legal question

[Guest]

if a run away has been gone for 3 years and when they turn 18 can they go to jail? or is all dropped? do they have to go to the police station where they have their case?
by the way this is in kentucky...

[ccsmod1]

Re: legal question

Hi there. Thanks for writing on our bulletin boards. We’re not legal expects, so we can’t give you specific legal advice, but from the best of our knowledge, once a youth turns 18 the runaway report goes away. However, if the youth was in prior legal trouble (probation, warrants, etc), there may still be consequences. The best way to find out this information would be to call the local police. It may require a call to the local police in the city where the youth left from. Every state and even police department will have a different policy and procedure when it comes to this. It’s possible that the runaway report may turn into a missing person report. With missing person reports, usually, the person just has to let the police know they’re safe and the report goes away. If the youth in question isn’t comfortable calling the local police themselves, they’re welcome to call our hotline and we can conference a call with them to the police. They can call 1-800-RUNAWAY. We’d talk a little about the situation and what they wanted to get out of calling the police. Then we’d attempt to call the police where they left from and try to get some answers. If feasible, we would bring the youth on to speak with us and the police at the same time. That’s one option that we can help with. Even if this isn’t something the youth wants to do, we’d be happy to talk to them directly about the situation and possible options. Someone is available here 24/7. Best of Luck.