*The answer to violence is always more violence. What better lesson to teach a kid than the lesson of "If someone doesn't do what you want them to do, just beat them until they finally see things your way"?*

No one is talking about beating children just because they don't "see things your way" or "do things that you want them to do".

Kids definitely learn early that there is very little that you can do to them--violent or otherwise--if they misbehave. Can't read? Go ahead onto the next grade anyway. Push a kid off some playground equipment--that's a time-out little buddy! Hey, you can even get drunk and kill your best pal via vehicular homicide and get barely a metaphorical slap on the wrist.

Crime and punishment. Those terms are twinned for a reason.

The answer to violence is always more violence. What better lesson to teach a kid than the lesson of "If someone doesn't do what you want them to do, just beat them until they finally see things your way"?

Part of the problem today is that parents don't hit their kids anymore. This country is becoming more and more kid centric and it is disgusting. I will definitely swat my kids when they misbehave. In the last 10 years, kids have become more and more disrespectful. Furthermore, they have turned into little pansies.

*Many of you are confused by my recommendation of promoting griffiti, not all griffiti is gang related. Where grifitti is allowed the artist must submit a picture of the muril to a board who approves it. Then the project begins, usually with 5-10 helpers, an easel holding the approved picture and alot of interested on lookers. The art is then up for a previously determined amount of time. *

One wonders if this novel approach would work for youthful drug offenders, as well. Hire some more government bureaucrats and have them waste the public's time and money by judging just exactly what kind of meth/crack/dope party these "youts" want to have and then award the winner their very own distressed property in which to debauch their lives away.

tnimmo...When did you become all high and mighty? Maybe you should stick to the summer school homework that will help you achieve the diploma you did not get with the rest of your class. Maybe another spelling class would be appropriate!!

tnimmo89. Who made you king of this dump?

localboysince1968: I dont necissarily feel that "bad paretns raise bad kids". Although I do completly feel that parents take up for a lot of what is going wrong, I personally know people who have amazing parents, who do everthing they can, and still have a bad apple. Reguardless, starting from the earliest age, parents need to controll, and shape their children into productive, positive members of society, and lacking to do so, results in issues like these.

thekai and opinions for free: this is not a place to boost your self asteam by matching smarts with someone who had their caps key on, please stop speaking unless its relevant to the raskles. k thanks bye

prevention - thats my point they got that much time for tagging, the kid who brought the air gun got a month.

Bad parents raise bad kids. Need I say more?

thekai that is far from the truth

Opinionsforfree,
I bet you're right. But you know, it's just so much more difficult to make a strong point and sound intelligent if you don't leave that caps lock key on.

"The second student was given the option of attending TAGOS"

How Fun You TAG and you get TAGOS

I bet they learned to turn off their Caplock key too before they were expeled

THESE KIDS GOT WHAT THE DESERVED. I BET THESE KIDS WOULDN'T SPRAY PAINT THEIR PARENTS HOUSES. SO WHAT GIVES THEM THE RIGHT TO DEFACE OUR PROPERTY. THESE SO CALLED GANSTERS ARE NOTHING MORE THAN A BUNCH OF KIDS THINKING THERE HARD AND UNTOUCHABLE. WELL HEY NEWS FLASH IF I CATCH ANYONE DEFACING MY PROPERTY YOU BETTER BELIVE I AM GONNA DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. I DON'T CARE WHO THEY ARE OR HOW OLD THEY ARE OR WHAT GANG THEIR IN. ANYONE EVER SAW STRIPES? REMEMBER WHAT THE COP DID TO THE KID HE CAUGHT DEFACING PROPERTY, HE GRABED THE CAN OF PAINT AND SPRAYED IT HIS FACE. NO THATS JUSTICE. SO GO AHEAD GAZZETTE STAFF AND REMOVE MY COMMENT BECAUSE ITS CRUEL AND A MEAN THING TO SAY BUT ITS THE TRUTH AND THESE KIDS NEED TO BE STOPED. AND THATS MY2CENTS

jvldude, note that the expulsions are conditional. Expulsion is done for the safety of the school as a whole, not as a punishment. The expulsion conditions (counseling, etc.) mean that there is an action and consequence relationship. The students have the choice (as they are old enough to drop out) of attending a charter school instead of the high school. If their families are involved and are able to exercise any constraint on them they will be smart to make the kids go to those programs, but it isn't in the capacity of the school board to make sure that they do.

Read again Excel. It was two years, not one. They were expelled through the 2009-2010 school year. We are approaching the 2008-2009 school year.

I guess my point is... There has to be a better way to curb this type of behavior. Laws programs positive and negative reinforcment etc... to expel
without any type of punishment will only further add to this problem as most of us agree on

Many of you are confused by my recommendation of promoting griffiti, not all griffiti is gang related. Where grifitti is allowed the artist must submit a picture of the muril to a board who approves it. Then the project begins, usually with 5-10 helpers, an easel holding the approved picture and alot of interested on lookers. The art is then up for a previously determined amount of time. It adds alot to under passes along walking trails (hum, don't we have walking trails?). The art is just that, ART. The gangs don't touch it and, in the areas i have seen it, it remained damage free. It really promotes trails and tourism (hum, don't we need to promote trails and tourism?). Kinda like making lemonaid from lemons.

jvl dude
Did you actualy read my post.
It did not exacly support Gang graffiti.

will you guys please stop with the art crap. These people are thugs. making it ok to paint "art" everywhere is not going to curb gang activity

That is another great idea.

