Sheesh as a parent who lived through it, the hassle, the cost, the time, I was livid at the police, but had no idea minor in possession charges occurred int the 70s.
I sympathize with your lividity, but I’m curious what your basis is for expecting that the cops wouldn’t arrest your child for committing a crime.
Whether MIP should be classified as a crime is of course another question entirely.
As s that of whether we should re-examine the “permanent record” issue. IMO there should be a mechanism in place for potentially removing black marks on the record if a person messes up but then straightens up.
The primary effect of the “permanent record” is to demoralize the person and remove incentive for him to try to do better.
Actually, my parents didn’t really suffer any inconvenience. I went to court by myself, and paid my own fines. Three of us were taken to jail the second time, but the parents of one of the other guys came and got us out.
Wish I could say the experience turned me into an upstanding citizen, but the truth is that I never got caught for all the other stuff.