According to legal experts, the Florida 5-year-old boy who beat his teacher severely, but won’t be charged over the incident, as he didn’t have the criminal intent required for prosecution.
According to Pembroke Pines police, the attack left the victim, a special education teacher at Pines Lakes Primary School, “sitting against the wall” after first responders reached her. She appeared “in a faint state”, according to Pembroke Pines officers.
Her union president stated that the teacher was taken to hospital for a concussion. She will not be returning to school soon. Broward County Public Schools declined to disclose any details about the March 2 incident.
Amanda Conwell, a spokesperson for Pembroke Pines Police Department, stated that they will not be charging the child with any charges. Conwell made this statement to NBC News Wednesday. “In addition, it is not the victim’s wish to be prosecuted.”
Jason Blank, Chairman of the Florida Bar Association’s Criminal Law Section agreed with the decision, particularly considering that the attack occurred in special education settings.
Blank stated, “I have never seen a 5-year old criminally prosecuted for something like this, especially when you consider the special circumstances.” Blank said, “I don’t believe that was ever possible.”
Despite the police statement, the final decision on whether to press criminal charges would be made by the local State Attorney’s Office. A spokeswoman for this prosecutorial agency declined comment.
However, the SAO did not cite a Florida statute which appears to prohibit prosecution of children younger than 7. The same code states that anyone suspected of a “forcible crime,” such aggravated assault, can be prosecuted regardless of their age.
Although a case could be brought against the youngster in theory, Univeristy Miami law professor Craig Trocino stated that there was almost no chance of prosecution.
Trocino laughed and said, “Well, we’re in Florida, so it’s not impossible.” “But it would be absurd if someone tried to prosecute a 5-year old for aggravated assault. It is impossible to imagine how the state could argue that a 5-year old can generate the exact intent to make this crime.
Blank says that the Florida legislators have given prosecutors enough flexibility to use the under-7 option if they need it.
Blank stated that the power to prosecute children younger than 7 years old is reserved for the most serious crimes. Blank said that they did not want to close the door completely on this. However, it’d be difficult to find a prosecutor that would believe it was ethical to prosecute a child this young for such a thing.
Jenny Root, a professor in special education at Florida State University said that she hopes the Broward Country incident will highlight the daily challenges teachers face when working with children with special disabilities.
Root stated that special education teachers in the country have been affected by staff shortages. This has left them with a limited number of resources available to students. These include speech pathologists, occupational and behavioral therapists, doctors, teaching assistants, and speech pathologists.
The challenges of special education are even more difficult with all students having lost their social development time as a result of the March 2020 Covid-19 restrictions.
Root stated that the teachers now have one or two teacher assistants because of the staffing shortages and pandemic. Root said, “They don’t have enough resources to do the things they know they can do to support their students.”
Jack Scott, who is a teacher of special education at Florida Atlantic University and executive director of Center for Autism and Related Disabilities said that he fears the Pines lakes Elementary School beating will cause some teachers and administrators not to support efforts to integrate special education students into mainstream classrooms.
He said that people in general education (non-special ed) are often concerned about dealing with special ed children.
“The programming and staffing must be right. That is what you can count on.”
