Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Students Who Sprayed Swastika On School Can Face Victims Instead Of Prosecution

(JTA) — The 14 male students who sprayed a swastika and anti-gay slurs on the side of their Boston-area high school can go through a “restorative justice process” instead of being criminally prosecuted.

The vandalism, using the spray from fire extinguishers at Arlington High School, occurred on May 2. The vandals also shattered the glass of vending machines, display cases and of the fire extinguishers.

The school district and police department consulted with the Arlington Human Rights Commission, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Arlington LGBTQIA+ Rainbow Commission to decide on a response to the attack, the Boston television station WHDH Channel 7 reported.

Under the restorative justice process, the victims of the crime will be given an opportunity to meet with the vandals, allowing the teens to better understand the impact of their actions and to make amends as well as financial restitution.  The offenders will work directly with the school community, Jewish community and the LGBTQIA+ community throughout the process.

Those who do not choose to participate in the restorative justice process will have their case prosecuted and face the possibility of having a criminal record. In addition, the students still face discipline from the Arlington Public Schools, including suspension or being excluded from senior class events.

Contact Alyssa Fisher at [email protected] or on Twitter, @alyssalfisher

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.