Am I going to Jail?

Question

I am a 17 yr old female, 18 in less than a month. I have gotten into a lot of trouble all through my teens. When I was 13 I ran away from home, shoplifted, and spent a bit of time in juvie. When I was 15 I was arrested for having a house party when my parents weren't there and the house got trashed. Then at 16 I was arrested again for selling pot to kids at school, i did 6 months in juvie because of it. Now I got myself into even more trouble, I went with a friend and broke into a neighbors home and stole some jewelry and stuff and was caught in the act cuz someone saw us and called the police. I know I seem like a terrible person i don't know why i do these things, but now I know i have to live up to my actions and i'm ready to learn my lesson and spend jail time if i have to. Someone said since my birthday is in less than a month i will be tried and as adult and i want to know if this is true, and if so how much time do you think i will spend? Just seeking advice, not sympathy.

Answer 1

I've only heard of juveniles being tried as adults in murder cases. Even if they tried to try you as an adult, any half-decent lawyer could stop that from happening.

Answer 2

The date of your birthday does not have much to do with whether or not you will be tried as an juvenile or adult. That status has more to do with the seriousness of the crime.

I assume you have been arrested, charged, and released on bond. Do you have a lawyer? That has to be your first step. There is a formal process to go through to get your case to an adult court. The juvenile court will hear arguments from the prosecutor and your attorney about that.

The Burglary is a serious offense and can be a felony. If you do wind up in adult court. I suspect, because of your age, you won't much more than a year, if that. Your demeanor in court will very much determine what happens to you. It is not enough to stand there and say, "I'm sorry". You are going to have to acknowledge your responsibility, accept whatever consequences are forthcoming, and present a plan to improve yourself.

Kiddo, you are literally looking at your last chance. You will be an adult and future bad conduct will land you in adult prisons. Not a good place. Get your head out of your butt while you can.

Answer 3

Get a good lawyer. Look I want to be honest I don't really know but my boyfriend is not the best either. He got busted with lots of drugs and was looking at felony time. He got off with just to mist. he might not do jail time for that. He also beat the crap out of my very abusive ex and is doing no time for that as well. So what I am saying is if you have a good lawyer not matter how petty the crime it works to your advantage. Trust me. Get a lawyer, dress nice, dont act stupid in court so be nice and humble. You will prob be tried as a minor. But if they tried you as a adult is because your court hearing is after your 18th birthday but I doubt that. Good luck girl. I really wish you all the best cause u seem like a smart girl. If you get off learn from this and be cool.

Answer 4

Kind of depends on where you live. I know that in Texas any individual who is not classified as a delinquent (and therefore under exclusive jurisdiction of juvenilve courts) and is over the age of 15 when the at the time of commission of the felony can be tried as an adult after some provisions are taken. However, I would assume that it would largely depend on the prosecution's feelings. If they believe that it's likely for you to easily be convicted and sentenced as an adult, then yes, there is that possibility.

Answer 5

I am the person who asked this question. I am responding from my other account rosygirly20 which will be the one that I will use from now on.
I wrote a response to my other account in the "detailed section" since i posed the same question, but I will respond to all your answers here as well since you were kind enough to respond.
I cannot sleep, this has been keeping me awake all night. The whole thing happened on sunday night and now I am out on bail awaiting trial. Like I responded to the other account, I had been out of trouble for about a yr and a half, and then I don't know what happened i wanted a guy to like me and so i went along with what he was doing thinking more about how he would think I was cool instead of what the consequences to my actions would be. I am so sad, and lost. I feel like my whole life is over. When I look back at the crimes i did, i feel like it doesn't fit the lifestyle i have. I grew up in a rich neighborhood with my parents before they died, and my godparents are both doctors and they were such nice ppl to me but what did i do?? I had a party when I was 16 and trashed their house!! I had just switched to a new high schoo and i wanted to make friends... they gave up on me because i was too hard to handle so i lived in foster homes after that. I was really inspired by some of the answers i got, and i really want to pursue an education after i serve my time. I already knew that before the burglary thing, it was just a stupid mistake i got myself into it. I know i deserve no pity or respect for the things i've done. I really think that I am a horrible person right now and I hate the way i turned out. If I have to serve jail time then so be it I will learn my lesson and stay out of trouble after that.
I am just really scared. I've been to juvie but never jail before. If I get time I don't know what i'll do...I am not a gangster, i don't fit that profile at all I am 5'5 108 pds with blonde hair blue eyes and actually pretty quiet. Although I sold weed to kids in my school back when i was 16, i never actually did drugs except try pot once. I really don't want to turn into a hardened gangster criminal if i go to jail . I'm so freaking scared ........can anyone just offer advice if I do have to go to jail? I'm hoping I will be let off with probation but with my past i'm not sure they will...plz just help me cope with this i know i don't deserve it but i really am a good girl who made big mistakes in my life.

