Teens vandals sentenced to read books, write papers

ASHBURN, VA (WUSA9) - An unusual sentence has been given to five teenage boys who vandalized the historic Ashburn Colored School. The 16 and 17 year olds spray-painted it with racist, sexist and anti-Semitic symbols.
 
The community was outraged.

But now, an usual sentence given to the boys is drawing approval from the across the country.

Instead of coming down hard on the boys, the prosecutor decided to look at it as a "teachable moment."

"It was very obvious from the beginning that these were dumb teenagers," said Loudoun County prosecutor Alex Rueda.

The boys drew various symbols such as swastikas, sexual-explicit pictures and the words "white power" and "brown power," along with drawings of dinosaurs.

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