Kurtztown, Pennsylvania high school students who hacked into their school's administrative computer network using school-issued laptops have been charged with felonies, according to an AP article. The students were able to do this because of the rank incompetence of the administration in securing its network, including using the same administrative password for all the student laptops and taping the password to the back of one or more of the computers.

It appears to this writer that our society--perhaps unconsciously--has decided that the criminal justice system is the solution to any behavior we don't like, even when children or teenagers are involved and no one is hurt. When the police seize a 12-year old girl for eating french fries in a Washington, D.C. subway station, handcuff her, and book her for a misdemeanor, it is a sign that our society has crossed a line that will be difficult, if not impossible, to retreat across. It doesn't matter that the action of the police passed constitutional muster; the mere fact that the police employed force on a 12-years old girl for what was admittedly a trivial infraction is a strong demonstration that we have lost our faith in persons being reasonable. We also seem to have taken up the doctrine of original sin with a vengence.

It reminds me of the Queen of Hearts, whose solution to all transgressions was "Off with their heads." When I was a child and saw Alice in Wonderland, I thought the queen's behavior was bizarre and atypical. Now it's beginning to seem commonplace.