Will he just spend the rest of his high school years in a juvenile delinquent place ? Will he be released & send back to his normal high school after a couple of months ? I've always kinda wondered what exactly would be the answer to this question, because it doesn't really seem like they could send him away for a very long period, when considering the facts of the case.
shareYeah I've wondered that myself. I'm no expert on what the exact punishment would be in this particular case, but I have to believe all those kids wouldn't be sent away for no more than a year tops. I mean, they basically just busted whoever they saw and whoever they could. It's not like they could really investigate exactly what each and every one of these kids really did.
shareAnd that crazy kid (Vincent Spano) shot a cop!
shareNo, that crazy kid Spano Mudered a Police Officer . Carl was in custody at the time & escaped, instead of staying nearby until other officers arrived to take him back into custody . This is Felony Murder in most States ( where a death occurs during or as a result of a felony ) . Furthermore, Carl was the Ringleader of the Riot & as such bears a lot of the responsibilty .
shareHow would they know Carl was the "ringleader" of the riot ? What evidence is there ?
shareAfter Doberman arrested Carl (and right before he crashed), he said words to the effect that Carl was "going to go away for a little while" [he might have even said, 'a few weeks'] and when he comes back, it will be up to him to decide where his life goes. In my mind, that implied Carl was going to spend a few weeks... maybe a month or two... on the Hill. Moreover, I get the distinct impression that the whole point of the ending (Carl's parents hugging him, Claude, Johnny and Cory waving good bye as the bus heads out of town, Valerie Carter singing "Oh child, things are going to get easier...") was to show that everybody was going to start doing the right things. The parents would stop being so self-involved and start being parents and the kids would go back to being kids again. But, hey, that's just me.
shareBased on what I know as a psychologist-in-training, with a police officer friend and probation officer ex-girlfriend...
Carl probably could have been charged with accessory to felony murder of a police officer.
He was a juvenile at the time, so he probably would have been incarcerated at a juvenile facility and ordered to undergo intense therapy. When he turned 18 or 21 (jurisdictions differ, and this was the '70s), his case would likely have been reviewed by a judge, and based on recommendations from a psychiatrist and clinical psychologist, he probably would have been released. Since the crimes were committed as a juvenile, at 18/21 he would have possibly got a "clean sheet" as far as a police record goes.
Of course, another dynamic is that his parents are at least comfortably well-off and can probably afford a good lawyer, so he may have only got probation.
There's no way that Spano's character would be charged with murder. Manslaughter is more likely for causing the accident that knocked Doberman unconscious. But there's no way he planned for the building to blow up upon it being crashed into.
Secondly, Carl wouldn't have been charged with accessory to murder, because he was in the process of being arrested. He had nothing to do with Spano's character using his bb gun again. After the accident occurred, Carl freed himself in self defense. Just because you don't have time to save someone from a burning building doesn't mean you're criminally responsible for his death.
Remember the rule? A kid who tells on another kid, is a dead kid. I don't think Carl mentioned Spano's name to the cops upon being arrested again. Essentially, Spano's character got away with manslaughter.
And about the time on the hill. Doberman said earlier in the movie that "going to the hill" involves a couple weeks to a month. We're not talking years here. Just wanted to clear some things up!
Actually, considering that all evidence was incinerated, I doubt he would be charged with anything.
sharei figured it would be a few weeks and then he would go back to hanging with the crew
shareSPOILERS ALERT!!! SPOILERS ALERT!!! SPOILERS ALERT!!!
Let us see.
He is picked up but their will be no evidence connecting him with the death of the police officer.
Since he has rich parents, is white, and given the permissive attitudes of the time (the late seventies) I suspect what would happen would be a lot of nothing. If he did time, it would only be for a few months. His parents would relocate, he would join them and his wish of leaving New Granda would come true.
Someone made a good point about the movie - when it first came out, some felt the idea of kids going crazy like they did was unbelievable. After Columbine, the only unbelievable thing was that they didn't kill everyone in the school!
yha, I agree with what you said about the lack of evidence. But apparently, he was convicted of something, otherwise he wouldn't be shipped off with a bunch of other kids who were also involved in the whole thing.
shareHe probably was arrested for rioting along with the others.
Don't forget, the adults inside the school saw what was going on outside and could easily identify everyone.
Of course, again taking the time into consideration, juveniles who committed crimes weren't considered to have committed crimes in the same sense as an adult criminal would have.
The youngest would have probably been released to their parents, the oldest might have done time for a while, but that would be about it.
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Since the adults in the school could identify everyone outside, I suspect Carl was picked up with everyone else they saw.
shareSince he has rich parents, is white, and given the permissive attitudes of the time (the late seventies) I suspect what would happen would be a lot of nothing.
If I were Carl's lawyer I'd argue that the death of his best friend Richie drove him to temporary insanity.
shareTemporary insanity wouldn't fly, but "severe emotional trauma brought about by the sociological malfuctioning nature of the planned comunity and the lack of demographic understanding on the part of the adult administrators" might.
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There is no doubt in my mind that, as foreshadowed by Dobermann, Carl was sent up to "the Hill" for a few weeks on juvenile charges associated with the riot, just like everybody else on the bus. If he (or Mark, Vincent Spano's character) had been charged in some way for Dobermann's murder, they wouldn't be heading off to the same juvenile detention center as the rest.
The larger answer is what was going to happen to Carl when he got back from "the Hill". Personally, I think the ending, specifically with Claude and Cory waving good bye like the young teenagers they were and with "Ohh Child" playing (rather than the originally planned "Baba O'Reilly" which would have changed the tone immensely), implies that the kids return to a very different town... a town where the parents pay attention and listen to their kids' "cries for help". As such, I suspect that Carl goes back to being a good kid, who gets good grades, goes to college, etc., etc., etc.