The Jan. 11 ruling by the Decatur circuit court ruled that students involved in a brawl at a football game did not have their rights infringed upon.

From the outset of the school board’s decision, Jesse Jackson, leader of the Rainbow/PUSH coalition protested that the two-year expulsion was “too harsh.”

The students argued they were racially victimized by the school board. Had they been white, they wouldn’t have incurred such a penalty.

With the recent violence in our nation’s schools, the punishment in this case was too lax; it should have included jail time.

The fact that no guns or knives were used does not make this a plain fight. Seven spectators, six students and an adult filed incident reports that while attempting to flee the violence, they were injured by the students involved.

A clip of the video shown at the trial highlights a woman being trampled as she tried to leave. Attempting to get up, she was kicked down by one of the perpetrators and sustained back injuries.

Jeffrey Perkins, an African-American on the school board, testified that race was not an issue in the decision to expel.

The reduction in sentence to eight months suspension and alternative schooling sets a dangerous precedent. It says that so long as you threaten to sue you can avoid prosecution.

Nothing less than jail time is acceptable. According to testimony by a witness, “the stands erupted into a mass exodus of fists and rage.”

Involvement by Jesse Jackson further disrupts the sentencing process. His amiable character makes it hard for officials to conduct their business. After all, he brought home three U.S. soldiers safely and is regarded as a crusader for personal rights.

The students demonstrated no remorse and failed to testify under the Fifth Amendment. Their actions were barbaric, ruthless and vengeful. They had no respect for others and they were trouble-makers with vicious gangster pasts.

Who cares if they are minors? When you fail to conduct yourself in a manner befitting an adult, you lose your right to be treated as such.

These cowards are afraid of testifying for fear they’ll end up in the Illinois penitentiary.

Look at the victims of the crime; they were innocent bystanders enjoying a great high school rivalry. It’s not misleading to characterize the attackers as merciless, they planned their assault well in advance.

It is socially destructive to dismiss their behavior as random spikes of testosterone-induced mischief.

Court documents showed the students were involved in a previous incident in September in which both gangs vowed revenge.

School violence is out of control. The only way to force it back in line is to adopt a policy of “zero tolerance.”

Abhorrent behavior is ignored by authority, while violence plagues our nation and we ask, “Why?”

We fail to confront the symptoms of violence and disregard it with the notion that boys will be boys. We are teaching our children to be psychotic murderers.

This disease has run rampant for far too long. We need to develop support groups that intervene before problems erupt and end in violence. Those who use terror and promote chaos need to be taught that we will no longer live in fear.

My high school principal once said that students with disciplinary problems cry out for help and often go unanswered until nothing is left but the need to inflict damage.

It hurts to send our children to jail, but the alternative says we don’t care.

Implementing punishment standards for disruptive behavior shows that school is a place of education and that violence will be met with the severest of penalties.

Supporting stronger penalties for violence gives people a moment of pause. The students in Decatur had public disregard for safety; they demonstrated the worst we teach our kids. Stringent rules will make our schools safer than any metal detector.

Youths need to learn to fear authority. Fear is the ultimate form of discipline. It puts us in our place and causes us to reason the consequences and results of certain actions.

If you speed, you are ticketed. If you cause harm, you go to jail.

The rationale behind rules is that we abide by them and as a result form a better society.

When the punishment is spineless, escaping responsibility becomes effortless.

In the end, innocents pay the price.

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Andy Gonzales is a junior in political science from El Paso, Texas.