Assaulted teachers aren't pressing charges
Interesting letter to the editor in The Sun today by Baltimore state's attorney Patricia Jessamy. In response to the highly publicized attack of Jolita Berry at Reginald F. Lewis High a few weeks ago, Jessamy began investigating the issue of teacher assaults in city schools. She was surprised by the statistic that the school system has expelled students 112 times this academic year for assaults on staff, since very few cases have resulted in criminal prosecution.
Under Maryland law, Jessamy writes, "if a second-degree assault occurs outside a police officer's view, it is up to the victim to file a citizen's complaint or charges against the perpetrator, depending on his or her age, either with a judicial commissioner or with the Department of Juvenile Services." Since most teacher assaults are not witnessed by a school police officer, it's up to the teacher to navigate the juvenile justice or criminal justice system to file charges. And most teachers who are victims don't. Some have told prosecutors their schools discourage them from filing charges, or they are worried about the time and energy a court case would require, Jessamy's letter says.
As of today, Jessamy's office has no record of Jolita Berry coming forward to press charges against the girl who allegedly assaulted her.
UPDATE, 4:15 p.m.: I've just learned that Berry filed charges today.
Baltimoresun.com's 
Comments
How surprising that the teachers are pressured not to press charges and are held accountable for causing the situation.
Posted by: Joan | April 23, 2008 8:06 PM
Yeah teachers, make sure you press those charges so Jessamy can drop them or plea-bargain them down to nothing.
Posted by: Baltimoron | April 24, 2008 4:25 PM
Pressing charges is a difficult decision. When a kid I knew broke into my house many years ago I pressed charges, but I still wonder if it was the right thing to do. It certainly didn't "teach him a lesson", or maybe it did. The lesson was how to really be tough as opposed to just acting tough. I doubt that Baltimore is better off with a more hardened criminal on the street. I can only imagine that a teacher, who knows the children better, would really struggle with the decision to put a kid into the criminal justice system.
Posted by: a parent | April 25, 2008 9:10 AM
I've never personally been in a situation where it was necessary to press charges. But I have seen a child who has never been taught any type of anger management skills go completely nuts.
As the parent noted, we know these kids and we see kids get lost to the streets every single day. It would be an incredibly difficult decision to be the person who sends yet another one of them to jail.
Posted by: Steph | April 25, 2008 3:53 PM