Criminal Law News

A 7-year-old boy in Boston faces suspension from school and a possible transfer to another school after school district officials began an investigation into charges of sexual harassment against him.  The charges stem from a scuffle with another boy, in which the 7-year-old allegedly kicked the other boy in the testicles.

According to Tara Lynch, her 7-year-old son Mark Curran had a fight with another boy on the school bus on November 22nd.  During that altercation, she says that the other boy tried to choke her son, and her son reacted by hitting the other boy in the groin.  The school has classified the case as sexual harassment, and school officials have begun an investigation into the boy’s behavior.  According to school officials, any kind of inappropriate touching between students would fall under the category of sexual harassment.  Once the investigation is complete, the school says that it will make a decision about who is to be punished.

Lynch has already received a letter from the school principal informing her that her son has been accused of violating the harassment codes of the school, and endangering the physical safety of other students.  He’s likely to be either transferred to another school or suspended.

No one is denying that sexual harassment and sexual assault does take place in schools.  However, to criminalize a youthful scuffle between 2 boys seems extreme.  It’s hard to imagine that a groin punch contained any sexual connotations for a 7-year-old.  This incident also remindsCalifornia criminal defense lawyers of a bizarre case out of New Jersey last year in which two 14-year-old boys were labeled sex offenders, after a schoolyard fight, in which they pulled down their shorts and sat bare-bottomed on the face of a classmate.  A judge deemed that the boys’ behavior was meant to sexually insult the other boy, and therefore, they deserved to be labeled sex offenders.