Runaway

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Humph

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I'm 17 and I have graduated from high with an advanced diploma, I'm currently enrolled in a University. If I goose to run away from home but still attended the university what may happen to me? Will my actions be illegal? Can my mom call the police on me? and I she does what may they do about it? Will they find me? Will te person I move in with get in trouble?
 
You may be found and dragged home by your little ear. Yes. Yes. They may do anything from leaving you alone to throwing you in Juvie but it's most likely you'll just be sent home. Unknown. Quite possibly.
 
The age of majority is 18 in your state. Until you are 18, you are under the control of your parents. You can't leave home until you are 18 without parental permission. There are a few states where the police will be reluctant to force a minor age 17 home particularly if they are only a few months from majority and the minor is somewhere safe. However; if your parents are determined to get your back home, the police will usually back them up.

Why do you want to run away from home & not be found?
 
I'm curious how a minor could enroll in a university without parental permission? He certainly could not enter into a contractual arrangement, so just HOW is this happening?
 
OP "might" have had parental permission when went to enroll in the university but now wants to run away from home. ??
 
Betty3 said:
OP "might" have had parental permission when went to enroll in the university but now wants to run away from home. ??
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In which mom and dad can simply un-enroll him or withdraw any financial support until he returns home. If reported as a runaway to the school, he could very well be picked up in class and returned home if the law in the OP's state allows it.
 
CdwJava said:
In which mom and dad can simply un-enroll him or withdraw any financial support until he returns home. If reported as a runaway to the school, he could very well be picked up in class and returned home if the law in the OP's state allows it.
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Oh I agree. I was just saying how OP might have gotten enrolled in the univ.
 
BTW, Virginia is not one of the states where the police are reluctant to bring a runaway home.
 
I don't know about Va. but some states give juvenile courts no jurisdiction over acts committed by 17-year-olds, meaning that the most the police could do with a 17-year-old runaway is take them home. In such a circumstance, they often choose not to because they can't do anything to make the minor stay there. The parents have no recourse through the courts, either.

As I stated previously if the parents are determined to get the minor home, the police will generally back them up no matter what the state & take the runaway home.
 
VA law expressly gives the police permission to take the child into custody if the officer has reason to believe the child has run away from home. Running away is not a crime in VA, but the child has no legal right to run away, either. As in most if not all states, whoever has been harboring the runaway child can end up in serious legal trouble, including jail, for such things as interference with custody, harboring a runaway, etc.
 
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In most jurisdictions it is not a crime to runaway from home, except in 9 states ( Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wyoming). In these jurisdictions it is considered a "status offense", which means it is against the law only when someone under 18 years old does it.
 
Good information to know, shrinkmaster.
 
shrinkmaster said:
In most jurisdictions it is not a crime to runaway from home, except in 9 states ( Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Nebraska, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wyoming). In these jurisdictions it is considered a "status offense", which means it is against the law only when someone under 18 years old does it.
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FYI ... It is a status offense in CA as well per W&I 601, but, it is not a "crime." And, the law in CA permits the courts - through Juvenile Probation - to intervene if such a child is incorrigible or continues to be out of their parents control. In other words, a 601 offender can transition to a criminal offender under the right circumstances. I can't speak to the other states you mention.
 
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