How can it be legal for private companies to arrest teenagers in their homes and take them away with them? Based on no legal evidence of them being criminal but just because thei child's parents assigned them to do it? I know parents have custody over their kids but that doesn't allow them to take away their right for personal freedom guaranteeed in the constitution? It's illegal for parents to lock kids up in their basement but it's legal to assign a company to do it? And how can the US possibly call itself a nation of laws if it effectively takes away the rights granted to its citizens by allowing such occurences?
I just watched this tonight, and I was wondering the same thing. Surely a parent has no right to sign away their childs freedom the way they did in this movie. For me this was kidnap.
I can tell you one thing: It's a sure-fire way for a kid to grow up to have zero respect for their parents in adulthood.
I came onto this board originally to see what this movie is about, given that the director of Screamers (1995) did this too. It kind of looks like Driftwood (2006).
Back in the last century, (around the 1960's), similar stories/movies involved parents hiring 'contractors' to rescue their child from a "cult" and take them to be deprogrammed in similar camps. In some of those cases, "the child" was a minor, but many were not. That was actually being done. The deprogramming was expected to undo brainwashing done by the cult.
Both the "rescue" and deprogramming were very controversial, and more than a few of the successfully deprogrammed individuals were interviewed on TV news programs, and their parent(s), separately.
One example of a cult and a very tragic outcome is the mass suicide of all the members of a religious cult, (Jones was the leader, in an African country). They all simultaneously drank poison Kool-Aid, because the cult had convinced them they were doing that as a good thing. Part of the process included multiple trial runs/rehearsals using ordinary Kool-Aid, (think "fire drills"). As I remember it, about 300 people died that day, including children of parent(s) in that cult.
BTW, you may have heard the comment on other recent TV shows/movies about how someone "drank the Kool-Aid" meaning someone believed false teachings or false information, and acted on it, and it may also mean someone is a strong believer in a cause.
Another more recent example, of what has been portrayed as a cult, is the Waco, Texas, USA, Branch Davidian Group led by David Koresch(sp?). As the FBI mounted a final assault on their compound in the early 1980's, all, or nearly all, of the members and their children, including infants, died in the fire that burned the compound to the ground. There has been a lot of speculation and controversy about the fire and the methods used to attempt to arrest the leader, (both the first failed attempt, and the final assault). Prior to the FBI's involvement, some of the members had peacefully left that compound in previous years, and their stories prompted investigations.
With the previous controversy over rescuing people and deprogramming them, apparently none of that was done, or attempted, in that instance.
I know that this is nit piking mikeflw1, but Jim Jones' group demise was held in Guyana which is in South America. Not Africa. Kind of takes a little away from your post by not knowing what you are talking about.
Just saying.
K/H D
If there's a way to screw something up, the "O'Commie regime" will find it EVERY SINGLE TIME!! Only 256 more days left!
Children don't have rights. They might think they do when they reach adolescence, but they only have as many rights as their parents and teachers allow them. These companies are the ultimate proof of that. Where's the ACLU for these kids? *crickets chirp* That's what I thought...
IMHO, there is a huge mess regarding rights of minor children and their parents, stepparents, and legal guardians.
Last month there was an internet story about a father being arrested and actually having to go to trial for theft. The alleged theft was a cellphone his 12-yr old daughter had been using 'inappropriately', and he had warned her, and eventually took it away from her. The girl's mother was a former police officer and the man's ex-wife, and she called the police in the matter. The phone had not been purchased by the girl, or paid for by the girl. The article did not identify who originally bought the phone and paid the monthly bills, but it seems easy to guess it was the ex-wife. I suspect the police were surprised when they were called into this mess, so they requested the father simply return the phone to the girl. Since he viewed this as a simple matter of a parent disciplining their own child, he refused to return it. And so he was arrested, handcuffed, taken to jail, charged with theft, had a bond set, posted bail to get out of jail, and was going to trial for misdemeanor theft. Now as a minor, if the girl had been 'inappropriately' using that phone to break laws, for instance by calling in threats, or trading inappropriate 'selfies' with people... well, the parent is responsible for a minor child's actions (generally).
School district administrators seen to have taken it upon themselves to "give" rights to their minor students. One example is that parents are not allowed to search or remove items from their own child's school locker. If a minor child has illegal drugs in their locker, brings them home, and someone visiting (or working in the home, like a maid service) finds the drugs and calls the police, just guess who is in trouble!
This actually isn't legal. You have to realize they stretch the truth in movies to get a response from the audience. No one can show up and put hands on a minor its immediate assault charges. Parents or guardians. No one can show up and zip tip a minor they don't even know to a bathroom towel rack this is called kidnapping.
The two men you see early on would quickly be charged with felonies. You also cant show up and just shove needles into peoples arms. That's another serious assault charge not to mention what are you doing in possession of a narcotic?
The kids only go with these nut jobs because they do not know they have rights. They don't know that they can call the police or flee to a children's shelter. Or to report their parents. In most of these cases the parents themselves could be reported and charged. If your kid got to this point its you the parent that is to blame.
Anyhow if you are a minor you do have rights you can flee to a shelter and report your parents. You do not have to be hit or manhandled or forced to undergo brutalities such as this. Get in touch with school counselors that's what they are there for. Parents get in trouble very quickly when they actually get reported by their kids.
Be aware that some police departments don't actually take complaints (they refuse to enforce the law) from minors. I went through this and so did my friends. Glad someone is attempting to show the ugly side of this world.
So, how do "you" reconcile that with the "Scared Straight" programs run by, or in cooperation with, law enforcement? If you want to know about that, just search for the name/term Scared Straight.
In that case, parents permission is also required, and the kids (girls too!) are typically kids that are in trouble, and/or in gangs. They may already have been suspended from multiple schools, and even have serious criminal charges ready to be filed against them (like aggravated assault, fighting, selling drugs, etc.).
From the various TV shows, the process is one or two days, and the kids are taken to a jail (city or county), and shown what life in jail is all about. Approved actual prisoners are a major part of the process, and talk to them about how they got themselves in jail. When the young "toughs" are faced with real prisoners, (that could become cellmates!), most realize they do NOT want to go to jail.
None of the shows I have seen ever show physical contact, but there is a lot of in-your-face confrontations and yelling. That, and being locked in a real jail cell, is usually enough to get lasting results, without having the kids get criminal records and spend months or years in jail.