Be respectful. Stay calm. Avoid confrontation even if you feel threatened, and do not fight back. Do not run! At all times during the stop, KEEP YOUR HANDS WHERE THEY CAN BE SEEN BY THE POLICE OFFICERS! Try to memorize the police officers' names and badge numbers. Write down this information as soon as possible, including when and where it happened. If the police ask you questions, give only your name and general identification information. Do not make any statements without talking to a lawyer first. Remember the names of any witnesses who saw what happened. It's a good idea to carry ID with you all the time and make sure you know the phone numbers where your parent, guardian or other relatives can be reached.
Usually, a person who is arrested is taken to the police station and "booked." This means that their picture and fingerprints are taken. If you are arrested, you can not refuse to be booked. You may be questioned by the police. You may be allowed to go home and be given a ticket to come back to court, or you may have to stay in jail or juvenile detention until you go before a judge.
You've probably heard the police on TV say "read him his rights." These "rights" are your Miranda rights and they are: the right to remain silent; the right to have a lawyer; and the right to have a lawyer appointed free of charge to help you if you do not have the money to hire one. If you are charged with delinquency, the Court will appoint a lawyer for you so you would not have to pay for his or her services.
No. You have a right not to say anything at all even if the police ask you questions either before or after you are arrested. Don't be afraid to remain silent. Anything you do say, in answer to questions, may be used in court later to try to show that you're guilty. The police may promise that things will go better for you if you talk but that is usually not what happens. It will be hard to prove to a judge that the police made this promise to you if it is not in writing. If you are under 16 and the police can get in touch with your parent or guardian, the police are supposed to make sure that your parent or guardian is there when the police read you your rights and question you.
How old do I have to be to be convicted of a crime? That depends on the crime. If you are charged with a crime before you are 16, you will probably go to Family Court and be charged with juvenile delinquency. If you are 14 or 15, you can be treated as an adult if you are accused of committing some very serious crimes; if you are 13, you can only be treated as an adult if you are accused of committing murder. Being treated as an adult means you wouldn't go to Family Court; you would go to adult criminal court. If you are accused of breaking any law when you are 16 or older, then you are treated as an adult in criminal court. In other words, you would be charged in the same way as someone who is over 18 and is accused of breaking the same law that you are accused of breaking. It is important to know that even juvenile delinquency cases can have very serious consequences like being sent away from home for 1 year or more.
There is no bail in Family Court. Kids charged with a juvenile delinquency case are either held in detention or allowed to go home with their parents without paying any money. In adult court, BAIL is cash money or a bond paid to make sure that a person charged with a crime returns to court for his or her next scheduled court date. A BOND is like insurance that another person pays on behalf of the person charged with a crime. The amount of money that the person arrested must pay as bail depends on the type of crime committed, whether the person arrested has ever been in trouble with the law before and whether he might run away to another place or hide to avoid going to court. If the person charged with breaking the law can't pay the money for bail that the judge sets and can't find someone to put up a bond for him or her, then he or she must stay in jail until the next court date.
You can, and it is a good idea to, ask for a lawyer as soon as you are arrested, or as soon as the police start to ask you questions about your involvement in a crime. You may tell the police that you don't want to answer any of their questions without a lawyer being there to help you. Once you ask for a lawyer, the police are supposed to stop asking you any questions. If they keep asking you questions, repeat that you want a lawyer and refuse to answer any questions. Even if you start to answer their questions, you can stop at any time. Remember, you do not have to answer any questions without your lawyer being there and it is almost always best not to say anything. You also do not have to answer questions even if you haven't asked for a lawyer to be present. If you do answer questions, any information you give can be used against you in court later on.
You could be placed on probation or, if the judge thinks your problems are severe enough, you could be placed in a juvenile facility upstate. Family Court judges look at your school record/attendance and your home life including curfew to decide what sentence to give. No matter what, a Family Court case will not give you a criminal conviction. The record of the Family Court action is not a public record, and you do not have to tell employers or the military that you have a Family Court record or have ever been in Family Court or even arrested as a juvenile.
It depends on how serious the crime was that you were found guilty of committing, and whether you had been in trouble with the police before. You could be given community service, placed on probation and ordered by the judge to do or not to do certain things (such as go to work, be home by 9:00 p.m., don't hang around with certain people), you could be sent to jail in your county, or you could be sent to prison upstate.
If you were found guilty in adult court of committing your first crime when you were less than 19 years old, in some cases, the judge will give you youthful offender treatment. In felony (serious) cases, the judge does not have to give this to you and your lawyer will need to convince the prosecutor and judge that you deserve it. If the judge thinks you should be considered a youthful offender, then you will not have a criminal conviction or record from that case and the record will be sealed. The judge can also give you a probation sentence when you might otherwise have to get prison time.