Disorderly Conduct Charges For Minors and Students in Maryland

In Maryland, minors and students often face misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges. Disorderly conduct convictions can result in a criminal record that may impact background checks and employment opportunities in the future. Below, a Maryland disorderly conduct lawyer discusses how these charges may affect students.

Disorderly Conduct for People Under 18

Individuals under 18 are treated different in disorderly conduct cases just as they would any kind of criminal charges for somebody who’s under 18. The reason for that is people who are under eighteen are prosecuted in the juvenile courts. That means all of their cases are native to the juvenile court that’s within the circuit court.

For adults, most disorderly conduct cases are going to be heard in the district court. Juvenile cases are generally heard in front of a master and adult cases are generally heard in front of a judge.

There’s a whole different process to the juvenile courts as well. There is a finding of delinquency in the juvenile court rather than a finding of guilt. The juvenile system in Maryland is completely different than the adult.

Disorderly Conduct for People Under 21

Unlike cases involving minors, there’s no difference between cases with people under 21 and those older than 21. As soon as you’re over 18, you’re out of the juvenile system and you’re treated exactly like an adult in the state.

Defense Strategies in Disorderly Conduct Cases

Sometimes it could be that the client wasn’t the one making the noise that there’s no way to determine who was actually making that noise. Involuntary intoxication can be, but again that’s going to be usually a pretty tough one to prove. But generally those are a couple of defense strategy that are available in a disorderly conduct case.

Diversion Programs in Disorderly Conduct Cases

A lot of states attorney’s will offer a diversion program for a first offense disorderly conduct as a way for the individual to keep their record clean to not have anything that haunt them later on in their life. Diversions for a first offense is pretty common in Maryland.

Additionally, the courts could also offer probation before judgment if the person is found guilty. That’s another way to keep it off a person’s record.

With a probation before judgment there’s no actual finding of guilt that gets entered into the record as long as the individual doesn’t violate their probation.