August 5th / 7th, 2011
"Young Flash Mobbers Must Do Hard Time"
In 2003 Harpers Magazine editor Bill Wasik engineered the first social
media flash mob by assembling throngs of people at Macy's to play a practical
joke on an unsuspecting rug salesman. Three years later, a flash mob
gathered for some spontaneous dancing at a London disco. And, in 2008, thousands
of twitter driven young people staged an international pillow fight. That
was then and this is now. What had been a conduit for facilitating harmless
fun has turned into a weapon for committing group crimes.
Within the past few months, flash mobs have burglarized businesses and
terrorized bystanders in cities across America. A mob recently swarmed a
clothing store in Washington DC and took $20,000 worth of merchandise. In Las
Vegas, 20 teens robbed a convenience store. "It became a feeding frenzy",
the store owner told KLAS-TV. Meanwhile, in Chicago last month, flash mobs
committed four robberies within a ten minute span, and managed to drag a man
into the street, and beat him senseless just for the fun of it. In St.
Paul, Minnesota, a BP gas station was overrun by 20 mobbers who assaulted the
attendant. And, last week, Mitchell Sommers, executive director of the
Community Theatre of Greensboro, told WFMY News that he was attacked in Center
City Park as "hundreds" of people rushed into the park all at once. It
should be noted that Greensboro Police are not characterizing the Center City
assault as a flash mob incident, but they do admit that kids are using social
media these days to plan gatherings and then turn them into violence.
Actual flash mob incidents are orchestrated through communications on social media like
Facebook and Twitter, and, most of the time the perpetrators go unpunished. That's
because flash mobs specialize in split second timing. They swarm in,
commit the crime, and swarm out before they can be identified, and before police
can reach the scene.
It is a growing and disturbing trend. The National Retail Federation
surveyed 129 retailers and found that 95% had been victimized by organized
criminals in the past year. The question is why? Scott Decker, a professor of
criminology at Arizona State University told FOXnews.com, "Young people are
risk takers. They do things in groups far more than adults do. A medium like
Twitter plays into the characteristics of young persons' behavior". Decker
also observed that with flash mobbers, public recognition trumps the risk of
getting caught. "Getting caught on security cameras is a thrill, not a
threat to kids who like to see themselves on YouTube. It's a way of bragging.
Not only can you show your friends, you can show the whole world".
I'm not disputing Decker's thesis, but I also believe there is another
explanation. Simply stated, teens do the crime because they don't think
they'll do the time. As was mentioned previously, most of these social media gang
members strike so quickly that they can't be identified. But here in North
Carolina, for those who are under the age of 16, they also know that the
law is on their side. Even if caught and convicted of mob robbery or
assault, they will probably escape with probation or, at most, a little time in a
juvenile facility.
That's why juvenile justice reform measures of the past several decades
didn't go far enough. To date, only 23 states will try a child of any age as
an adult, depending on the crime. But due to recent events, every state
should give more consideration to the severity of the offense, and less to the
age of the offender. Sure, such reform must be tempered by logic and
compassion. No one wants an eight-year-boy to be thrown into prison for
shooting another kid with a BB gun. But 13-, 14-, and 15-year-olds are old enough to
know that it is wrong to rob in a mob, or bang in a gang. No one knows for
certain the exact ages of Mr. Sommers' assailants, but if caught, they
should do hard time, and do it as an adult.
Social workers and youth advocates will cite statistics about how kids who
are put in prison end up having a high rate of recidivism, and that
counseling and rehab are a more effective way of dealing with youthful offenders.
But proponents of trying kids as adults say today's teens are more
sophisticated and more dangerous. Point well taken. Just remember that fists, not
pillows were thrown in Center City Park last week. But laws won't be
changed until everyone on both sides of the debate admits that beating people and
robbing stores is not merely a youthful indiscretion.
One observer explained the recent surge in flash mob crimes by saying that
kids just have too much time on their hands. If that's the case, then let
them spend it in prison, not in the park.
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