back to school parents kids law castillo

Video Blog: Back to School – Parents, your kids, and the law

Cindy CastilloArizona Law




Here is a post for students and another general post about school and law.

Start transcript of Back to School Parents your kids and the law

Hi. My name is Cindy Castillo with Castillo Law.

Today I’d like to talk to you about going back to school. More specifically, I’d like to talk to you parents out there who are sending your kids for the first time to college. Your kids may be going out of state or they may be in state but just living in a dorm. It’s very important that you understand that your kids, while you may have raised them the best you could, will still engage in certain activities that may border on crossing the line when it comes to the law.

I see many individuals who send their students or their kids out to college and don’t have open communication with their kids. It’s very important that your kids feel comfortable that if they are in a compromising situation with the law, that they can call you. That they feel comfortable that if they call you in the middle of the night that you’re not going to hang up the phone or not help them. Many individuals will, instead, just go straight to the judge and plead guilty.

If you are making an investment for your kid to go to college then it’s important that you make the additional investment in keeping their record clean.

What usually happens when individuals go to college is that they do engage in going to college parties where alcohol is present. Some of the individuals may end up in situations where they might be charged with a minor in consumption. Often times if they can speak with an attorney or speak with their parents, they will find out that there is a way out and they don’t just have to plead guilty to a minor in consumption. Keeping that record clean for the individual is very, very important.

Another common charge for individuals who go to college is college-age DUIs. Sometimes it may be under the age of 21 DUIs or, in certain circumstances, it might be an adult DUI. DUIs carry a lot of consequences, often times it may mean the end of a career that your son or daughter was pursuing. I see a lot of individuals who are going to UTI. Most dealerships won’t hire individuals who end up with a DUI. Again, it’s very important that your son or daughter feel that they can call you if it’s in the middle of the night and speak with you about this and that you will help them to ensure that they’re criminal history stays clean.

Another common charge associated with students who are going back to school is having a fake ID and trying to get in to drinking establishments that require that you be over the age of 21. Sometimes this is handled in a misdemeanor court. Sometimes this actually goes as a felony. It’s very important, again, that your child feels that they can give you a call in the middle of the night and that you will help them out through the situation.

Finally, what happens to be one of the scariest charges, especially with our young men, is that when they go to these parties there are often times young girls who attend these parties who are not 18 years old yet. The worse thing that can happen is in the middle of the night you get a call from your son who’s calling from jail stating that he may have engaged in certain acts with this under aged female. It’s very important that you have open communication with your children to ensure that they understand when they go to college they’re no longer going to be treated as children. They’re no longer going to be treated as juveniles but rather they’re going to be treated as an adult especially in the criminal system.

Make sure that you have open communication with your children, number 1. Number 2, make sure that before your kids plead guilty to any one of these types of offenses that you get them legal assistance and that they understand the consequences that might be associated with these types of charges. A lot of times these charges do carry lifetime consequences. Consequences that will result in them not being able to pursue their career field. Finally, it’s important that in the event that they are charged with one of these types of offenses, that you get them an experienced defense counsel to ensure that your son or daughter is represented in the best manner that they possibly can.

If you have any questions with this, please feel free to give me a call.
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