ATTORNEYS AT LAW 1009 W 7TH AVENUE ANCHORAGE, ALASKA 99501 TELEPHONE: (907) 279-4529 FAX: (907) 279-9223
©1997 by Steven Pradell
Teenagers occupy a unique legal position in our society. In Alaska, they receive driving permits and can work at age 14 and they can obtain driver's licenses at 16, providing their parents consent. At 18, they can vote, smoke and are treated as adults in some respects but not others. Once they reach the age of 21 all of the rights of adulthood are finally bestowed, such as purchasing alcohol products. However, parents and society expect teens to act responsibly at all times, and to follow the laws enacted for adults and those set for siblings in the home. Often teens are troubled because they are treated like children but expected to act like adults. This article addresses these issues.
Parents are normally responsible for their children until they turn 18. A parent must support a child financially until a child is 18, or until the child turns 19 if the child is still attending high school and living at home. Children must normally obey their parents during their minority, and parents have the right to control their children and to enforce rules which they create.
If a 16 year old child is living away from parents, the child can ask a court to become emancipated, which means free from the control of his or her parents. An emancipated teenager can live where he wants, work and control earnings received, sue others and enter contracts. However, an emancipated minor must still meet the normal age requirements for voting and drinking alcoholic beverages. Parents must usually consent to a child's request for emancipation.
The constitutional rights of teenagers are more limited than those of adults. Teenagers expressed their unhappiness at the recently enacted curfew in Anchorage, which requires that teenagers be off of the streets at 11:00 p.m. on weekdays and 1:00 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. Teenagers also lose certain rights at school. There are limits on the way teens can act and dress, and teens have less of a right to keeping things private while they are in school. Teachers can search students' private areas in school more easily than officers can search adults outside of the school setting.
Teenagers who commit crimes have until recently been treated differently than adults. Trials are held in secret, sentences occur in juvenile detention facilities, and normally end soon after the child reaches adulthood. But recent changes have allowed judges to try more juveniles who commit serious crimes as if they were adults, so that they may go to jail for much longer periods of time, and receive criminal records which follow them for life.
The Anchorage Youth Court is a legal system in which certain teens who commit crimes can be tried truly by a jury of their peers: other teenagers. Those accused are appointed attorneys who are high school students and can have a trial in a real courtroom before teenage judges, who can issue enforceable sentences. To learn more about the Youth Court, call 274-5986.
If you are a teenager or a parent who desires to learn more about your rights and responsibilities, it may be wise to speak with a lawyer.
Steven Pradell is an Anchorage attorney with a practice emphasizing family law, including children's issues, divorce, custody, child support and adoption. ©1997 by Steven Pradell. This article is not intended to provide legal advice and should not be relied on for that purpose. The law office of Pradell and Associates provides low cost legal consultations. A helpful staff provides prompt, courteous services to meet your legal needs. Give Pradell and Associates a call today, at (907) 279-4529-- (279-4LAW).