An average of about 10 children per-day were referred to the Texas justice system for making threats in September.
More children are facing criminal consequences for terroristic threats in recent years, according to data obtained by The Dallas Morning News.
During the first full month of the school year, 316 children were referred for terroristic threats, according to county-level figures compiled by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department.
In many cases, a referral is similar to an arrest. The child is taken into custody and brought to a detention center. Children can also be called in to meet with an officer after a charge is sent to a probation department or judge.
The vast majority of terroristic threat cases involved boys. More than half of the September referrals were children between 10 and 13 years old.
Roughly 13% of Texas public school students are Black, but such students accounted for about 22% of terroristic threat referrals.
Shooters who carry out preplanned attacks are rarely Black or very young, according to data analyzed by David Riedman, a researcher and professor who created the K-12 School Shooting Database.
“It seems like there’s just a level of adult discretion missing,” he said of the September data.
Schools across Texas faced a surge in threats in the weeks after a 14-year-old fatally shot two teenagers and two teachers at Georgia’s Apalachee High School on Sept. 4.
Many reported threats were deemed non-credible by law enforcement.
Children as young as 10 were arrested in response.
Some civil rights advocates worry about this increase in criminal consequences for children who may not fully understand the weight of their words and who don’t have the means to carry out violence.
“Kids will say things sometimes. There might be asinine comments that come from kids – we all were children once, right?” said Andrew Hairston, director of the Education Justice Project at Texas Appleseed. “Even if you make a mistake, you should not be railroaded into this criminal legal regime for it.”
Law enforcement officials say they can’t dismiss any potential threats in today’s climate. So far 2024 has seen at least 35 school shootings resulting in deaths or injuries, according to Education Week.
Officials have emphasized that children must be held accountable for harmful and disruptive language. Every time ominous words spread across social media or the cafeteria, it terrifies students and strains police resources.
“We’re taking, as we should, school safety really seriously. You can’t just say ‘I want to bring a gun to school’ without having a consequence,” said Shane Wallace, director of the Texas Association of School Resource Officers.
State data analyzed by The News found the highest number of terroristic threat referrals in recent years came in 2023, the year after the Uvalde massacre at Robb Elementary. Roughly 1,950 children were referred during that fiscal year.
The impact of criminal consequences can be profound.
The News recently examined the case of a 10-year-old boy who was arrested and criminally charged after his teacher reported he said: “Maybe I should bring a gun to school. Then maybe they will listen to me.” The boy, who has autism, said he was misunderstood. His family doesn’t own guns.
It took more than two years – and thousands of dollars – for his family to get the charge dismissed. The ordeal shattered the boy’s confidence and caused his parents to pull him out of his public school, his family said.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.