Homeless woman prosecuted for enrolling son

[Giest4life]

It's been a while a story has ignited this kind of rage in me. A homeless woman who no doubt wanted her son to enroll in a better performing school is facing CRIMINAL charge: a fine and possible jail time up to 20 years. What a fucking disgrace. I mean, I already knew the public school system of the United States of America was joke, but this.....this is a new low.

Your thoughts?

Also: Source [http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110422/us_yblog_thelookout/homeless-woman-prosecuted-for-enrolling-son-in-conn-school]

 

[Psycho Cat Industries]

Well if she is homeless then how to pay for all the textbooks and such?

 

[InnerRebellion]

Great, more reason for me to hate how school is run in this country. Honestly, why the fuck do people waste their time "charging" things like this, instead of, oh, I don't know, hunting the FBI's most wanted or something?

 

[Verlander]

I agree it's harsh, but judging someone due to their homelessness works both ways to me. She lied on an official government form. Being homeless shouldn't excuse her for that.

On the flipside, social care in America can be third world bad, and so I doubt she was getting any kind of help to get back on her feet. So I can see the motivation, and maybe the punishment/ruling should be altered slightly considering her position. Not less harsh, but one that could have some kind of benefit-like finding her a place to live while her son studies, and she pays off her debt to society and whatnot.

Well if she is homeless then how to pay for all the textbooks and such?

When I went to school in America, textbooks were free.

 

[LobsterFeng]

"Jail up to 20 years" Seriously? Why?

 

[Giest4life]

Well if she is homeless then how to pay for all the textbooks and such?

Textbooks as well as basic writing materials are issued by the school. Though she would still need to buy notebooks and etc. Homeless does not always equal flat out broke. Housing costs are extremely high; that money could be used for other "essential" things.

 

[zombieeater6000]

wow that is horrible

 

[GothmogII]

Well if she is homeless then how to pay for all the textbooks and such?

Don't know how it is in the US, but free-book schemes are not un-heard of.

It's very sad, however: It's still illegal. And if there is somewhat of a silver lining here, is that cases like Ms.McDowell's bring to light this kind of idiocy in the school system and can hopefully result in change.

 

[Dags90]

She's homeless...exactly how are they defining primary residence? She sometimes stays at a homeless shelter in the area with the better school, exactly how much time does she spend in each district?

As a side note. Exactly what address are homeless single mothers supposed to use for school district purposes? They're homeless.

 

[Wicky_42]

On the plus side, free food and board in jail Retarded though...

 

[Projo]

On the bright side, if she's incarcerated, her child may find themselves in a better place.

 

[geldonyetich]

What a bunch of baloney. This story is twisting the truth in order to make it a more interesting human interest story. She's not being prosecuted for enrolling her son in a better school, she's being prosecuted for falsifying federal documents. Sure, she's homeless, but she didn't have to put in false information, she could flat out told them that.

 

[NoSeraph]

This is a tough charge, but I don't see a problem with it. She knowingly and intentionally submitted a false address for her son with the intent that he be admitted to a school in a district in which he did not reside. They're also getting her on conspiracy to commit larceny charges, too. Being homeless is no excuse.

It's also important to note that, while the statutory maximum may be 20 years +$15K fine, sentencing takes into account the circumstances of the offense and, in this case, will likely reduce the severity of the sentence.

 

[gigastar]

Unfortunately, as she is homeless she cannot get her son enrolled because she doesnt actually live in the area.

The law is the law, if anyone could get off on technicalites then Germany would be significantly larger than it is now.

 

[hammiemonster]

Thats not right, but if she was homeless the child should have been taken off her by child services.

 

[Bobbity]

What the fuck? Things like this really annoy me.

If she's homeless, the child probably should have been taken off her by social services, but now they're going to stick her in jail, and they've evicted her friend?

Fuck off, you American lawmakers. I understand that the law is the law, and needs to be obeyed, but really? I suppose that that's the maximum sentence though, and that hopefully they'll take her situation into account. Still...

 

[Hader]

While it sucks, it's still against the law to do what she did. The charges are quite harsh though.