General Question

FeelTheBern's avatar

Age limit regarding the reporting of a crime?

Asked by FeelTheBern (368points) May 24th, 2016

Do you need to be the the age of majority in your state to file a report of a crime?
And if you are under that age do you need to have parental consent?

Ex: If I’m 18 in Nebraska, do I have to have parental consent to file a report since age of majority is 19?

Tried to google, no clear answers.

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1 Answer

Espiritus_Corvus's avatar

No. You can report a crime at any age. Your age becomes a question when you become a witness in court. If the testimony of the person who reports the crime is integral to the prosecution’s case, and the witness is very young—like five or six—there may be a competency hearing before their testimony can be submitted. It must be proven that they know the difference between right and wrong. But anyone can report a crime.

For example, young children are encouraged to report inappropriate behavior committed upon them by adults and often become the prosecution’s main witness in court during the offender’s trial.

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