Parents of teenagers face significantly higher insurance costs. Teenagers charged with reckless driving can lose their driving licenses and face permanent consequences of a criminal conviction if they apply for a school or job. Simply making a mistake at the wheel should not derail a young life. Young people accused of reckless driving deserve the help of an experienced, reckless driving lawyer to represent them in traffic offences.
The defendants may be charged with causing a danger to life, limb or property by dangerous driving.
Juveniles under the age of 17 may not be brought before a juvenile court unless it is a serious offence. This means that the consequences of a reckless driving charge can be very different for someone who is 17 years old than for someone who is 18 or older. While an adult comes before a criminal court and faces possible penalties if charged with reckless driving, a juvenile can have his misdemeanor brought before the juvenile court. Depending on the seriousness of the offences, a reception manager in juvenile courts can enable young people to take part in an alternative programme.
Teenagers can also receive a summons, which requires an appearance before the local juvenile court. There is no minimum age for the Virginia Juvenile Court’s request for summons to the juvenile courts.
Parents and young people need to understand how the law applies to teenagers driving recklessly. Lawyers handling juvenile justice cases should represent young people accused of violating Virginia’s criminal law. Even if you seal the record, that doesn’t mean a reckless driving conviction will never affect a teenager’s future. A teenager who drives recklessly gets points for insurance, driving licences and adulthood. Colleges may also ask whether the teenager was ever involved in a juvenile justice case.
She called for more information about the law so that she has advocates who can help secure the future of teens. The Virginia Department of Public Safety’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.