{"id":175,"date":"2026-05-23T10:07:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T10:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingservicesamerica.com\/?p=175"},"modified":"2026-05-23T10:07:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T10:07:47","slug":"tennessees-law-on-school-threats-ensnared-students-who-posed-no-risks-two-states-passed-similar-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingservicesamerica.com\/?p=175","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee\u2019s Law on School Threats Ensnared Students Who Posed No Risks. Two States Passed Similar Laws."},"content":{"rendered":"
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New laws in Georgia and New Mexico are requiring harsher punishments for students \u2014 or anyone else \u2014 who make threats against schools, despite growing evidence that a similar law is ensnaring students who posed no risk to others.<\/p>\n

Read more 100 Students in a School Meant for 1,000: Inside Chicago\u2019s Refusal to Deal With Its Nearly Empty Schools<\/a><\/p>\n

ProPublica and WPLN News have documented how a 2024 Tennessee law that made threats of mass violence at school a felony has led to students being arrested based on rumors and for noncredible threats. In one case, a Hamilton County deputy arrested an autistic 13-year-old in August for saying his backpack would blow up, though the teen later said he just wanted to protect the stuffed bunny inside.<\/p>\n

In the same county almost two months later, a deputy tracked down and arrested an 11-year-old student at a family birthday party. The child later explained he had overheard one student asking if another was going to shoot up the school tomorrow, and that he answered \u201cyes\u201d for him. Last month, the public charter school agreed to pay the student\u2019s family $100,000 to settle a federal lawsuit claiming school officials wrongly reported him to police. The school also agreed to implement training on how to handle these types of incidents, including reporting only \u201cvalid\u201d threats to police.<\/p>\n

Tennessee requires schools to assess whether threats of mass violence are valid before expelling students. But the felony law does not hold police to the same standard, which has led to the arrests of students who had no intent to disrupt school or carry out a threat.<\/p>\n

In Tennessee\u2019s recent legislative session, civil and disability rights advocates unsuccessfully pushed to change the law to specify that police could arrest only students who make credible threats. They argued that very young students and students who act disruptively as a result of a disability should be excluded from felony charges.<\/p>\n

Several Tennessee lawmakers from both parties also voiced their dissatisfaction with the school threats law during the session, citing the harm done to children who did not pose real danger. \u201cI\u2019m still struggling through the unintended consequences because I\u2019m still not entirely happy with what we did before,\u201d Sen. Kerry Roberts, a Republican, said at a committee hearing in April. \u201cWe\u2019re still struggling to get that right.\u201d<\/p>\n

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But Greg Mays, the deputy commissioner of the Department of Safety and Homeland Security, told a committee of lawmakers in March that in his \u201cinformed opinion,\u201d the law was having a \u201cdeterrent effect\u201d on students who make threats. Mays told ProPublica that the number of threats his office was tracking had decreased since the law went into effect. His office did not immediately release that number and previously denied requests for the number of threats it has tracked, calling the information \u201cconfidential.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to data ProPublica obtained through a records request, the number of students criminally charged is growing, not shrinking. This past school year through the end of March, the number of charges for threats of mass violence in juvenile court has jumped to 652, compared to 519 the entire previous school year, when it was classified as a misdemeanor. Both years, students were rarely found \u201cdelinquent,\u201d which is equivalent to guilty in adult court. The youngest child charged so far this year is 6.<\/p>\n

Rather than tempering its approach, Tennessee toughened it this year. The Legislature added another, higher-level felony to the books for anyone who \u201cknowingly\u201d makes a school threat against four or more people if others \u201creasonably\u201d believe the threat will be carried out. Legal and disability rights advocates told lawmakers they worried the new law would result in even more confusion among police and school officials who handle threats.<\/p>\n

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Despite the outcry over increased arrests in Tennessee, two states followed its lead by passing laws that will crack down harder on hoax threats.<\/p>\n

In New Mexico, lawmakers increased the charge for a shooting threat from a misdemeanor to a felony, in over the previous year. To be charged with a felony, a person must \u201cintentionally and maliciously\u201d communicate the threat to terrorize others, cause the evacuation of a public building or prompt a police response.<\/p>\n

Critics of the bill warned that even with the requirement to prove intent, it was written too vaguely and could harm students.<\/p>\n

Read more George Mason Is the Latest University Under Fire From Trump. Its President Fears an \u201cOrchestrated\u201d Campaign.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis broad definition could criminalize what is described as \u2018thought crimes\u2019 or \u2018idle threats,\u2019 with implications for statements made by children or juveniles without a full appreciation of the consequences,\u201d the public defenders\u2019 office argued, according to .<\/p>\n

After a 14-year-old shot and killed four people at Apalachee High School in Georgia last September, the state\u2019s House Speaker Jon Burns vowed to take tougher action against students who make threats.<\/p>\n

He sponsored legislation that makes it a felony to issue a death threat against a person at a school that terrorizes people or causes an evacuation. The law, which went into effect in April, says someone can be charged either if they intend to cause such harm or if they make a threat \u201cin reckless disregard of the risk\u201d of that harm.<\/p>\n

Neither Burns nor the sponsor of the New Mexico bill responded to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Georgia also considered a bill that would treat any 13- to 17-year-old who makes a terroristic threat at school as an adult in court. But after pushback from advocates, the bill\u2019s author, Sen. Greg Dolezal, a Republican, removed threats from the list of offenses that could result in transfer to adult court.<\/p>\n

During a March committee hearing, Dolezal acknowledged advocates\u2019 concerns with the original bill language. \u201cWe recognize that there is actually a difference between people who actually commit these crimes and minors who are unwisely threatening but perhaps without an intent to ever actually follow through on it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Other states also considered passing harsher penalties for school threats.<\/p>\n

In Alabama, Rep. Alan Baker, a Republican, sponsored a bill that that a threat be \u201ccredible and imminent\u201d to result in a criminal charge. The bill passed easily in both chambers but did not go through the final steps necessary to make it through the Legislature.<\/p>\n

Baker said the broader version of the penalty was intended to target hoax threats that cause panic at schools. A first offense would be a misdemeanor; any threats after that would be a felony. \u201cYou\u2019re just talking about a very disruptive type of scenario, even though it may be determined that it was just a hoax,\u201d Baker said. \u201cThat\u2019s why there needed to be something that would be a little bit more harsh.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baker told ProPublica that he plans to reintroduce the bill next session.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania is considering legislation that would make threats against schools a felony, regardless of credibility. The bill would also require offenders to pay restitution, including the cost of supplies and compensation for employees\u2019 time spent responding to the threat.<\/p>\n

In a memo last December, state Sen. Michele Brooks, a Republican, cited the \u201ccruel and extremely depraved hoax\u201d threats following Nashville\u2019s Covenant School shooting as the reason for the proposal. \u201cThese calls triggered a massive emergency response, creating perilous conditions for students, teachers and public safety agencies alike,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

The ACLU of Pennsylvania opposes the legislation, calling it a \u201cbroad expansion\u201d of current law that could lead to \u201cexcessive\u201d costs for children.<\/p>\n

Read more Middle School Cheerleaders Made a TikTok Video Portraying a School Shooting. They Were Charged With a Crime.<\/a><\/p>\n

Pennsylvania\u2019s Legislature adjourns at the end of December.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite an outcry over increased arrests in Tennessee, two states \u2014 Georgia and New Mexico \u2014 followed its lead by passing laws that will crack down harder on hoax threats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-education"],"yoast_head":"\nTennessee\u2019s Law on School Threats Ensnared Students Who Posed No Risks. 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