Those who make threats to schools need mandatory minimum penalty

Parkland has shaken New Jersey students in a number of ways. We have kids walking out in protest over gun control, kids walking out because they don't feel safe in school, and kids taking it upon themselves to threaten schools. While I feel those who walk out of school should face whatever the penalty is for cutting class, I also feel that those who threaten schools including students in those schools should face mandatory minimum penalties that can escalate depending on the threat.

Right now, each charge carries with it a different degree of punishment. My idea is to place those over the mandatory minimum which should start with intense psychiatric testing that should last days and keep the student confined to the institution where it's being done. It could be six months detention in either prison or a juvenile care facility depending on the age, followed by six months community service. It also goes on your permanent record no matter how old you are and it can't be sealed. I would also go so far as to have them register their locations like sex offenders do so that the authorities can know that there is someone living in the community who threatens schools.

From there we can apply whatever other escalating charges come with the territory. This will be met with "What if it's just a prank?" or "Boys will be boys." We're way past joking at this point. There needs to a mandatory penalty for people who threaten schools just like there is for people in New York that carry a gun which caused Giants receiver Plaxico Burress to spend two years in prison for shooting himself in the leg.

If you've got an idea for a mandatory minimum sentence I'd love to hear it. Either way, we really need one and we need to publicize it so that anyone who even thinks of threatening a school will have something else to think about.

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