For School Kids in California, A Fight is Just a Fight—Not a Crime

07-01-2014 • reason.com

Great news out of California: An appeals court there just ruled that when two students get into a fight on school grounds, it isn't a crime for the courts to rule on—it's merely something the principal has to handle. In other words, a blow has been struck against the school-to-prison pipeline!

Bob Egelko in the SFGate has more on the specific details of the determination, which was reached by the First District Court of Appeals:

The case comes from Ukiah, where 15-year-old Fernando C. got into a fistfight with a fellow high school student behind a shed near the football practice fields one day in December 2012. Neither student was hurt, Fernando's lawyer said, but police referred the case to the Mendocino County district attorney, who charged the youth with the misdemeanor crime of fighting on school grounds.