Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/11/22/mom-puts-recorder-in-her-daugh.html
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While I can appreciate the mother’s perspective. I’ve had issues with my two older kids being bullied. That was NOT the way to fix it. There are far better and non illegal methods to solve the issue.
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I agree. I doubt this will even be prosecuted.
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Surely imprisoning a 9 year old’s mother for 5 years is going to contribute to delinquency? and how is recording a conversation classed as ‘intercepting’?
Then again I suppose it’s cheaper to run a prison based labour system than a decently funded child protection system at school so capitalism for the win once again…
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Sounds like a case needing jury nullification.
I was on the jury in two several week cases back in the 90’s. When we retired to deliberate, I informed both juries about jury nullification. It was kinda eye opening for all of them.
It took some a bit of time to understand that since a judge can’t ask you what you base your opinion on, but only what your individual verdict is, there is nothing they can do.
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Ahem. Norfolk is in Virginia. We West Virginians have enough problems without adding another one to the pile. 
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Yes, because you can always rely on school administrators responding quickly and supportively in bullying cases.
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How do you know the method used was illegal?
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They don’t call it West Virginia for nothing…
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Many of us have been bullied, or have kids that are being bullied. When I was the victim, It was possible to fight back with minimal consequences.
Today, if a kid defends themselves or fights back, they can face prosecution or expulsion. Those are mild punishments for the bully, who probably is going to be in and out of jail for the rest of their lives. But the consequences of fighting back in any way can pretty much destroy the future of a kid with potential and plans. . I cannot as a parent go in there and protect my kids. If the school is not going to do their job and provide an environment where my kids are physically safe, then what are we to do?
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Where do Ok Google and Siri fit in all this madness?
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Such as . . .
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Yep. I fought back against my bully and proceeded to get the living daylights kicked out of me. I think I landed one punch to every ten of his. It was a long walk home that day, but the kid never bullied me after that for some reason. Bullying today is a lot worse because it isn’t left at school. It follows kids everywhere on social media 24/7.
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They don’t call Norfolk “West Virginia” at all, thanks!
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We had this one employee – a well-known bona fide bully and a-hole – here several years ago who secretly recorded one particular at-work conversation he had with a colleague. His aim was to demonstrate that he was the nice guy and the colleague was the bully, this by (obviously) metering his own behavior while trying to entrap the other guy. Here’s the kicker: He tried to play the recording at a meeting attended by all including supervisors and managers. Almost immediately he (and several times after that) was told to stop the playback. Mahogany Row Eyeball Pressure ensued which sealed the deal and he backed off. He didn’t last long after that, and Linkedin shows him working brief stints here and there: anger management issues.
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School is prison for children
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In the USA it varies by state… In my state, only one party to a conversation has to agree to it being recorded, which means it’s safe to record all telephone conversations without doing the “this call may be recorded” warning, but you can’t secretly tape other people’s conversations that you aren’t involved in.
If I am recording conversations for legal purposes I wear a cheap chinese MP3 player that has a record function clipped to my lapel and have a cheap pair of headphones plugged into it and hanging around my neck. To date this has never been detected at the time of recording.
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I sincerely hope not. And I hope the administration takes the bullying seriously and finds a real solution.
Well. I’ve been able to rely on MINE. So anectodally. Yes. This said the adage two wrongs aren’t ok. Her actions still aren’t right.
Laws against recording someone without their knowledge vary from state to state, but are generally very strict. I hope the judge considers the mitigating circumstances, but she really should have done some research on that first.
