Unaware of age

[Kbranam]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[quincy]

Kbranam, the "preview post" feature on this site is malfunctioning and deletes posts on submission. You can use the "edit post" feature to add text to your first post or you can "reply to thread" to add your legal question that way.

Please be sure to include the name of your state.

Thanks.

 

[Kbranam]

Ugh! I was just wondering what happened to it!

 

[Kbranam]

Oklahoma.

Last week a young man broke into my husbands truck in the middle of the night. He was caught by my husband and some of our neighbors and held until the police came. They arrested him and found numerous stolen items on him. Someone snapped a picture of him (you could not see his face clearly) and we shared it and his name online to make our neighbors aware and so they could keep an eye out for him. He's been breaking into numerous cars and homes over the last few months. We found out later that he was a minor. (He certainly looked and acted like a grown man) As soon as we found out he was underage, the posts were removed from social media. It was less than 12 hours, not that it matters, but it wasn't up for long. Can we get into any legal trouble for that?

 

[quincy]

Oklahoma.

Last week a young man broke into my husbands truck in the middle of the night. He was caught by my husband and some of our neighbors and held until the police came. They arrested him and found numerous stolen items on him. Someone snapped a picture of him (you could not see his face clearly) and we shared it and his name online to make our neighbors aware and so they could keep an eye out for him. He's been breaking into numerous cars and homes over the last few months. We found out later that he was a minor. (He certainly looked and acted like a grown man) As soon as we found out he was underage, the posts were removed from social media. It was less than 12 hours, not that it matters, but it wasn't up for long. Can we get into any legal trouble for that?

Yes, you could potentially get into trouble for posting a picture of the minor and connecting this identified youth to crimes committed in your area - if the boy has not been found guilty yet of committing the crimes.

It really depends on exactly what you said about the boy and how you said it.

Although I doubt that anything will come of it, I think you were smart to remove from online what you posted about him.

 

[Kbranam]

From what I understand he has to meet with a detention officer and has a court date. I would think he would be found guilty since they found stolen items on him. One of them was a purse/wallet. The woman who it was taken from came to scene and identified him. I was just really angry when he was trying to steal from us and knowing he had been stealing from the whole neighborhood too! I wanted other people to know what happened.

 

[Proserpina]

Understood, but he's not guilty of any crime until a court says he is.

 

[Kbranam]

When I posted it, I said basically what I said in my initial post here. I said he was caught breaking into my husbands truck, caught and held by my husband and the neighbors and then arrested by the police. I didn't mention him having stolen stuff on him or anything else. It was just the facts of what happened. I didn't post anything that I 'thought' he had done. People commenting on it were saying things like "he broke into my house" and "he broke into my car last week". They recognized him and pointed out what he had done.

 

[quincy]

Newspapers have concerns when publishing the names and photos of minors arrested for, charged with, or convicted of crimes - but these are ethical concerns more than legal concerns. And the general public is not held to these same ethical standards.

When writing about or posting a picture of an identifiable person, however (whether the person is an adult or a minor), everyone (newspapers and the public alike) needs to be careful how they handle the reputation of that person. There must be care given not to invade the person's privacy or defame the person with a false claim.

A defamation claim can arise if someone is wrongly accused of, or falsely connected with, a crime or crimes they did not commit. Even when someone has been arrested, an arrest is not a charge, and a charge is not a conviction. Until someone is convicted of a crime, they should not be labeled a criminal.

I think that informing neighbors about crimes in the neighborhood can be helpful. It keeps the neighbors alert to anyone or anything suspicious that they see in the area. But I hope you and your neighbors are able to keep to a minimum any gossip about the boy arrested for breaking into your husband's truck. I think you were smart to remove from its location online the photo of the boy and what you wrote about him, as it only works to feed the gossip.

With that said, I think there is little likelihood that what you posted online will cause any legal issue for you. If it does, you will want to speak to an attorney in your area.