Well better to stop them young before they move on to more serious crime like jaywalking.
On a more serious note this case brought the issue to the forefront in recent weeks in NC. I will note the police who issued this criminal summons received a lot of criticism from people on both sides of the aisle within our state over recent days.
But it brings up a more comprehensive issue about what is the minimum age where juveniles should be charged with crimes criminally. There is a proposal to change the age to 10 from 6 in our legislature which appears to have bipartisan support.
However I will note (as stated in the article) that most criminal charges against juveniles aged 6 to 11 come from schools. These instances usually involve situations where the juvenile attacked and seriously injured a school staff member. There was a local case where a 10 year old attacked a teacher putting her in a coma that is cited in conversations about schools making criminal referrals. Some say these referrals of juveniles aged 6 to 11 are racist while teachers say they are necessary to protect the staff from violent children.