Underage Drinking Citation

golani89 · 09-01-2006, 02:05 AM

I got a summary citation for underage drinking tonite. I am 17 yrs old. Everything went smoothly as i was being brethylized and cited. No arguments, politness, casual conversation about colleges with cops. They even mentioned my politeness and that they will bring that up in their police reports. So whats are 1. the legal rammifications. 2. what are the effects on college. My safety schools are- pitt, boston u, GWU, penn state. My match schools are NYU, McGill, Carnegie Mellon, Emory, and Reach are cornelly, duke, wash u. Assuming this is a fair representation of my chances prior to the citation what changes now? Last summer I got arreseted for shoplifting and i got a misdemeanor. I did my community service and i never actually went through probation. I had a 6 month period of "good behavir" after which my record was sealed completely to everyone. So with these details in mind can someone, preferably a lawyer or someone who went through this experience, explain to me what i can expect. Thank you.

neverborn · 09-01-2006, 02:21 AM

Uh.... why would the colleges ever find out?

joev · 09-01-2006, 02:54 AM

It's all on your juvie record which is sealed once you turn 18. As long as its not a drug conviction, it won't effect financial aid.

ldmom06 · 09-01-2006, 08:59 AM

I think the date of sealing depends on the state in which you live. I googled Texas laws, and in general, here it seems juvenile records can be sealed at age 21 or at the court's discretion as they did with your shoplifting conviction. But there are also rules for MIP that may allow you to have your record expunged. Not sure what those rules are. I hope you have retained an attorney for advice in handling this matter to your best advantage.

Also, another issue is you will be asked if you have been convicted of misdemeanor, felony or other crime on the Common App. How to truthfully answer this may be an issue...another item you should discuss with your attorney. You may want to check each individual school's application...some (not many) don't ask the question. Definitely don't lie.

There are a few attorneys here who will hopefully see this and comment.

golani89 · 09-01-2006, 09:43 AM

thank you for your responses. With my first offense i was told that i was never technically convicted of a misdeameanor so i can answer no for that question. Does anyone have any more imput. I will not be applying for any financial AID and i am more worried about how colleges will view this and if they will even see it.

ag54 · 09-01-2006, 10:01 AM

My s got an MIP this summer, he is 19. It is a Class C misd. so I don't know if it is even asked about on applications. A class C misd. is like a traffic ticket. He is doing deferred adjudication just to get it dismissed, but the DA told us that it was not a big deal and that he didn't need a lawyer. He went to court, met with the DA for about 5 minutes and signed the paperwork saying he would take an alchohol awareness course, do 8 hours of comm. service and not get another MIP for 3 months. The arrest will stay on his record until he is 21, then he will file to have it expunged. She told him he really didn't even need to do that because a class c misd. is the lowest level offense and noone ever asks about them.

About college apps - take a look at the applications you are filling out to see if they ask about misdemeanors. I just looked at the Texas Common app and there isn't even a question. It is more likely that they will ask if you have ever been convicted of a crime. If you do deferred adjudication, you will have the conviction dismissed, thus no conviction. Or, questions may be posed in the counselors rec form, but it is more likely to be about school related suspensions and if your MIP was not related to a school activity or reported to the school, your counselor would have no record of it.

You don't have to volunteer unasked for information. If it is specifically asked, then you must answer it truthfully.

golani89 · 09-01-2006, 10:09 AM

My thing wasnt a misdemeanor it was a summary citation. But i did get a misdemeanor last summer so i am curious how that will effect things even though the record is sealed rite now.

ag54 · 09-01-2006, 10:37 AM

If they ask if you have a conviction, you do not report it. According to your post, you were not convicted. By doing deferred adjudication, the conviction was dismissed. If they ask if you have ever been arrested, then you do.

jasmom · 09-01-2006, 11:04 AM

golani
Just checking (and not responding to your specific question)...
Are you ok? You are clearly a bright, high achieving student, but have made some unfortunate choices that have caused some legal consequences. Typically, if a person is "caught" there are many more "trangressions" that have escaped notice. Are you able to speak openly with your parents (or others) regarding these issues, and are you at all concerned? Are you on the path that you want to be on?

