Lying about your age may mean jail
In July 2009, a girl in Texas got caught shoplifting at a Target store. When questioned by police, she had no ID and lied about her age and name. She was arrested and taken to jail.
About two weeks later, it was discovered that she was actually a 13-year-old runaway. Had her real identity and age been known, she would have been released to her parents or held in juvenile detention instead of an adult jail.
Photo by j2Dread (Flickr)
In addition to the shoplifting charge, the girl could now be charged with lying to a police officer. She was returned to her father and a short time later, was again reported as a runaway.
Click here ror more about lying to the police.
This post was written by Tom Jacobs. Judge Tom is the founder and moderator of AsktheJudge.info. He is a retired juvenile judge and spent 23 years on the bench. He has written several books for lawyers and judges as well as teens and parents including the recently published 'Teen Cyberbullying Investigated' (Free Spirit Publishing). When he's not answering teens' questions, Judge Tom can be found hiking, traveling and reading.
