Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

I'm not sure you do understand the consequences, or you wouldn't have committed the crime. If you're lucky, all that will happen is your parents will get a bill for maybe $500 in loss prevention expenses. If not, you'll garner a criminal record, and you'll be unemployable and therefore poor, hungry, sick and miserable your whole life while you watch the honest people around you thrive and prosper. I don't know how it was that you were detained and searched without your consent, but probably there isn't much you can do about it.

You were detained for a crime it appears you admitted to, which means that when criminal charges for theft or burglary are filed, your confession can and will be used against you. If charged, hire an attorney to help you try to minimize the damage you've caused your case. Your other complaints are irrelevant to the criminal charges if filed. If you don't like the way you were treated, you can write a letter to the store.

In California, merchants have a privilege to detain shoppers when they have probable cause to suspect the shopper stole merchandise, in order to investigate and have the person arrested. "A merchant may detain a person for a reasonable time for the purpose of conducting an investigation in a reasonable manner whenever the merchant has probable cause to believe the person to be detained is attempting to unlawfully take or has unlawfully taken merchandise from the merchant's premises." (Pen. Code, sec. 490.5 subd. (f)(1).)

The exercise of this privilege insulates the merchant from criminal prosecution, if it was performed reasonably. It is also a privilege -meaning it is a defense- to civil liability for false imprisonment claims. I cannot tell whether you intend to raise it as a procedural issue in your juvenile delinquency matter, or in a civil matter later on.

There is no bright line rule for what is reasonable, or how much time. Each case depends on the totality of the circumstances, and the facts of what happened.