Answer 6

at least you realize u don't deserve any sort of sympathy. I don't know if you'll spend time in jail, u should of thought about that before. You have good grammer so i'm assuming your not an idiot or someone with a huge mental disorder, so all I can say is think about ur future. Seriously, the only guaranteed way you will succeed in life is if you are educated. Assuming you don't have or plan to have a diploma or ged, I would bet you are flipping burgers or working as a cashier in 15 years - which isn't a terrible tragety or anything, i mean it's good honest work, but it's a struggle type job and technology (automated machines) will soon take over those jobs and leave ur jailburd @ss jobless. You'll either have to be a 35 year old women living at home, or selling crack and jumping from apartment to apartment...is that how you imagine yourself at 35? Well you aint gonna be successful if you keep this sh*t up. Even if you clean up ur act and never even get so much as a traffic ticket ever again in ur life, you could still end up on the streets or in poverty if you don't have a decent education. Not everyone gets lucky enough to hit the lotto, inheret money, or marry someone successful enough to carry them through life. But without an education, you can get lucky, marry a good guy and be a stay at home mom...that's probably ur best option without an education in our future. If ur are getting a diploma or a ged, then that's a good start...go to college and get a degree in something. Even if you don't know what you want to do in life and don't know what degree to go for...just pick something, anything and get started. Change ur major when you figure out what you want to do, but in the meantime, just keep moving forward, even if you don't know exactly where that will lead. It's better to switch ur degree later on when already have a lot of credits built up then to wait till you figure out what you want to do and then start from scratch. Just get educated. That's the most important thing...and don't F#ck over a lot of people, ur little laudry list of crap leads me to believe u might have burned a few bridges in ur lifetime,,,that type of sh*t might probably come back to haunt you down the line when you happen to need someone's help....Most,Most importantly...when you fail, don't give up. Some people fail more than others, some people have to try something and fail 100 times before they learn it, while some people can try and learn it on the first try. If it takes u 100 tries and the girl next to you can learn it on her first try....the worst thing you can do is give up. Eventually you'll get there and if you have to work harder at something to learn it or accomplish it, don't let the continued failures keep u away from whatever it is you wanna do. What are u gonna do sit on ur @ss for the rest of ur life and eat sh#t cause it takes u longer to do something than others?

And if ur a quick learner and all that, then shame on ur easily influenced @ss for not just sticking to what's right. I can't talk, i'm pretty smart and i've gotten in a lot of trouble in my life too, never actually went to prison though..lol. Ur a lil gangsta aren't u..lol...just remember, breaking the rules, (like stealing) might be cool, sexy, or "gangsta" when ur young, but it's just stupid and unnattractive when you reach....18 and beyond....that's where it starts to get pathetic and loserish..lol. It doesn't matter how smart you are, whether ur smart or not, some people just do dumb things for whatever reasons.

Anyways...just make sure u get ur d@mn education and stay out of jail and you'll be fine.

P.S. good luck, and if you serve some time, it's not the end of the world...just read, don't let the other girls influence you to do something that will get earn u more time. When u get out...focus on school and not on doing stupid sh#t that'll put u on a path to becoming a crack hoe failure.

Answer 7

Burglary is a felony in all states, which carries a minimum sentence of 1 year in prison. Your sentence depends on what state you live in, but with your record, you will likely be sentenced to adult prison, and your priors are going to probably increase the amount of time you'll be in prison. However, there are always plea bargains for such things. You may be able to plea down to theft in exchange for a guilty plea.

Answer 8

Sounds like you will go to jail seeing as you have all the other offenses. About being tried as an adult, that's all depending on the judge, rulings, and all kinds of other legalities.

Answer 9

I don't know for sure but prob a year or around that....

you are young take advantage now and learn from your mistakes and stop all this nonsense....it's not worth it. Remember to everything you do from 18 on will affect you for the rest of your life so anything that goes on your record will haunt you for years to come....

Answer 10

You were 17, so you were a juvenile. That is your last chance. Straighten up, or you'll be selling you-know-what for crack before you're 20.