OpiefromMayberry · 09-01-2006, 12:43 PM

golan,

Here's the thing, you're creating a dirty laundry list out there. If you truly want to go to college, either get better at not getting caught OR stop doing stupid things as you are getting caught. Chances are better than good you'll get popped again for something if you don't learn.

Is college important to you? If yes, why are you (not anyone else) making it so hard to get there? We all screw up in life at one time or another, the real question is what do we learn from it? What are you learning here?

citygirlsmom · 09-01-2006, 12:57 PM

jasmom beat me to the punch...she made the points I was going to

No need to answer here if you don't want, but think about your behavior....have you done things and not gotten caught? Have you been drinking often, have you shop lifted more than once...did you do those things alone or with others, who may not be the best people to hang with?...

what about your parents...how did they react to the latest incident....do they know about your drinking, etc...

I think you need to look deep inside and see why you are making such lapses in judgement, and as opie said, why take such risks....were those risks worth the consequences...you are very lucky...you could hav gotten a very tough cop who wouldn't care how charming and well mannered you are....from your posts, I think you have probablly gotten away with stuff because you are well mannered, not sassy, contrite (well at the moment) so you walk away relatively easy...a you get older, it won't be so easy to slide out of breaking the law...

This is not a lecture, bet you already had one of those, but just a suggestion to see the bigger picture, what you are risking losing, and what changes you might want to make..these are two marks that we know of, and who knows what you have been able to get away with without getting caught...but as you can see, getting busted is just a breath away

Chillin86 · 09-01-2006, 01:13 PM

Who cares? An underage drinking citation is no big deal. It's not an arrest, it's basically a ticket; you simply pay a fine and you might have to go to youth court and do some community service and play with some cute little kids. Maybe just go to a less sketchy party next time so the cops won't come, also get some better running shoes and bolt when the fuzz comes in.

Faline2 · 09-01-2006, 01:18 PM

golani
I have a son who is almost 16 and a son almost 20 at Duke. Neither of them drank in high school (so far) at all. They "get" that they have four years of autonomy right around the corner and handling the issue of underage drinking is tough enough when you are 19. I can't predict yet how that college era is going to go. It is up to them. Still, to abstain in high school really really helps.
So what is your hurry as a young 17 year old. I hate to be a putz but have you seen that drinking in your teens is actually is very hazardous to your brain which is quite frankly not developed yet and missing Executive Functions until you are older? See some PET scans. You are still in transit up there even though we force you to take the SATs now etc. Drinking at your age is much more addictive prone for later as well. It is best to abstain until you are more of an adult physically. This is science not preaching.
Drinking was legal for me at age 18 and I didn't have to worry about citations. I sometimes think that 18 was a better age for legal beer consumption but that is not the reality of the under 21 year olds today.

However, I started smoking at your age. I can't tell you have imprinted that addiction is in my brain, and I think it has to do with cravings established when I was still half a child physically. Not smoking is a big effort for me as an adult because I had the addiction in high school. It is a drag (pun!)managing cravings for stupid things like nicotine or alcohol. No one thinks it is attractive either.
But management of your criminal record should not be taking up an iota of your time at age 17!
The solution is to not drink at all in high school. Believe it or not tons of the most respected people socially at colleges are light social drinkers to zero drinkers, too. There are large contingents of cool people in college now who are totally free of chemicals and health nuts.
I have to say it bothers me to see your birth year in your screen name. You have made a few decisions this year alone where you have gotten caught doing the wrong thing.
Your immaturity is showing. Give your brain a couple more chemical free years. Get thee into a great university and have a wonderful experience but you need to get more real with yourself now.

Get serious about your future if college means a lot to you. There are a zillion opportunities to drink once you get to college, and even then you have at least two years to wait to be legal there.

hobofromdowntown · 09-01-2006, 01:34 PM

underage drinking is hardly anything to be making a fuss over we all know you did it when you were younger, you guys just didn't nget caught.

jasmom · 09-01-2006, 01:48 PM

hobo...
Sometimes you're right, sometimes not. To me, getting caught (especially having two legal run-ins) presents an argument for a good careful introspective look, and an opportunity to determine whether your behavior is in line with (or in opposition to) your goals.