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17 Year Old Runaway in North Carolina

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  • 09-15-2008, 08:01 PM
    Rewind_Me
    17 Year Old Runaway in North Carolina
    First of all, I live in North Carolina, and I will be 17 in March of next year.

    I read in a book written by Traci Truly (an attorney at law) that at 17 you're are considered neither an adult nor a child. If your parents know where you are and you have a job, neither they nor the cops can make you move back. Is this in effect in North Carolina?

    Thank you all :]
  • 09-16-2008, 08:41 AM
    cbg
    Re: 17 YOA in North Carolina and Wondering
    It is not in effect in any state with the possible exception of Missouri.

    The cops may not make much effort to make a 17 year old return home, but your parents can make you come home - by force, if necessary. There is no law in any state that REQUIRES your parents to let you move out before you are 18. If they want you at home, the law is not going to tell them they can't.
  • 09-16-2008, 08:56 PM
    Rewind_Me
    Re: 17 YOA in North Carolina and Wondering
    Thank you for your help. I guess I'm just wondering where in the world the author got that idea then...

    I've also heard that if you do leave without consent, that if you are over 16 the people that you're staying with canNOT get charged with harboring a run away? Is that true?
  • 09-16-2008, 09:14 PM
    cyjeff
    Re: 17 YOA in North Carolina and Wondering
    Quote:

    Quoting Rewind_Me
    View Post
    Thank you for your help. I guess I'm just wondering where in the world the author got that idea then...

    I've also heard that if you do leave without consent, that if you are over 16 the people that you're staying with canNOT get charged with harboring a run away? Is that true?

    Incorrect.
  • 09-20-2008, 06:33 AM
    Mr. Knowitall
    Re: 17 YOA in North Carolina and Wondering
    This would appear to be the statute:
    Quote:

    Quoting NCGS § 14‑316.1. Contributing to delinquency and neglect by parents and others.
    Any person who is at least 16 years old who knowingly or willfully causes, encourages, or aids any juvenile within the jurisdiction of the court to be in a place or condition, or to commit an act whereby the juvenile could be adjudicated delinquent, undisciplined, abused, or neglected as defined by G.S. 7B‑101 and G.S. 7B‑1501 shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

    It is not necessary for the district court exercising juvenile jurisdiction to make an adjudication that any juvenile is delinquent, undisciplined, abused, or neglected in order to prosecute a parent or any person, including an employee of the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention under this section. An adjudication that a juvenile is delinquent, undisciplined, abused, or neglected shall not preclude a subsequent prosecution of a parent or any other person including an employee of the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, who contributes to the delinquent, undisciplined, abused, or neglected condition of any juvenile

    The question is not your age, but the age of the person helping you.
  • 09-20-2008, 08:56 PM
    Rewind_Me
    Re: 17 Year Old Runaway in North Carolina
    The person I'd be staying with is 23.
  • 09-21-2008, 02:10 PM
    cbg
    Re: 17 Year Old Runaway in North Carolina
    Then that person can be in serious legal trouble if you run away and they let you stay with them.
  • 09-21-2008, 03:50 PM
    BOR
    Re: 17 Year Old Runaway in North Carolina
    Quote:

    Quoting Rewind_Me
    View Post
    First of all, I live in North Carolina, and I will be 17 in March of next year.

    I read in a book written by Traci Truly (an attorney at law) that at 17 you're are considered neither an adult nor a child. If your parents know where you are and you have a job, neither they nor the cops can make you move back. Is this in effect in North Carolina?

    Thank you all :]

    A quick check revealed that NC is the only state in the Union which classifies BOTH 16 and 17 year old as adults for criminal prosecution purposes, this is notwithstanding an age to be bound over as an adult, if the crime warrants it.

    The age of majority may still be 18, however, it has no bearing on criminal law.

    It appear since the "juvenile" is of an age to be prosecuted as an adult, they really can't commit a deliquent act???

    Whether a person who let's you reside with them can be charged with a crime? Unknown, but this is a shady area of jurisprudence, as you have 2 opposing laws, you are an adult for criminal purposes at 16, yet the age of majority is 18.

    If I were of a mind to let you stay with me at age 16, I would file a Declaratory action with the court to determine the legality before I permitted it.

    ----

    Oops. The Juvenile Code says "Juvenile. - A person who has not reached the person's eighteenth birthday and is not married, emancipated, or a member of the Armed Forces of the United States." So you don't get to run away when you turn 16.
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