Sure, and I agree that it's harassment, and reprehensible, but there will always be people who do it because there are a lot of shitty people out there.
We can criminalize adults for that. We're not supposed to criminalize children for acting inappropriately, we're supposed to teach/parent them. Either way, there should be no shrugging of shoulders and allowing harassment to go unaddressed.
It’s not just acting inappropriately it’s hurting other people. We wouldn’t (well hopefully) excuse rape or murder in the same way. Children very much can commit heinous acts and should with appropriate investigation into what they understand of it be held accountable. These are also teens rather than children. A lot of places allow people in their teen years all sorts of rights like the legal ability to consent to sex. I’d suggest they can understand and be culpable for sexual harassment at that age.
> We wouldn’t (well hopefully) excuse rape or murder in the same way.
If these kids had raped and murdered I'd agree that that's an issue teachers and parents need outside help to address, but that's not what we're talking about.
> These are also teens rather than children.
Teens are adolescent children and their undeveloped brains make them highly susceptible to making poor choices and failing to consider the consequences of their actions. This is the time of their lives when they're naturally going to do things that they shouldn't.
There's a reason we don't lock schoolyard bullies up for theft when they steal someone's lunch money. We don't arrest them for doxing when they write a classmates name and phone number next to "for a good time call" on the bathroom stall. That's stupid kid shit that children have been doing for ages and the solution isn't prison, it's parenting, so that those kids can learn from their poor choices and become better people.
Teens can be held accountable for their actions without involving law enforcement.
