Do the Penalties for Harboring a Runaway Still Apply After I Turn Eighteen

[haileemaylee]

Alright, well, I'll keep looking then. Thanks for not helping me. You wasted both our time.

Actually, you gave me a little hint just there about how to find that law. Crimes committed as a minor or something....

Oh wait, that's right! Runing away is not a crime in this state. I have run away three times before, and have not been taken to detention. Only brought home, or taken to a crisis receiving center. The police told my parent that running away is not a crime and will not be on my record, whether I am eighteen or not.

[Dogmatique]

She can't do that

She also does not apparently understand what she's reading.

Perhaps she should pay a local attorney to advise her on the illegality of running away before you're 17 to shack up with your ADULT boyfriend.

[haileemaylee]

Perhaps people who don't know what they are talking about, don't know how to answer a question without being able to back it up, and just want to argue, should not be wasting their time with this thread.

You're not even paying attention!! This is great...did I not say that I am seventeen? Stop saying before I am seventeen. Duh. I turn eighteen this year as a matter of fact.

[cbg]

Perhaps people who are not willing to listen to what she is being told should not waste other people's time asking for answers she is not prepared to accept.

[haileemaylee]

you know...you dont have to answer the questions if you dont want to...

[cbg]

Goodbye, little girl. When you're ready to talk and behave like a grownup, come back. Until then, go back to your dolls and building blocks and keep your tantrums to yourself.

[haileemaylee]

If I throw a temper tantrum my drunken dad will yell at me...which is exactly why I need to get out of here.

But...I guess I will have to tolerate another eleven months of it...I won't be able to graduate high school whether I stay or go...

Not trying to play victim or anything here, but I really have nowhere else to go. I wouldn't be wasting my time studying the Washington State Legislature if I wasn't seriously considering this.

I just asked a simple question. Which no one apperently has the answer to. Can't save up my money to consult a lawyer because my dad buys his stupid Icehouse with it. No wonder we had an eviction notice on our door this morning, no wonder Avista came and turned our water off last week. When your parent can't afford to support you and your boyfriend can, that's pretty sad. Staying here, I'll just be another link in the chain.

[Mr. Knowitall]

My question involves juvenile law in the State of: Washington. Please only give me advice and please do not judge me based on the question I am asking. Please do not tell me things such as: "You are just a rebellious teen," or: "You need to stay in school." I have heard these before and they have been of no help to me.

How about "When you're a grown-up, you'll understand what all those people were trying to explain to you.

I read in another thread that because of my age, the police will not actively search for me, but if I am stopped and ID'd, they will return me to my custodial parent.

Nobody can promise you that, particularly if you are reported as a missing person.

My boyfriend and I have read over and understand the penalties for harboring a runaway. But if I am not found until AFTER my eighteenth birthday, would my boyfriend still get in trouble for harboring me during the time that I was underaged?

He could still be prosecuted for the crimes he commits before you turn 18.

And, if I am found after my eighteenth birthday, will I be penalized for runing away when I was still seventeen?

You cannot be prosecuted for a status offense such as "running away from home" after you reach the age of majority. A "status offense" is something that is an offense only because of your status, in this context your status as a minor.

If my boyfriend or whoever we stay with could still get in trouble for harboring me during the time I was reported as a runaway, what if the police are not informed of who I have been staying with?

Part of harboring a runaway is keeping your location secret from the authorities. If you're stating that he's going to commit that crime, his commission of the crime, again, could get him prosecuted.

What if the police, my custodial parent, and all others are not informed of my location during the time in which I was a runaway?

That will depend upon the statutes at issue; some states won't prosecute for harboring a runaway if the authorities are located of the location of the minor. Of course, the authorities typically respond by picking up the minor.

How does my boyfriend get accused of kindapping if I am going with him WILLINGLY?

He could conceivably be charged because until you are located nobody knows if, in fact, you're with him willingly. Also, he could be charged with a Mann Act offense for enticing you to cross state lines for "immoral purposes" even if you happily accompany him on a trip to another state.

[haileemaylee]

Wow, Thank you! That was very helpful.

So...I can't get in trouble for running away, at all??

And it all really just depends on how I'm reported right?

What about this: I have heard about people getting reported as missing. Legitimate reports, like where someone's wife is gone and their husband is going insane with worry. Then the police find that she only ran off with some other guy, and she get's charged with some fine or something, I'm not sure what, but it's for wasting the time, energy and money of the authorities that were searching for her. I'm not sure if that exact story happened, it's just an example. If I get reported as a missing person, they will actively search for me as if I had in fact been abducted. But when they find me they will discover that I was not abducted. Will I be fined like the woman in the story? Or, because I am a minor, will my Dad be fined?

Thank you again for the advice, I really appreciate it.

[Mr. Knowitall]

As a minor who is subject to the jurisdiction of a juvenile court, the juvenile court could do anything from ordering you back home to ordering you detained in a juvenile facility until your 18th birthday. (I haven't researched whether a delinquency finding based upon a status offense could justify detention beyond your 18th birthday; that's possible for criminal conduct; status offenses aren't criminal.)

Your father won't be fined for reporting you as a missing person.