My Experience with the Spotsylvania County Juvenile Court System

Ok, so I have to a bit of a rant here.  Last year, a couple of young delinquents threw a large rock at my car as we were driving home in our neighborhood.  Had the top window been open, the rock would have struck me in the head and could have caused a crash.  I tried to chase them down but they got away.  However, we found out who they were from some young Mexican kids who they normally bullied.  These poor kids were just happy that someone FINALLY would do something to them since they were bullied and afraid to speak to the authorities.  We confronted the mom and the kids admitted to it, so we called the police and charges were pressed.

My wife went to court over it and we found that it would cost $500 in repairs to fix the vehicle.  The kids pled guilty and were found guilty.  They were ordered to do community service and pay the $500 in restitution.  The judge apparently said that even if they moved they still had to do community service and pay the restitution.

We had never heard anything and contacted the courts since they had a year to do this.  What we eventually found out was that another trial had been scheduled since they never sent any money to the courts and never reported any community service.  They never showed up, of course, and we were told since they couldn’t find them that they were just found guilty with a felony on their record and the case was closed.  I spend five minutes online and found out that they’re currently living in St. Louis, MO.  We were told that since it’s just kids and only $500 that it was closed since the state couldn’t do anything any more.

So let’s recap here.  What happened is that a couple of kids caused damage to a vehicle.  They were found guilty.  They were ordered to pay us back for the damage they caused.  However, all they had to do was move out of Virginia and they don’t have suffer any consequences for their actions.  We were told “but they will have a felony on their permanent record.”  This means jack.  People with felonies can easily find almost any kind of job in this day and age.

I realize now why there are so many young punks in this world.  They can basically get away with anything because it’s “too expensive” to prosecute them.  They can get off scot-free without repercussions from their actions.  And then they’re free to continue being young punks wherever they are.  It seems to me like this is just another example of how broken our legal system is.