Zero tolerance, in general, the policy that people should get the same punishment for breaking some law, regardless of other circumstances that might help/hurt the case. It's a trickier subject than it seems...

Example #1:

Schools have policies against bringing in weapons of any sort onto school ground. However, one student with a very positive record gets into trouble because, somewhere in his car, is a dull butter-knife. Despite the fact that it was not only in his car, where he probably didn't even know it existed, and that it is just a butter-knife, he is punished with maximum penalty.

Example #2:

Someone smuggles a bomb into an airport successfully, then turns himself in saying that he was testing the security system out. He's given a minimal punishment despite the huge crime he committed.

I sort of pulled these examples out of my head (though I think the first one actually happened), but you get the idea. I won't go into length about my ideas on the subject, but I want to know what everyone else thinks.

zero tolerances get allot of people in jail that don't deserve it.

But yet zero tolerance can also be a good thing Orion. We have zero tolerance in our school, and personally, it's doing quite well. We've had people bring weapons like knives to our schools, and other things such as drugs, and the zero tolerance hasn't been in vein yet because no one with a good record has yet to be punished for a simple mistake as in your example 1 Igna. Although I deeply hate my school because it's over obsession with sports, spending over 1 million dollars to build a new, pointless stadium, and it's stupid, pointless rules that serve no purpose, our zero tolerance is actually good. But then again, like your examples, it can also be a bad thing where someone can be severely punished for something simple that can cause no threat at all, or like your example 2 where someone can be let off not as harsh for just experimenting with a bomb and a security system. Zero tolerance over all is a half good, half bad situation.

I remember reading readers digest, which had this article on how riduculous (sp?) zero tolerance is, and this kid was a boy scout, and he brought his boy scout jacket, and it had his pocket knife in it. Well, some kid found out and he got expelled or suspended, and he got 40 days in juvie. Now I think he has chronicle depression because of all the trouble he went through. I think zero tolerance is ok, just as long as it dosen't go way to far/it gets taken seriously.

I am not a fan of "The Zero Tolerance Police" and I am glad our school is very light on it.

Example:I guess this is like Kevins story

Last year I brought a hunting knife to school on accident; I left it in my pocket after we went hunting. I got to school and realized I had it in my pocket. I immediately went to the school officer and gave it to him, he reluctantly took it and said to get it after school. He told me that if someone saw me with it and turned me in I would be in a juvinial (sp?) facility for at least 6 months.

I would possible not even be here right now if our school stuck to "The Zero Tolerance Police".

But that also plays into academic honesty. Which is a massive part of any schols Zero Tolerance Policy.

There should always be Double Standards. People get Expelled, Put in Jail, and Punished in General all the time because of one little incident. Look at those people in Singapore there crazy when it comes to punishing.

for the first one he should...at the most...be met at court

for the second he should...at the least...be met at court

Two things weird while writing this...

A. this is my 300th post (woohoo!)

B. I said the same bit of the phrase twice