Judge Frank Caprio puts a mom's fate in her 6-year-old's hands — the girl's response changed everything
Children might have a good sense of fairness and honesty when they haven't been exposed to the ways of the world too much. A little girl showed just that when Judge Frank Caprio asked her to make a decision about her mother's fine. She surprised everyone with her fair and honest decision, even with something involving her own mom. The hearing was posted by Caught in Providence's YouTube channel and the internet loved the interaction between the 6-year-old and the judge.
A mom came to the court because of a parking ticket along with her 6-year-old and her toddler. When the judge noticed the girl, Janice, he asked her if she would like to come up and help him. "Sure," the girl said, before she went up to the judge and stood beside him. Caprio talked to the girl for a while and asked her what she would like to be when she was older. "I want to be a teacher," the girl shared. "That's a wonderful thing for you to do. That's a great job. That way you can help other people improve their lives, right?" The judge encouraged her to keep visualising that in her mind and told her it would happen someday as long as he visualised it. He then asked,"Would you like to be a judge for five minutes?" he questioned and Janice agreed to it.
"You are going to help me with your mom, okay. You are going to be fair and honest," Caprio remarked. The judge shared that her mom had been charged with parking on the sidewalk and that the fine came up to $100. "Wow," the girl exclaimed with her eyes wide with surprise. The mom hadn't paid the ticket, so she had penalties along with it, too. "We are going to ask her to give an explanation and then make a decision on what we are going to do." The judge asked the woman why her car was parked on a sidewalk at three in the morning. The woman had gone to her cousin's house for a party and parked on the sidewalk before she went in because she didn't want anyone to hit her car. Caprio gave the girl four options for her mom's case.
They could either charge the fine with all the penalties and it would come up to $300, or they could charge her just the fine that came up to $100. They could even forgive half of her fine and charge her $50, or forgive the fine and not charge anything at all. "I am stuck. We are going to be fair. What are you going to do about this whole thing?" The girl immediately decided that they should charge her mom $50. He asked her, "We can't charge her zero, right?" The girl agreed with the judge and everyone, including the girl's mom and her uncle, laughed at the response. Caprio asked the girl if she had eaten any breakfast that morning and if he should let her mom off the hook if she bought her and her sister some breakfast. Janice agreed with the condition and the judge pointed out that she did a "great job."
People shared their thoughts on the interaction in the comments section of the video. @Ant0417 wrote, "This guy is such a good and fair judge. I like how the little girl said $50 and not $0. She was smart and honest enough to know there has to be a consequence for doing something wrong. Very good kid." @jenjen171995 commented, "For just a moment, the judge made the little girl forget about her shyness. It may not seem like much, but that is going to impact her for the rest of her life in a very positive way. She's going to feel like she has a voice; she will be able to share her thoughts and opinions with other people. And that is so important for a child to be able to develop. I praise this judge in every way and I hope he will always continue to do this for children and their families."