Legal Question in Constitutional Law in New York

Re: Age Limit

Dear Lauren:

In examining this response, please note that we are not entering into an attorney/client relationship, that this is to be taken as informative, and not as legal advice, that it is always best to speak to a lawyer in your area and/or in the area where the transaction and/or events occurred, and that my answer is necessarily limited by the fact that I have not seen the documentation or had an opportunity to go over the matters with you in detail.

You have asked a very, very difficult question because the laws in this area are not at all clear. Smart and reasonable people could easily disagree about what they say and what they mean in any particular situation.

In other words, your question does not have an exact and absolute answer, as much as I know you want it to.

Child endangerment occurs when a someon acts in a manner that is "likely" to injure a child under 17 or directs him/her to engage in an occupation involving "substantial" risk of danger.

But just how "likely" is likely enough to break the law? How much injury has to be possible? How "substantial" must the risk be in any situation? These are open questions, not capable of any one perfect, absolute answer.

It is also endangerment for a parent to refuse to "exercize reasonable diligence in the control of the child" under 18 to prevent him/her from being abused, neglected or delinquent. But what "reasonbleness" is, or the moment when a child becomes "abused" or "neglected" are similarly difficult questions with no absolute answers.

Are your parents neglecting you if they leave you home for a few hours on school days? It may depend on how you use the time, whether you are doing well in school, and whether you are physically and emotionally healthy despite being left alone. Is your house comfortable and clean, or is it horrible? Are you on drugs or a star athlete despite being home?

As you can see, there is no single answer to your question; the tests for endangerment are very subjective, and may change from case to case, and the same actions by parents may lead to very different results from one family to the next.

Good luck to you.

As I mentioned before, this is something that you will want to take up with a lawyer of your own selection, either in your state or area or in a place where some of the pertinent events occurred.

Rod Kovel

Attorney at Law

516-312-9900