Teenagers are full of two things. Hormones and emotions. The combination causes them to make questionable life choices, which includes engaging in sex. When parents learn that their teenage child has become sexually active they often find themselves worrying if their child can be charged with statutory rape.

Recent changes to California’s laws about sex with minors have made the issue even more confusing than it is in some other states.

What is Statutory Rape?

Strictly speaking, statutory rape has nothing to do about sexual consent. In statutory rape cases, both parties are usually willing. These cases aren’t about the willingness of both partners but whether they’re able to cope with the emotional and physical ramifications that go hand in hand with a sexual relationship.

Accor...

Lawmakers aren’t fooling around when it comes to people messing with other people’s mail. The issue of mail theft is explored in US Code Section 1708. It’s important to understand that because mail theft involves the United States Postal Service, a federal agency, mail theft is considered a federal offense. The State of California will likely add a few charges as well.

What is Mail Theft

If you read US Code 18 Section 1708 you’ll learn that taking any piece of mail that wasn’t sent to you is considered mail theft. It doesn’t matter if the mail is taken directly from a post office employee, snatched from a mailbox, or snuck of a mail truck. It’s all mail theft.

Additional Offenses That Are Frequently Added to Mail Theft Charges

It’s rare for a person to be charged with jus...

Child abuse laws are designed to protect children from being hurt. They’re good laws that make a lot of sense. Unfortunately, they are also laws that can be used against people, particularly parents who are engaged in a child custody dispute. It’s not unheard of for one parent to accuse the other parent of child abuse in order to obtain full custody of the children. It’s an accusation that can deal a lasting blow to both sides.

While there have been instances of men lodging false child abuse claims against women, it’s far more common for a woman to falsely accuse a man of child abuse. Data collected by the Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) indicates that 85% of all child abuse protective orders are filed by men and issued against men...

There was a time when no one worried about what would happen if they videotaped someone. Prior to cell phone cameras, it was nearly impossible for the average person to videotape someone without the person being taped knowing about it. Now that everyone has a video camera on their cell phone, many people have accidentally broken California’s laws regarding videotaping people without their consent.

Cell phone cameras made it possible to videotape people without that person’s consent. Social media makes it possible for us to share these tapes. The combination has created legal problems for many people.

According to the current laws, you are allowed to record a video of people without their consent, but only if you don’t pick up any bits of their conversation...

When people think about laws, they often think about sensible rules that make sense. However, it is important to remember that laws are made by people, and this means that some real nonsense can be made into actual laws that govern the people. This is true of every country, state, and city. California is no exception.

The Golden State is home to its own bits of weirdness thanks to some odd laws. Many of these laws were created long ago, and as such, show their age. Others are a little more recent, and while it may be possible to see what the lawmaker was going for, the wording of the law isn’t quite right.

Why Are These Even Laws?

California became a state on September 9, 1850...

For years now, schools have and other government agencies have been working hard to send the message to kids that drugs are bad. Drugs can mess with a person’s body and mind in all sorts of harmful or damaging ways. The worst drugs are either flat out illegal or limited to only be used when a person has a prescription.

Drugs that are restricted by the government are referred to as controlled substances. These substances can be restricted for any number of reasons. If a person is found to have one of these substances on them without a prescription, then they could end up in trouble.

Possession of Controlled Substances in California

Here in the state of California, Health and Safety Code (HS) 11350 makes it illegal for a person to have a controlled substance in their possession without a ...

M
ost people work their butts off to make the money that they do. They need it to pay for groceries, gas, bills, and anything else they might want to purchase. Money is a precious commodity that everyone is always trying to get more of. Some people get more money by working harder. Others get it by taking advantage of people.

Things can be particularly bad when it is an employer that is taking advantage of its employees. This can lead to employees getting paid less than what they are owed for the work they did. To prevent this from happening, the state of California has several different labor laws meant to protect employees from dishonest employers.

Bad Employers Do Exist

Some of the basics that California’s labor laws cover include minimum wage, overtime, and requiring employees to w...

Pretty much every driver has experienced the slight panic of seeing a police car behind them while driving even if they haven’t done anything wrong. That shows how much people don’t want to get pulled over. On those occasions where people are pulled over, they can then find themselves worrying about the officer searching through their vehicle.

Despite what people might think, police officers and other law enforcement officers cannot just search a vehicle without reason or a warrant. This is a protection granted to every United States citizen under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. The Fourth Amendment prohibits law enforcement agents from conducting unreasonable searches and seizures. The amendment also sets forth guidelines for how warrants are issued.

When Is a Warrant Unn...

For the most part, dog owners are good at taking care of their animals. They love their pup and treat it like a member of the family. However, not everyone is very good at taking care of their dog, which can cause some trouble. If a dog gets out and bites someone, the dog’s owner could get into legal trouble.

California is a strict liability state. This means that if a dog bites someone, whether or not they have a history of biting, the owner is liable for the incident. If a dog owner doesn’t want to be held responsible for a dog bite, they need to take the proper precautions to keep their dog under control.

When Dogs Bite People

California Civil Code (CC) 3342 makes it so that dog owners are liable for the injuries their dog caused, as long as the person didn’t provoke the dog and t...

Back in 2016, Californians voted to allow the recreational use of marijuana. This created a whole new mess of laws that dictated how people could use marijuana. The laws rolled out bit by bit over the next few years. While this made things easier for lawmakers and gave them the time they needed to create these laws, this did cause some confusion.

When it comes to marijuana, a lot of people are still confused about what is and isn’t allowed in California. For instance, what are the rules regarding foods and drinks infused with cannabis? Are those allowed in California, and if so, how much can a person carry on them before getting into trouble?

What Are Edibles?

Some people prefer edibles, or foods infused with cannabis, over smoking marijuana...