Criminal Damage
Criminal Law; What's Your Defense and What Rights Do You Have?
The law in America is a complex system; do you know and understand your rights?
As well as having laws in place to protect people from harm and to encourage good social values within a community, laws are also guidelines which people are expected to live by. The federal government has laws, while each state and its municipalities also have statutes and local ordinances; however, no state or municipal laws can override federal law in the United States of America.
March 14, 2011
8:07 pm
criminal damage?
i’m a cabbie and took a woman home from hospital in early hrs of morning.she asked me to break an inside door in as her partner had locked her out.stupidly i did ,and now 1 month later i get a call from police saying they are doing me for criminal damage.whats the usual punishment for this?could i lose my licence?(i was innocent,just stupidly doing her a ‘favour,but worst case scenario?)
April 11, 2011
10:53 am
Hi,
In the UK.
If what you say is true then what are you worried about?
The prosecution must not just show that you did it, but that you knew or should have reasonably known you were breaking the law. It is called the ‘mens rea’.
As a stranger to the woman you simply assisted with her gaining entry to what you reasonably assumed to be her home. You acted in good faith.
You will be asked if you thought what you were doing was wrong just say no, you thought the woman was genuine and that you thought you were helping with a lawful entry and that you had no reason to think otherwise as it was late at night.
In other words you were misled into committing the offence.
Therefore, no mens rea means no case to answer.
If you have no previous convictions, are of good character and have not come to the attention of the police, then the prosecution will have a hard time proving their case.
The woman would also have to be charged because she is the co-conspiritor in this case. If this goes to court and she is not there with you, you need to ask why? At minimum she would need to be a witness.
Hope this helps.
Good luck
July 3, 2011
9:09 pm
Oh dear, I had a car TWOC a number of years ago by a 13 year old lad and he admitted the crime but I couldn’t get a penny from him or his parents. The fine print in my insurance didn’t cover my claim! You will be very lucky if you get any money from him or his parents, he will probably get a slapped wrist and be told don’t be a naughty boy, don’t do it again, do 50 hours community service!
July 5, 2011
8:58 pm
Criminal Damage?
My van was intentionally damaged by a juvenile who admitted it to police who told me the lad would be charged with causing criminal damage. The police now tell me to proceed with a claim through my insurance to repair the damage which will involve me with a lot of inconvenience & a £350 excess to pay. If & I know its a big IF this scumbag is charged as suggested can he or his parents be forced to pay or do they just plead ‘underage’ & no money etc & everyone forgets all about it? The so called justice system just seems so weighted against the victim in so many cases that leads to such individuals doing things like this in the first place
July 12, 2011
11:10 am
It depends on the jurisdiction. Most legal systems have a procedure whereby you can apply to have past crimes removed from (or sealed) law enforcement data bases.
You should consult a solicitor/attorney/lawyer or some universities have legal clinic where members of the public can obtain assistance from a law student under the supervision of a licenced legal professional.
Good luck!
July 16, 2011
7:14 pm
You need to consult your rental agreement and read through thoroughly; usually there are phrases which would oblige the owner to compensate for loss or damage, or replace etc. With schools a lot of the contracts etc they sign are copies of templates sent from local councils etc, so they will have these phrases in – the chances are they haven’t modified the template other than putting in the corrects names, rates etc. If you struggle to make sense of the contract/ written agreement then take a copy to your local Citizens Advice Bureau. The CAB can, for free, look over the contract and tell you exactly where you stand; they can also put you in contact with specialist solicitors if you agree that legal action is applicable.
The case for criminal damage is present, however, your contract would most probably affect the school’s responsibility to replace the computer. There has, however, definitely been criminal damage committed with regards to the locks being cut. As such, you would be perfectly justified in involving the police.
My personal advice, however, would be to explain, in writing, your situation to the school again. Make copies of this letter. If the school is unresponsive then perhaps think of involving a local newspaper – or even threaten to do so. Schools hate bad press, and this would be much more effective, and probably much cheaper and quicker, than legal action.
Best of luck resolving your situation.
July 17, 2011
10:56 am
How long will my caution for criminal damage continue to be disclosed?
I have been reading that even with the change of law cautions are still deleted depending on the offence committed as my offence was less than £5000 of damage i have read it comes under a minor offence. But i would just like to know how long the rehabilation period is for criminal damage and when will it be deleted or if not deleted when will it not be disclosed as it wasnt an offence of violence towards others.
July 25, 2011
9:57 pm
Caution for criminal damage-Can i apply to be a police officer?
I got a caution for criminal damage 4 years ago, and i wondered if i am permanantly barred from becoming a police officer. I live in Manchester.
July 26, 2011
6:42 pm
Criminal damage?
I voluntary for a local children’s charity who rents out a room at out local school. They spent two years fund raising for a computer for the children and finally brought one at the beginning of the year. However, over half time (they had half time off) it’s been so badly damaged and no longer works.
The school has had building work and had moved everything around, even though we pay rent on the cupboards which were locked (we supplied the locks and have the only key) but ‘someone’ had the locks cut off and emptied everything we had into boxes – including the computer and printer/scanner.
We reported this to the school who we pay rent to, and they told us to ‘get a life’ and that things break and now they are just ignoring us.
Do you think we should report the damage to the police as we are not able to claim on the insurance unless we accidentally broke it (which we didn’t as we were on holiday) or due to criminal damage.
I know it sounds harsh getting the police involved but it took 2 years to raise that money and we can not afford to replace it.
If anyone has any suggestions please let me know as so angry that the children no longer has a computer which took so long to fundraise for.
Thanks
Meant to say that we did write a letter and their reply was to give it back and tel us to get a life and stop complaining.
July 27, 2011
10:08 pm
You can still apply. It will be up to the person who is in charge of hiring and interviews to decide if you should still be worth hiring. I think you still have a chance; hopefully your record and resume is clean and high quality and maybe the rest will be overlooked. Also, I think it gives you hope still just because it was a caution and not an actual charge.