• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Alcohol | Breaking the Law | Cyber Crime
Sex | Driving | Violence
Drugs | Graffiti | Parties
Offensive Behaviour | Legal Advice |

‘Busted’ explains in clear terms what the laws are and what powers police have to deal with people who break the law. It also tells you what the consequences can be if you are convicted of breaking the law. The ‘Busted’ section is all about young people and how to stop things going wrong on your night out. There are real stories about young peoples’ experiences, and some of the common myths about the law.

Alcohol

Seth’s Story …

Seth and his friends were in Year 12 at school. Seth was the first of his friends to turn 18. He and his friends were going to a party and he offered to buy them alcohol to take to the party. They stopped in a park on the way to a party and he gave everyone a beer. A police officer saw him handing out the beers to everyone, and Seth thought he was in the clear because he was legally allowed to purchase and drink the beer, but his friends were not. Seth was charged and fined for supplying alcohol to minors. That is a on the spot of $550 per drink, per underage friend that he supplied. That was a very expensive night that Seth will never forget!


more

Breaking the Law

What Happens If I Break The Law?

If you’re over 10 years of age and you break the law you may be arrested and charged with an offence. This section gives an outline of what can expect to happen if you break the law.

more

Cyber Crime

Anna's Story...

Anna and her friends used the internet a lot to keep in touch. Anna got an email from her friend Jenny that had a picture of Jenny exposing her breast and asking her to send one back of Anna doing the same. Anna thought it was Jenny mucking around with her. She didn’t know that a man had hacked into Jenny’s contacts and was sending messages under her name. The man, using Jenny’s email address, sent more emails, asking her to do more things, and he put the images all over the internet. Anna still thought it was her friend and could not believe that she would do this to her, and stopped talking to her. It was only when the police went to Anna’s house to talk to her that she found out what had happened. The man was arrested with about 500 images and files of video footage located on his computer at time of arrest from all over the world...

more

Sex

And The Law...

Many of you might think that if you want to have sex with someone, then that is nobody’s business but your own. However, there are laws in New South Wales about how old you and your partner need to be to have sex, and about what is wrong to do to someone sexually.

This section gives you a basic summary of some of the important things you should know about the laws to do with having sex. It also has real stories about young people who have been victims of sexual assault.
more

Driving

Daniel’s Story …

Daniel and Andrew were best friends. They went to a great party which finished early one Saturday night and they wanted to do something else. They decided to take a neighbour’s car for a ride. They didn’t plan to steal it, just to go for a drive for a while. They didn’t think they could get caught. When they were driving they crashed into a telegraph pole. They were not hurt, and they left the car and ran off. They didn’t know that while they were driving a red light camera had taken a photo of them driving before the accident. They received a summons to go to court...

more

Violence

A good night can turn bad if you or your friends end up in a fight. Sometimes alcohol can make it harder for people to control themselves. Sometimes things go wrong in life that make someone angry and upset, and they use violence to express those feelings. Sometimes someone else with a problem is looking for a fight. Whatever the trigger, violence is wrong. more

Drugs

Nikki’s Story …

Nikki, a 15 year old girl was arrested for stealing and possession of a small quantity of heroin. The police interviewed her and because of her age, a Police Youth Liaison Officer was called in to assist. During the interview, she admitted that the stolen property was to be used to buy more drugs. After the interview, the Youth Liaison Officer spoke with Nikki and her mum about drug treatment options. The Youth Liaison Officer decided Nikki was entitled to be cautioned under the Young Offenders Act. Because of her age and the fact it was a first offence, she was given a caution. At that time, she agreed that drug treatment would be a good idea. The Youth Liaison Officer made contact for her with an adolescent residential treatment programme and Nikki attended and completed the programme. Now, Nikki is drug free and trying to get on with her life without drugs...

more

Graffiti

Josh’s Story …

Josh, 18, was caught spray painting a building by police. Police found about 10 tags that day of his all down the street. They contacted the local council. The Council has a data base that every single graffiti that they remove from a council wall, as they take a photo of it and put on a data base. The council ran Josh’s tag through the data base and bought up 92 times that the tag had been used. He admitted to all 92 offences. He agreed to attend a youth conference. The outcome plan was that he agreed to do 60 hours of community service with the council clean up crew and write a letter to the local paper to apologise to all of the victims. Unfortunately, Josh did not complete the outcome plan so he had to go to court. Now he has a criminal record for the rest of his life.

more

Parties

Great parties are often loud parties. But if your party gets really wild, and the disturbance is starting to upset the neighbours, you could find yourself getting into more trouble than you’d bargained for.

What can happen if your party gets out of hand? more

Offensive Behaviour

And Other Things You Can't Do When You Are Out

There are laws about certain things you cannot do when you are out in public and other places, and about how you act and speak in view of others. Things that might be funny between you and your friends, might offend other people in the street or other public places. Remember, public places are shared spaces.

more

Legal Advice

Where Can I Go If I Need A Lawyer Or Legal Advice?

If you get into trouble, you might need to get some advice from a lawyer, or to get a lawyer to represent you in court. Here are some links to organizations where you might be able to get some legal advice or find a lawyer :

more