Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

If you're charged with this type of offense, you should be more concerned with YOURSELF than the minor who made the false report. If you're convicted, you could face jail or prison, and a lifetime of registration as a sex offender.

Making a false police report is a crime... but proving that the report is false is difficult. In situations like this, the prosecution rarely goes after a minor who makes a false report. Most district attorneys believe it would discourage real victims from reporting crimes (it makes the DA look really bad for prosecuting an innocent person).

There was a well-publicized case in Southern California several years ago, when three teenaged girls falsely accused a homeless man of molesting them, when they were really just trying to avoid getting in trouble with their parents for coming home too late. A juvenile court judge ordered them locked up in Juvenile Hall for the same amount of time the innocent man spent in jail. That, however, is an unusual case, and most false reports go unpunished.