But that isnt relevant to my point. Because my point is what the PRTs perslecive is. And they dont know about that. To the PRT, all of those are perfectly true. And all of those are reasons why they do things like recruit from the courtroom. Because from their perspective, it works. Maybe not always perfectly, after all, Sophia clearly struggles to get along with her fellow Wards, but thats a fairly minor interpersonal problem, and one that is mostly just a case of conflicting personalities, and you'd get those sorts of peoblems anywhere.
Edit: Also, didn't the Grue thing happen before she became a ward?
There is precedent in the form of "Join the army or go to jail". It was only abolished in the 1980's.
Lots of young men did accept and turn their lives around.
Also from the PRT's perspective, Shadow Stalker was a young woman who wanted to be a hero but was merely misguided in how she went about doing things.
They probably checked her school records and found that she was a track star with decent grades and no disciplinary record* (remember that the teachers and principal are not doing anything about the bullying so there probably isn't anything in Sophia's file. Taylor's file probably has a mention of numerous "false" complaints against popular "model students" like track star Sophia Hess and beauty queen Emma Barnes). I don't blame the PRT from missing what is going on at school, that was the school's responsibility to investigate Taylor's complaints and deal with the situation. The Locker hadn't happened yet at the time Sophia was inducted, so there was nothing in the PRT's jurisdiction that would allow them to do more than check the school records and maybe talk to some teachers.
Where the PRT dropped the ball was when Sophia's handler covered for Sophia and sided against Taylor in that meeting.
Also why wasn't there a police investigation into The Locker? Was it quashed by Sophia's handler?
How were the circumstances for a student to get sent to the hospital in an ambulance comatose and covered in blood like Taylor was not investigated by the police?
Granted Taylor wasn't in any condition to talk so how did they convince the paramedics that the police were not necessary and that it was just "a prank gone wrong?".
As for Sophia still using the deadly crossbow bolts, well the PRT needs to hear a complaint before they can act. Given that most of the victims were criminals, it is quite possible that none of them went to the hospital for treatment. If they were all Empire gang members, it is quite possible that Orthella treated them in order to avoid being asked uncomfortable questions at the hospital. Recall that Grue went to an unlicensed physician after being shot by Sophia to avoid a hospital.
If nobody is talking about Shadow Stalker shooting criminals with real crossbow bolts, the PRT probably won't know, although they might catch wind of her "unauthorized patrols" via "cape watchers" on places like PHO spotting her in costume. That doesn't mean she's using the deadly ammo, unless somebody reports seeing her shoot somebody or they get a picture where it's obvious that those aren't the bolts Armsmaster gave her.
It's just that until The Locker, I can excuse the PRT for not knowing. Instead I blame the school. I shouldn't, it seems like SOP for how to handle bullying in a public school. Actually, I'm surprised that Taylor wasn't punished for any of the incidents, but I guess they weren't violent enough or destroyed any school property besides textbooks (which Taylor had to pay for) so the school didn't take action the way they did for me "getting involved in multiple violent incidents with multiple people" when I never started a single fight or threw the first punch.