Archives for: June 24th, 2014

What Teens Need to Know When Charged with Shoplifting

Jun 24, 2014

If you’re charged with shoplifting as a teenager, you may face worse consequences than just a slap on the wrist from the retailer and the wrath of your parents. In response to a rise in lost money from stolen merchandise, retailers in Illinois and across the country are taking an increasingly hard line with shoplifters of all ages, in some cases reducing the age to press charges from 18 to 16 and the “reasonable” period to wait for the parents [...]

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Public Indecency: When Freedom of Expression Turns Illegal

Jun 17, 2014

Public Indecency

Public indecency, or indecent exposure, has always been a somewhat nebulous charge. It’s classified as a sexual offense, which means that, if you’re charged with public indecency, you’ll be forced to register as a sex offender. The sex offender registry is public, and being a registered sex offender can affect everything from your ability to find housing to getting a job—a harsh penalty to pay for streaking, mooning, or urinating in public.

Public indecency charges get even more complicated [...]

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MYTH: Domestic Violence Affects Only Women

Jun 11, 2014

Domestic Violence

There are many factors that may contribute to the number of domestic violence charges in Chicago and our country as a whole, but one of the major issues is a general failure to understand what domestic violence really is.

The first major misunderstanding is that you can only be charged with domestic violence if you cause physical harm to someone you’re in an intimate relationship with. In reality, the state of Illinois can charge you with domestic violence for [...]

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Alternatives to Prison for a Retail Theft Conviction

Jun 3, 2014

Shoplifting / Retail Theft

“It’s a victimless crime.” “It’s not that big of a deal.” “The company that makes this already has plenty of money—they’re not suffering.” These are the kinds of excuses used to rationalize retail theft, also known as shoplifting, and make it sound less as a crime and more as a Robin Hood-esque act of liberation.

Retail theft may not seem like that big a deal when you’re slipping a bottle of mouthwash or a pair of designer jeans under [...]

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