The Berrien County Prosecutor’s office has authorized charges in 23 cases involving threats to local schools since the shootings at Oxford High School in Oakland County on November 30. Assistant Prosecutor Russ Szwabowski tells us around 30 cases were referred to the office regarding local threats. Of the 23 cases in which charges have been authorized, all are juveniles under a recent state law. The charges include terrorism, which is a 20 year felony, and making a school threat, which can be a 10 year felony or a 1 year misdemeanor. Szwabowski says in juvenile cases, the penalties can range from probation to residential treatment, which means being sent to a center where counselling and other services are offered. The time there can be 6 to 12 months, or possibly longer. Szwabowski says the prosecutor wants young people to know, however, that if they were adults, they could be looking at 20 years in prison for making school threats. He notes in all of the cases, it was determined the student who made the threat was not actually preparing to carry out an attack. The students charged range in age from 12 to 17. Szwabowski says parents should talk to their kids about social media use, and young people need to know that “words matter, and they can have extremely serious consequences.”
