Why isn't a minor charged for underage drinking if they are a victim of another person breaking the law?

Huh?

I don’t believe California law explicitly prohibits internal possession of alcohol in minors. They didn’t actually see her drinking it or purchasing it, nor was she driving while intoxicated, so there wasn’t much to charge her with. She’s hardly a criminal.

And, anyways, don’t you think she’s been punished enough as it is?

A woman was gang-raped, videotaped, and posted on the internet. And your concern is her getting a MIP. You are one sick and creepy motherfucker.

What the fuck is wrong with you?

This is an excellent question. Quite insightful. A difficult question to ask, but one that should be.

I don’t know anything about this particular case.

Though it seems that laws should be hard and fast rules set in stone, the reality is not so. Laws are as plastic as the individual enforcers who interpret them for any given circumstance. On the surface, that seems unfair. But we must allow those in particular situations, particular regions, with particular historical precedent to govern themselves by giving consideration to each and every particular human condition.

There are nuances in law enforcement to which law makers cannot account for in advance.

Because, @Hypocrisy_Central, there were men like you (who has stated he likes them as young as legally allowed) who may have, and some admitted to, plied her with alcohol so they could have sex with her. And then she was gang raped and beaten.

And, she was so young that she was not of an age to be chargeable for underage drinking. A child must be able to realize what they are doing is a crime before you can charge them. That’s why juvenile justice is different from that of adults.

I echo @johnpowell‘s question.

Ditto @johnpowell on this and many, many of your other questions and answers.

After all that girl went through, I think we can overlook the drinking part. And it would have happened even had she been sober. Therefore, I do not agree that her assailants owe their crime to her drinking. There seems to be no relation, she would have been raped anyways.

To answer the actual question, I will only address the issue with laws about underage drinking and that it might be different depending on where you live. I got busted by cops drinking before I was 18, all the time. I never got arrested for it. They confiscate the alcohol and tell you to go home, or if you’re really tanked, they bring you back home, or down to the station until they boot you out the next morning. Parents or legal guardians are notified. But no arrests are made, therefore no charges can be laid down. The exception would be charges for things like vandalism or disrupting the peace that were committed while drinking, then they can probably slap on the underage drinking charge. In my experiences as a teen though, I think the cops just couldn’t be bothered. Lol.

In this particular case though, I think the last thing we need to worry about is that girl drinking. I mean she’ll probably be attending intense fucking therapy for the next years, give her a break. (although I understand she got a cash settlement, not sure even big amounts of money are going to help someone who went through that)

I am not sure of the age of this girl, California law, or circumstances surrounding this event.

The question without regards to the rape.. A misdemeanor offense and a low one at that, if she wasn’t even 18 and had no juvenile record the crime is not sufficient in and of itself to warrent the paperwork.

I was 18 or 19 when I got my DUI they didn’t even consider minor consumption worth writing down.

The police officers do at time throw the book at you. Usually you have to really piss them off before they will. The paperwork and time is prohibitive and they have to live in the community they serve.

The law and justice in practice is never black and white, no matter how many addendums and bylaws are added there are interpretations and judgment calls made on almost all incidents. So then you are dealing the prejuidices mood and circumstance of the police officer.

For example if there is person driving down the road without a seatbelt on and an inebriated homeless person staggering down the middle of the same road. They will stop the person without the seatbelt because the homeless person will just fill over crowded jail and be out in the morning and the seatbelt minimal amount of paperwork plus revenue.

I like to think this is perhaps an example of applying common sense instead of blindly adhering to the law. That girl was already “punished” far more than enough.

@livelaughlove21 And, anyways, don’t you think she’s been punished enough as it is?
That is for another question. In regards to this question what punishment she received outside of official law process is moot.

@johnpowell You are one sick and creepy motherfucker.
(putting away the invisible violin) I am creepy and sick because I am not all talk and a hypocritical poser? Oh, well, if you don’t expect the law to be enforced then I guess anyone who has a problem with illegals, (and I am not commenting one way or another before anyone gets started) need to remember what you say here. It is not black and while so to simply deport someone who has been here for many years might not be the way to go even if it seems to reward them for sneaking in.

What the fuck is wrong with you?
I am not a lurva whore willing to be a two-faced hypocrite when convenient? That I am one who actually believe if you go through the trouble putting laws on the books they should be for everyone and should be enforced equally and the same way across the board less no one have any respect for them.

@zenvelo Because, @Hypocrisy_Central, there were men like you (who has stated he likes them as young as legally allowed) who may have, and some admitted to, plied her with alcohol so they could have sex with her. And then she was gang raped and beaten.
If you are going to speak for me at least get your facts right. When the question on who I would have a relationship with, I am not putting a basement on it as many of you. I would consider any woman down to the legal limit of her nation, but I did premise there were some limitations, which I did not get into mentioning.

As far as your speculation that she was there with a bunch of men and not 1st with other horny teen boys (who had the booze), you were there or have affidavits from witness that state that is how it went down? If not, and even if it did, it still has no baring on what laws she broke.

