It had all the elements of a real arrest: handcuffs, mugshots, eight hours in jail, and a future court hearing. The only thing missing was real criminals. When you hear that 25 were arrested in Chicago, you assume some sort of gang fight broke out at a downtown nightclub. But no, it was a FOOD FIGHT involving 12-year-olds! Now I'm not saying to let everyone off the hook, but why are we so quick to criminalize kids? I'd love to see some research that correlates data from the emergence of 'zero-tolerance' with graduation rates.
