This week we welcomed (virtually) Kane County Judges Susan Clancy Boles and Clint Hull to Thompson. Below is an article describing their presentation to our students.
The Legal Web Teens Weave on the World Wide Web
There are real life consequences with sending a text, posting on social media or sharing a video. Misuse of technology can lead to criminal charges, a permanent record or in the most extreme circumstances, loss of life. Those issues are addressed in a statewide program developed by two Kane County judges that is returning in this year after a pandemic pause. The hour-long presentation entitled “Worries of the World Wide Web” is geared towards middle school students and takes an eye-opening look into the potentially criminal, and sometimes devastating, after effects of cyber bullying, electronic harassment, and sexting/pornography.
The origins of the program came from concerns middle school teachers shared with Kane County Judges Susan Clancy Boles and Clint Hull about the harmful repercussions’ students were dealing with because of social media. Boles and Hull set out to create a narrative with students, using real life examples of what may seem to be private texts, pictures and video that actually weren’t. The students are confronted with the reality of how their actions could land them in the court system, no matter what their age and what that could mean for them years later as adults.
“What students need to understand is the moment they press “send” on social media, they lose control over what they just sent,” said Hull. “The text or picture, which they thought was private, can be forwarded, posted, and/or shared with anyone on the internet. The end result is that “private” picture or text just became available to everyone online.”
“Worries of the World Wide Web” has recently been revised to include the most recent social media applications, ways teens are hiding their interaction online from adults and new or updated laws governing the abuse of technology.
“Judge Hull and I have seen the devastating results that can happen to a young person because of one bad decision,” said Judge Boles. “If we can get these students to think, ‘Wow, that could be me or I didn’t realize what could really happen because I forwarded a picture or a text’ then we have taken the first steps in changing a young person’s understanding about how action leads to accountability.”
The “Worries of the World Wide Web” also addresses the alarming ties between social media, specifically cyberbullying and teen suicide. According to the CDC, suicide is the third leading cause of death in younger people ages 15-19 years.
Kane County Judges have presented “Worries of the World Wide Web” over fifty times to schools throughout Kane County speaking to over 10,000 students. The IJA launched the statewide program in January of 2017. For further information about the program, write the Illinois Judges Association at 321 S. Plymouth Court, Chicago, IL 60604, call (312) 431-1283 or email the association at info@ija.org.
