal cortex have a much higher incidence of indulging in risky, violent, and/or unwise behavior as compared to fully grown adults due to the fact that they lack both the experience and the actual brain grey matter to fully think things through which would help inhibit such adolescent behavior. That does not excuse such behavior, but it does not mean we should treat children as if they were adults who generally have a better ability to control and channel their emotions.
I'm unsure why you believe "adult behavior" is on par with teenage adolescent behavior simply because adults can and do engage in similar behaviors (though it is worth noting that often when adults do this sort of thing, their judgement is impaired by alcohol or drugs which puts them into a more uninhibited mental state similar to juveniles). Psychologists would strongly disagree with you if you're making the case that adults and teenagers have the same incidence of such behavior.
You don't treat a 5 year old like you would a 12 year old... nor a 12 year old like a 16 year old. Even still, one should not treat a 15 year old like an 18 or 21 year old.
Personally, I say send the boy to counseling and to juvenile detention, make the family pay restitution. Wipe his record and seal it when he turns 18 so he can have a normal life. Maybe he'll make better decisions when his brain is fully formed and learn from his mistakes. Maybe not. Giving him a felony record and shoving him in a state prison with hardened felons is not great way to reform this child. It may just turn him into a lifetime criminal with new criminal connections and no job prospects due to his record.
"It's very sad and tragic. He could have very easily come to one of his counselors and asked for help,"
Wow, counselors would help him hack the computer system and change his grade?
I never understood trying to change your grades through that method, usually there is a separate record somewhere, and you would think someone would notice at some point. Yes, failing a test is bad, but getting caught altering it is much worse.
Attempted hacking or arson (or damaging one computer with fire)?
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
Only problem with that is that the police officer was wrong. Georgia law does not mandate that juveniles be tried as adults for 3rd degree arson - which is what this was (attempt to damage property of another worth $25 or more). So, legally speaking, the kid wasn't arrested - he was taken into custody (this difference is so that adults can legally say they were never arrested if their only contact is with the juvenile system - this means that it doesn't tarnish them for life).
So, he committed a delinquency, not a criminal act (a delinquency being any act that, if it were done by an adult, would be a crime).
So, when the article, based on information from the cop, states:
The boy, who was not identified because he is a minor, faces five felonies, including burglary and arson. Lt. Daniel said the charges could land the young man in prison for several years.
, ... he is wrong. The minor faces 5 delinquencies, not felonies. Even detention at a youth detention facility is not considered prison under the legal system.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
I see dumb people.
Arson isn't a stupid mistake. Arson can kill people. Whenever arson happens, there might be people at the place that is put on fire, who might die. Whenever arson happens, firefighters put themselves into danger. Even if nobody gets killed or hurt, huge damage can happen. A fifteen year old can understand these things.
So presumably you're willing to pay the $400,000 or so it will cost to keep him in jail "for several years" plus the inevitable public aid, unemployment benefits, food stamps, etc for the rest of his life?
Or would you rather pay a few thousand for counseling and public service monitoring?
Fuck your "lock 'em up" mindset. We already incarcerate more people in this country than any other civilized nation, and it serves no purpose whatsoever other than to fuck up peoples' lives and costs us, the taxpayers, millions of dollars.
But that's what we get when we make the justice system a for-profit operation.
Right now he does NOT face five felonies. That's a simple fact. He may, at some future time, should the juvenile court system so rule. Right now, though, he only faces delinquencies. Given that about 10% of the e population has had run-ins with the juvenile system, this should be better known.
Makes me wonder how many non-criminals who have been taken into custody have thought that they have to answer "yes" when asked if they've "ever been arrested, even as a juvenile" , when they can legally say no.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Perhaps prison wouldn't be appropriate for an adult either, here? There is evidence that harsher punishment is counterproductive, increasing the chance of repeat crimes.
Yes, the reason for that is that putting criminals together, and putting minor offenders together with major offenders, socializes them in the ways of crime. They teach each other how to commit crimes. They get sent away for small-time pot dealing and learn how to steal cars and burglarize buildings.
There used to be some well-run juvenile correction centers that actually did work. My friend's brother wound up in one of them. They taught him to read, they taught him a trade (carpentry).
Unfortunately most of those places have been replaced by what amounts to torture chambers run like prisons by sadistic guards. It's the fault of both Democratic and Republican conservatives. It's mostly Republicans, but I can't let Bill Clinton off the hook. http://www.theguardian.com/us-... Tax cuts have eliminated the budgets. Here's the umpteenth expose of the juvenile justice system, by the Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com/... That's Rahm Emanuel's territory. At one group home, the staff was billing for "television therapy" when the kids watched movies on TV.
One of the problems is that the American people have turned mean-spirited without compassion or concern for those who are having problems, as demonstrated by some of the posts here. If these people take over, America isn't going to be a very good place to live.
The password is pencil.
He's 15, so clearly he must be convicted and sentenced as an adult. That way, he can be rehabilitated, instead of just coddled in juvenile detention.
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Yawn, not this again.
While I do think the US penal system is very broken... this research is trivially shown to be a pile of garbage.
It ASSUMES the only cause of recidivism can be the length of prison sentence, and therefore that relation is cause.
It totally ignores that harder criminals, when caught tend to end up with longer sentences (because, well, they do worse crimes..) and that
these same harder criminals are more likely to not change their ways.
Having spent some significant time with people who actually work with criminals in the prison systems I can tell you that the VERY unpopular
but well proven fact is that there are generally two types of people. The prison psycologists often call them the sheep and the wolves.
The sheep are usually these because of a bad situation or foolish mistake that spun out of control. They were late for a meeting, not thinking,
and crashed into someone in their car killing them. Their personal/family situation got desperate so they had to steal to make things meet. They
didnt usually drink much, but had a few that night, arrived home to find their partner in a screaming rage and punched them. etc. All very stupid
and faulty, but not their usual actions. Punishment usually gives them a pretty big reality check.
The wolves however are very different, and not that rare. To them things are for the taking. They have the 'right' to do these things, and the
punishment is just an unfortunate side effect. Next time they will just be 'tougher' and wont get caught. These people tend to spiral up not down
and little if anything works to reduce their damaging effects on society because they see society as theirs to use/abuse as they want.
Prison is often, but not always, overkill for the sheep - they will usually see their mistake.
Prison is often a requirement for the wolves, because is KEEPS THEM AWAY FROM SOCIETY.
Prison is not primarily a punishment, it is a way to protect society as a whole.
This is where the system is falling down - we are not separating those two groups and treating them suitably... because the crime itself does not
tell you which type they are.
Unfortunately there is a strong feeling among quite a bit of modern society that 'bad boys will become good, they just need more love'. The wolves
live on this..It is their free ride and they know it.
We need to judge more on intent and less on crime.
We need a wider range of 'suitable' punishments, and many more 'unpleasant but not prison' options.
We need to accept that some people should not be part of society.
And we need to stop wishing everyone would just love each other more.. Because some people are good, some are bad. Deal with it.
This kid, of course, needs a damn good kick in the entitlements. Not a prison sentence (yet). Only time will tell where he goes.