As a student at Green Mountain High School, I remember that crisp December morning that turned for the worst. Two of my fellow students were charged with two felonies, and a misdemeanor. They were held in the Montview Juvenile Detention Center for eight days, and have been expelled for the rest of the semester. But why?

Their charges included carrying a concealed weapon and first degree arson. Their weapon: a glass bottle, filled with baking soda and vinegar, capped off with a rubber eye dropper top.

In my opinion, it's a mere science project, a stupid mistake, yet now they're not welcome in any Jefferson County public school.

I know that when it comes to the law, it's a black and white situation, as one GM teacher would say. A prank resulting badly, to me, but the government, it's a crime.

Would these two boys' punishments have been so severe a couple of decades ago? I talked to my parents about their high school lives, and it turned out to be quite different from my own. According to my mom, school violence was rare. There was the occasional fist fight, but nobody thought to bring a gun or a bomb to school. Pranks like the two boys' above weren't taken as seriously. Why the change, then?

Last year, around April, one of my mom's friends knew a boy, around eight years old, who brought a water gun to school as a prop for a school project. He was suspended for possession of a weapon. My heart twinges just a little each time I hear about people like the boys at my school, and the boy with the water gun, and how one mistake landed them in serious trouble. The sad part is, they're probably not alone. There has to be more like them, ones that just made a stupid mistake.

I've thought and thought about how and why the increase in violence has changed over the years. I don't think it's just the population increase. There's that unknown factor, and if we could eliminate it, would those two boys still be considered felons?