And, she was so young that she was not of an age to be chargeable for underage drinking. A child must be able to realize what they are doing is a crime before you can charge them.
Are you making the argument that she did not know that she shouldn’t be drinking alcohol? You believe that she would have popped open a beer, or a bottle of whisky, had she had one, in front of any adult or at her family dinner as if she were drinking a bottle of pop? There is much I can say about the second part of that statement but one of her attackers, that I read of, was 17yr and drunk himself. I guess because he was drunk he should be unable to realize what he was doing was illegal? After all, she was passed out so it wasn’t like he heard her say “No”. (watching that reasoning go down like a Messerschmitt flamed over the skies of France)

@Symbeline And it would have happened even had she been sober. Therefore, I do not agree that her assailants owe their crime to her drinking. There seems to be no relation, she would have been raped anyways.
That is a mystery everyone can speculate on until the cows come home. As far as this question, irrelevant. It is as speculative to say the man would have crashed into the tree anyway, notwithstanding the fact his BAL was 3.2. There is no way to replay that night with everyone sober to see what would have happened.

Well yeah. Trying to figure that out, it would be like seeing if you could go back in time, do something different and see if the outcome itself is different. Whether it would or not, it’s impossible to do, least so far as I know.
Thing is at this point, why should she be punished? I respect the law because it’s the law, but as far as justice goes, at least it didn’t go overboard on this one. (I’m assuming she wasn’t punished…if she did though…fuck this world)
Thing is, the way this story goes, seems like a grass fire thing. Don’t know exactly how it started, but it got worse and worse. She wasn’t just raped, she was beaten. (that she suffered no fatal words does not excuse it) People joined in. Bystanders checked out the show. Were they drunk? Why didn’t they help her? I would have at least called the damn coppers. I know alcohol ravages people, but I find it hard to believe that it’s solely responsible for this event, when this kind of stuff happens more than often enough without it, know wut ahm sayin?

@Hypocrisy_Central :: My concern is why you are intent on blaming the victim. You might not think that is what you are doing but you are. And it is sickening.

@Symbeline I know alcohol ravages people, but I find it hard to believe that it’s solely responsible for this event, when this kind of stuff happens more than often enough without it, know wut ahm sayin?
A lot of sound judgment goes out of the window when a person is inebriated off anything. If alcohol played a difference or not, I frankly don’t care, to the question I pose, it is irrelevant. At present it is what it is, why try to armchair quarterback it.

@johnpowell My concern is why you are intent on blaming the victim. You might not think that is what you are doing but you are. And it is sickening.
You think I am blaming the victim because I am not falling all over myself with sympathy and compassion for her in this question. If you can point out anywhere in this question where I said, “which got her raped because she was drunk.” Or, “If she would have been home instead of drinking when she wasn’t suppose to, she would not have gotten attacked”, etc. This question omits any part of the reason of the rape, the rape only serves to point out that because she was the victim of that crime, her lawbreaking was allowed to slide. I guess I know now, if the state has enough sympathy or empathy for a victim they can indeed get away with crimes.

@Hypocrisy_Central If alcohol played a difference or not, I frankly don’t care, to the question I pose, it is irrelevant. At present it is what it is, why try to armchair quarterback it.

Er…how the hell is it irrelevant, if alcohol itself is a subject TO the question you pose? If you don’t care whether or not the alcohol is responsible for this event, why care about whether or not the girl was drinking?

@Symbeline If you don’t care whether or not the alcohol is responsible for this event, why care about whether or not the girl was drinking?
The crime around the even is not the crime she broke, so if alcohol contributed to the attack or not would only be indicative if the reason of the attack was alcohol related. The crux of the question was she was breaking the law before they broke the law using her as an instrument to break another law. There is no linkage between why the rape happened and her breaking the law drinking under the legal age before it happened. She was doing that what seemed like some time before the attack happened. If she passed out 1st, or someone attacked her and knocked her out, is irrelevant to her drinking before it all started.

Okay I get that, but if your concern is about what happened before she got raped, why bring up the rape issue at all? Would have been a hell of a lot simpler if you asked why don’t some teens who drink don’t get charged, instead of bringing up this particular issue. I mean, if the whole incident and its circumstances are irrelevant to what you’re wanting to ask, that is, if I understand it properly…there was no need to bring it up. What was the point?
Teens drink often and don’t get slapped with charges; if you read my answer, you’ll see that it happened to me. (or rather, nothing came of my underage drinking) So it’s not like this incident is the only example you could have used.
It’s not that I want to tell you how to ask your questions, but maybe you can see why this is confusing. You’re bringing up a tragedy to ask something which had no need of said tragedy’s help for being asked.

u tryna be funny urwack? :p

@Symbeline Okay I get that, but if your concern is about what happened before she got raped, why bring up the rape issue at all? Would have been a hell of a lot simpler if you asked why don’t some teens who drink don’t get charged, instead of bringing up this particular issue.
Let me break it down to you, not all teens or those not teens but under the drinking age are going to get sympathy from the law. DA, etc because they were drinking, or almost killed themselves on a near fatal dose of alcohol. The state chose not to even much acknowledge she broke the law to nearly kill herself with the amount of alcohol she had in her because of the worse crime that was done to her. That worse crime was the rape, that is a fact. Would she have been giving as much sympathy if the crime against her was just that she had her pursed snatched, IMO, no? That is why the fact the rape happened cannot be cleaved from the question even though why it happened is not important, it is just an action piece that allowed her to skirt a law many see as a smaller law, but a law on the books nevertheless.

@Hypocrisy_Central It’s your kind of thinking that gives a bad name to the idea of justice. You sound like you would support adultery charges against those women (and girls) that are raped. After all, in your mind’s eye, the law is the law, and should be enforced.

Following the letter of the law is not justice.

The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.