Can you go to prison for writing a book about your life that includes illegal stuff you did growing up?

Question

My best friends have always encouraged me to write a book about my life, and now that I've finally formed an idea of what the book will be about, I'm starting to worry that I can't write such a book, if you can be arrested and imprisoned for admitting to having done illegal things in your youth, such as shoplifting, vandalism, and drugs. It's not meant to be taken as anything more than reminiscing about the past, it's not like we do those things anymore. And it's not like we're wanted offenders or anything. We've gotten away with the stuff we've done when we were younger. But can we be arrested for it now that we're in our 30's and want to share amusing tales about the crazy life we once lived?

Answer 1

as long as it was not murder..

you should be fine plus you can always claim it as fiction...

Answer 2

I have a similar dilemma. I'm 53 now & some of the things that I did as an 11 &12 year old would be punishable by prison sentences by todays standards. How do you find out the statute of limitations of a crime? Do you need to have a name or a date of the exact crime? Why write a book about your life if you have to lie & twist the facts? It's just not the same when you change it, people! Perhaps a "pen name" would be better. :o)

Answer 3

In nearly every state, there is a statute of limitations on all crimes except murder -- that means that after the statutory number of years have gone by (most often 7 years, sometimes 11 or 15) you cannot be prosecuted or arrested for that crime any longer.
Also, most prosecutors will never press charges for a crime if the only "evidence" they have of the crime is a confession from the perpetrator.

So unless you killed somebody -- you're probably perfectly safe.

Answer 4

Mark "Chopper" Read wrote about about his life including many things he had done in the past such as killing people whilst behind bars and after he got out, beating his girlfriend and hitting her mother, doing drugs and threatening people. Police and the government can't do anything about it, they'd be wasting their time trying to put you behind bars for some little shoplifting and vandalism done way back. You'll be fine.
The police will enjoy a good read.

Answer 5

No you cant be Arrested(but if someone can prove anything they,the citizen can sue you if the statue of limitations hasnt run out) which I'm sure they have,but other than that no thats self-incrimenation and thats not allowed in the court of law( at least how you would be using any past doings

Answer 6

Statue of limitation covers most of those crimes after 7 years. Its why gangsters will make millions as long as they didn't tell of any murders or hits in their past. No statue of limitation on murder makes for a dull gangster story but keeps the author out of jail.

Check the web for the statue of limitation in your state before putting pen to paper or memories on to hard drive.

Answer 7

As long as the statute of limitations has run out on the crime. And I would think just to be safe you should tweak it a bit to leave out the exact details. Instead of a coffee shop, you smashed the window of a deli.

Answer 8

Like others pointed out, you're probably safe as long as the statute of limitations is up. However, this might be a good question to pose to a lawyer.

Answer 9

Except for murder, every crime has a statue of limitation, basicly if not charged in a certain number of years you can't be.

assuming this is 15 or 20 years ago, you owuld be safe

Answer 10

I think not. You can always claim that the book is fictional. Besides, the law would need proof before sending you to prison.

Answer 11

Think of writing your book as an act of Freedom of Speech.