happycamper said
"Do these two have an artistic talent?”
While I sat one day watching a very long freight train go by, my wife and I noticed something. 99% of the trains cars had boring graffiti on it. Most were repetitive gang symbols or simply stylized initials. Just simple "Tags"
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There were a couple of interesting ones that broke from the norm and made you think wow that person has talent. Or at least made you laugh.
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There is a BIG difference between Gang graffiti and Art. It is no different than someone signing there name and someone painting a picture. They have two different uses. Gang graffiti has one purpose. To mark your territory. And at that age it most likely it had a second purpose. There is a good chance they were put up to it in order to prove themselves to the gang. Hopefully this is the case and they have been caught before they are too deep into the gangs.
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Interesting how these children who thought they were marking there territory will no longer be allowed on that territory. Looks like someone else will get to move in.
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on another note.
Does it bother anyone else how there reports have to come in due to school policy. The Gazette never gets to report the full story and that leads to us having to fill in a lot of information, many times incorrectly.
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OK one more side note. Has anyone else noticed how the automatic content ads on these sites advertise for some strange things? At the bottom this page was an ad for phonetonejams. The headline read “Gang War Ringtones”. How strange is that?

Expulsion from PUBLIC school I totally agree with...but with the consequences of being enrolled in MILITARY SCHOOL. Remember in the day....either go to jail or the military! Bring it back.

Being expelled from school is a joke. Now what are they supposed to do when everyone else is school. They will just find more ways to get in trouble with more free time to do whatever they want and no supervison. I highly doubt their parents are going to stay home from work to watch them.

This gang thing is a Joke? Tell that to the kid that was shot downtown near the Y, or to the people at Denny's the night a fight broke out and the punk showed back up with a shotgun and pointed it at the window where the rival gang was. To say the Janesville Police are doing nothing is wrong. They are doing a heck of a lot more than you are! I agree the parents should be aware of what their kids are up to. But if they cared to begin with, their kids wouldn't be in a gang. Wake up! The gang problem is here, and if we bury our heads in the sand and say "this is Janesville, nothing bad happens here", That is contributing to the problem.

I agree stiffer laws would help

HI all well this might open you'r eye's but the gang situation is real, these kids are not wanta be's they are gona be's. everyone needs to look at how many kids are in juvenile detention at the county it would realy wake a lot of people up, If you know a social worker who deals with juvy's ask them how sireouse this is. these kids don't care they get put in juvy for a while and they get out and do more crim's and put back in and let out again, what we the adults need to do is get the law change and have them more accountable for there action.

Parents if you see your kid acting like a thug maybe you should do something about it rather than justifying it "oh he's just being a kid"

*Do these two have an artistic talent? Cities around the world have moved, supposed, gang graffiti into art. if you have ever seen the artwork or the artists at work it is amazing. *

Oh boy, by all means, let's give some public space or hard-earned money to subsidize the tagging of "Vice Lord Disciples" or MS-13 all over the public arena. Just what we need.

Perhaps we ought to mete out a little Saudi-style justice on these young pukes instead of giving up and giving in.

Let’s talk Conceal Carry Laws I bet those little guys won’t shoot at someone if they might be carrying a .50 caliber hand cannon

Opinions-how about those "little punk" wannabees who shot the guy at the YMCA?

Gangs are a joke.

what are a few little punks on BMX bikes going to do.

They are expelling them for the whole school year for this.. Seems kind of excessive.(Kid brings airsoft gun gets expelled for a month.) When they are not in school next year they will be on the streets, how is this going to help anything?

Do these two have an artistic talent? Cities around the world have moved, supposed, gang graffiti into art. if you have ever seen the artwork or the artists at work it is amazing. They display their griffiti art where you would expect it, under bridges, in well lit alleys, these are talented people showing off their art. If these two have an artistic talent let them submit a blueprint of their art they would like to dispaly to the city. Once approved, let them paint. If they have no talent and were just a couple of loosers with a paint can, kick em' in the balls and make them clean up their mess.

The majority of these gangs were not started in Janesville, and have moved here. Make no mistake though, they are real gangs and it is a real problem. Sending these kids to Compton, or other areas with a bad reputation for having violent gangs, would be like sending them to a school for gangs. They would likely thoroughly enjoy it, and if they even wanted to come back to Janesville, they'd just bring more influence and violence.
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I know it seems like a joke, but it isn't. Instead of ignoring the problem and pretending it's false, you should try to do something about it. At the very least, don't criticize the Janesville Police Department or school board unless you have suggestions to help them improve their efforts.

Well if any of those little punks are reading this. Do you know people laugh at you behind your back when your wearing your hat sideways or tilted on your head.

Put these kids in the Compton School District so they can find out how "gangsta" they really aren't ...

Opinionsforfree: No worries, I do belive there is an age limit to buy BB Guns, ahahah

Yeah. Why is it these kids or jr thugs i call them think they need to wear their hats sideways, tilted? is this "cool" now? Evertime i seem these little boys I want to tell them how silly they look but i'm afraid that they will shoot me with their BB guns

First of all the Janesville Police dept. is not working "diligently" on anything... Next a message to middle schoolers: YOUR LIKE 12 YEARS OLD, LIVING IN JANESVILLE, YOU ARE NOT IN A GANG! What do they ride their bikes around with baggy clothes swearing a lot...honestly such fools. And parents of these CHILDREN: Control your child! Anyhoo this whole "gang" business and "gang graffiti" is getting really old. You live in Janesville Wisconsin, your not in a fricken gang. Grow up. Fools.