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Askthejudge.info features regular updates from the news, important decisions from the nation′s courts, and online discussions with Judge Tom. Find out everything you need to know about youth rights, juvenile law and juvenile justice. AsktheJudge – Empowering youth one question at a time.

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Copyright, 2014
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November 15, 2018
Judge Tom
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Kudos to Parkland students

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You may remember Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teen who was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 for promoting education for girls. She survived and went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014. Malala commented that “When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.”

This applies to the Stoneman Douglas High School students who seized the moment after a school shooting in February, 2018 at their school in Parkland, Florida. Student activists organized the March for Our Lives in Washington, D.C. that saw close to 800,000 people in attendance. Similar marches occurred across the country. The demonstration was about gun control and reasonable restrictions on such devices as bump stocks,* high-capacity magazines, and assault weapons.

Since then, the students have concentrated on getting out the vote for the 2018 mid-term elections which just took place. They spent the summer traveling the country speaking and registering new voters. They have concentrated on the youth vote which could be a strong voting block based on their sheer numbers. This election may be a turning point in the U.S. and return civility to our discourse in and out of Washington, D.C.

Update:  47% of the voting-eligible population cast their ballot on November 6, 2018. That’s approximately 110 million voters – a record high since 1966 in a mid-term election.

If you didn’t register or vote on November 6, 2018, consider the importance of participating in our democracy. Your future hangs in the balance!

*Federal legislation went into effect in March, 2019 banning possession of bump stocks. Conviction may bring up to ten years in prison. A bump stock is a device attached to a weapon enabling it to fire rapidly like a machine gun. The Supreme Court declined to put the ban on hold.

Photo by Ally Aubrey

 

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Judge Tom

The Author Judge Tom

Judge Tom is the founder and moderator of AsktheJudge.info. He is a retired juvenile judge and spent 23 years on the bench. He has written several books for lawyers and judges as well as teens and parents including 'Teen Cyberbullying Investigated' (Free Spirit Publishing) and 'Every Vote Matters: the Power of Your Voice, from Student Elections to the Supreme Court' (Free Spirit Publishing). In 2020, the American Bar Association published "Cyberbullying Law," the nation's first case-law book written for lawyers, judges and law students. When he's not answering teens' questions, Judge Tom volunteers with the American Red Cross and can be found hiking, traveling and reading.

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