When your child gets arrested or charged with a crime

It can be really scary whey your child gets arrested or charged with a crime.  You probably have questions about the short-term consequences.  When is he coming home?  How will this affect his schooling?  When can I visit him?

There will be questions about intermediate-term consequences.  Will he go to prison or jail?  What will the neighbors think?  Does this mean he is a bad kid?

Then there will be questions about long-term consequences?  Will my child have to register as a sex-offender?  Will my child spend a long time in prison?  How will this affect his ability to get into college or the military?

Luckily, the Ohio Juvenile System in general, and those in the individual counties in Northwest Ohio, in particular, are really focused on rehabilitation, not incarceration.

In the short-term: Chances are pretty good that a child charged with a relatively minor crime, or even more serious crimes won’t spend much time in detention.  The Court would much rather institute certain court orders and send a child home with a parent than pay to keep him locked up.

Perhaps he will be on an ankle monitor or something, but in most cases, children don’t spend much time in detention.  If a child does spend time in detention that detention facility has the tools and resources to continue to educate the child so his schooling shouldn’t suffer.  Each detention center has rules and regulations about visiting your child, and each court will encourage you to visit your child as often as they allow.  Your child will come home when the court decides.  Your attorney can petition the court to revisit the issue of detention at any point.

In the Medium-term: There will be either a pretrial or trial date.  Just like in adult Court a trial is when the prosecutor must prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that your child committed a crime.  There is no Jury.  The Judge or Magistrate will decide if the child is guilty or innocent.  In Juvenile Court this is called adjudication, as opposed to a conviction in adult court.

After a child is “adjudicated” the court must then hold a “disposition.”  Disposition is for juvenile what sentencing is for adults.  Prison for children is called the Department of Youth Services.  Unless a crime is very serious, it is unlikely that a child will be ordered to the Department of Youth Services.  Most likely a child will be placed on probation and given services or tasks to perform to redirect the child and deter that behavior in the future.

You may wonder if you failed your child, or if your child is a bad kid because of this charge.  Courts are very aware, and you probably are as well, that children do things for very different reasons than adults.  Where adults commit crimes generally for financial gain of an abundance of emotion; children often commit crimes due to peer pressure or to test boundaries and challenge authority.  The court is aware of this and, in general, attempts to current this behavior through services rather than punish this behavior with consequences.

In the long term:  Most adjudications aren’t going to stick with a kid for the rest of their life.  Most get expunged or sealed shortly after the child turns 18.  This happens automatically, but can also be requested earlier.  So crime is unlikely to keep a kid out of college or the military.  There are some very important exceptions to this rule, though so it is important to discuss this with an attorney who knows what he is doing in Juvenile Court.

The same goes for sex crimes in juvenile court. Most are expungable and won’t trigger a kid having to register as a sex offender.  However, in some cases, a child may still have to register as a sex offender. Having an attorney well-versed in Ohio Juvenile law is important so that your child isn’t signing up for unintended consequences.

If you have questions or concerns about your child’s arrest, and aren’t otherwise represented by counsel, please call me.