9-year-old who stole gum jailed pending court date

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The citizens of Post Falls, Idaho are no doubt sleeping easier now that they know how dedicated their local justice system is to keeping wanton criminals off the streets: The town's police arrested a 9-year-old boy and are holding him in a juvenile detention center until his upcoming court date.

The boy's crime is the theft of a pack of gum. He was originally permitted to stay at home during his legal process, but when he missed two prior court dates because his family had no means to transport him to court, prosecutors issued a warrant for his arrest.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.