Ask Me Help Desk - What should I say.

What should I say.

Well about two months ago me and two of my friends got arrested at school for smoking weed at school. We also all got put on probation for 3 months. I convinced her that I learned my lesson and I did. But not as big as lesson I should have. I figured that if I never take drugs to school ill be good. Today I finally got to hangout with one of my friends I got caught at school with. We ****ed up bad. We shoplifted. I took a shirt and a ear ring. We got caught and arrested again. Were both also still on probation. I'm so terrified I'm going to have to go to juvie. I'm not a bad kid I'm just a kid who keeps making stupid choices. But I honestly truly learned my lesson. Im done with everything bad. I cried for at least an hour. I just want to know what to say to the judge to let them know I honestly learned my lesson and to stay out of juvie. Cause I did learn my lesson Truthfully. Please help me.

Judges make decisions based on the law, not on empathy. It's a shame you made two bad decisions, but depending on your state, they may have a steadily increasing penalty to teens/anyone who reoffends. It's very common to have a harsher sentence for the second offense, especially for teens, and especially if the second offense was committed while on probation from the first offense.

You may be sent to juvenile detention even though you are very sorry and are determined to change your ways; the only way a judge would decide against that is if you suddenly and clearly started acting like an upstanding member of society, which is generally determined by how much you volunteer, what leadership activities you pursue at school and outside of school (church, etc), what your grades are like, etc. If you don't have any of those to back you up in your statement that you are "really sorry", they don't have much to go on.

As an aside, I know at least one person who said that being sent to juvie was one of the best decisions her mother ever made for her. She hated her mother at the time, but going to juvie really made her clean up her act, get an education, and come out straight. If you are really determined to be an upstanding member of society, and get sent to juvie, consider using that experience to your best advantage, instead of being afraid of the possibility.

Good luck and so sorry again to hear this happened for you.

Its silly people like you that put small stores out of buiness... I hope you understand that even though you may have stolen something worth only 50 and you think it won't make a difference to the owner, well your wrong, because among you, there are about another 30 other people that will target that store and rob 50 worth of stuff too in the matter of a week! And you know who suffers? The owner, and probably his family that he is trying to support.. if you hadn't of got caught you wouldn't be sorry right now.. you probably wouldn't give the whole incident a second thought.. so I think whatever punishment you do get, you deserve, sorry to sound so harsh but it needs to be said... you will just have to take it on the chin and learn this lesson once and for all.
Good luck

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Originally Posted by Farrisbueller14

I cried for atleast an hour.

Is that all? You only cried for at least an hour? Puhleeze!

Have you ever hear the saying... you do the crime you do the time? Well, now it's time to face the music. Maybe that's when you will really learn your lesson.

I took one ear ring. That's like 6 bucks.

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I took one ear ring. That's like 6 bucks.

This statement unfortunately reveals a lot about your level of remorse. Do you regret not stealing more? Or do you regret getting caught? Are you trying to say it would've been better if you were caught for a larger crime?

If that's the case, it doesn't sound like you've learned anything at all, other than that it sucks to be caught.

... so you don't really feel bad for it... you just feel like you shouldn't be punished too much and you feel it's unfair.

Yeah, it's $6. You do realize that some people get their hands chopped off for a piece of bread, right? Would it be OK if I went in your house, opened the fridge, took the juice out of your fridge, and drank it, and took a shirt of yours?

... it's not the AMOUNT you stole, it's the fact that you DID steal.

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I took a shirt and a ear ring

Did you forget about the shirt? Kid your not sorry for what you done, your sorry you got caught

Again... boo hoo. You do the crime, you do the time.

It's not the fact that it was 1 earring worth 6 bucks, it's the fact that it wasn't yours to take. Oh, yeah, I suppose you forgot about the shirt!

If you can't keep your hands to yourself, keep them in your pockets. That's what I used to tell my kids when they were young, and apparently this fits you as well.

You show no remorse for what you did. It's people like you who drive the prices up so that good law abiding citizens like me have a hard time putting food in our children's mouths.

Just cause I do regret getting caught doesn't mean that I didn't learn a lesson does it? We learn from our mistakes. And I'm admitting to you all here that I did make a mistake. Im done stealing. For good. I learned a lesson.