KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Knox County and Knoxville law enforcement have arrested at least 11 minors for making threats of mass violence against schools since Friday, including six on Wednesday afternoon.
State Senator Richard Briggs is a strong supporter of the law, which the state legislature passed late in 2023. The law classifies a threat of mass violence as a Class E felony. Minors are automatically expelled from school for one year if found guilty.
Sen. Briggs said the state government should take a zero-tolerance approach to threats against school made by anyone, including minors, but prosecuting minors isn't black and white.
"Kids can say some really stupid things. They don't have the same impulse control as adults," he said.
He said context is important in those cases. Environmental, family and mental factors are all considered, and a minor would be prosecuted in juvenile court.
"If it was just an impulse a child had, or it had to do with their susceptibility to peer pressure, the courts could probably look on that a little differently and wouldn't move them to an adult court," he said.
It doesn't matter how a threat is communicated. Written, spoken, graffiti on a wall, all that matters is that it's expressed. To enforce that standard, the law also obliges anyone who might see or hear a threat when it's communicated to report it to authorities. Anyone who doesn't could be charged with a Class B misdemeanor.
That means a parent could be liable for not stopping the actions of a child. It's a fluid legal area, with the cases of Ethan Crumbley, the Oxford High School shooter, and the father of the Apalachee High School shooter, potentially redefining the legal standard.
Briggs said that because prosecuting minors will likely vary, the possible punishment of a guilty parent could vary too.
"It means the parents would have to pay the legal fees for the child, and they could also receive a $3,000 fine, which, by the time you pay that, could be $5,000. That's a pretty big hit," Briggs said.