"Minor" Adults

It’s kind of a third category here in Texas. You are not a minor, and you are not an adult. You are a minor adult. It’s a category that was developed for people ages 17-20 who are arrested for drinking.

Now, when a person is a minor and gets arrested for a DWI or caught drinking, the parents are called, and they are taken home. Juveniles can’t go to jail, and their blood can’t be tested without permission. Their records can’t be disclosed either. Even when they drink and drive, they usually only get tickets, and they are given a lot of breaks.

So it sometimes comes as a big surprise when at age 17, Mommy and Daddy’s little boy who was caught driving while drunk, is not considered a juvenile anymore.

"I cannot tell you the number of parents who cried and moaned, who walked into the court when I was trying a 17- or 18-year-old, saying, 'They just brought him home the first 10 times,' " said Clay Abbott, DWI resource prosecutor for the Texas District and County Attorneys Association. "I said, 'Yeah, he was a juvenile then. Now he's mine.' "

Minor adults can get a ticket just for being around alcohol! And if they are arrested for drunk driving, they are treated like adults. That means taking a blood alcohol test or refusing it and suffering the consequences. It means going to jail where they will probably be the youngest, most innocent ones there. And the offense does not come off of your record, ever.

Statistics show that even though 16-20 year olds make up only 6% of the licensed drivers in Texas, they are responsible for 12% of the deaths that come from drunk driving. Part of the problem is that in this age group, they usually drink in order to get drunk. Binge drinking is a game to them. There’s a game where the person has to drink two 40 oz alcoholic beverages in order to win. That’s about 7 cans of beer, and if consumed within an hour, it constitutes binge drinking.

Once a minor adult has been arrested, there’s also a trend towards just taking the jail time, which tends to be about thirty days, and it’s over by the time or even before their case makes it to court. Minor adults find it way less expensive than the costs of probation and DWI classes, and it requires less responsibility. Because of this, about 30% offend again, and some have even racked up 5 offenses before they turn 21.

It seems like it would make good sense to give them the classes and the treatment while they are spending their 30 days in the jail, doesn’t it?