Dropping Charges

[Charlieopera]

Hi. I’m a hardboiled crime writer from New Jersey engaged in a very different project for me; a youth novel dealing with divorce, etc. I have two police related questions that can take place in either New Jersey or New York.

1) A high school kid (Joe) is beat up by another kid (Doug). Joe is found unconscious and is brought to an emergency room. He has suffered a concussion. Although several people know who beat him up, Joe does not want to press charges (from embarrassment, social pressure, etc.). There was a witness who saw what happened, but did not know the other boy’s name (Doug). If Joe does not want to press charges, would Doug be arrested?

2) Later, Joe’s family’s house is robbed while they are asleep. Some things were taken from the main floor and basement (including two cymbals from Joe’s drum kit). A few days later, Joe is alerted by a friend that his cymbals are for sale on e-bay. Joe alerts his parents who alert the police and a sting is set up. The police catch the seller of the stolen property and find other stolen property in his car. The person caught with the goods gives up a few other people, one of whom lives on Joe’s block. That person’s mother tells Joe’s mom that her purse and credit cards, etc., could be returned if she drops the charges. Can she drop the charges or would there still be a prosecution for their stolen property?

Thanks in advance. Great site, by the way.

[retdetsgt]

The victim can almost always drop the charges. The exception might be if the assault was very serious, but generally prosecutors have no desire to take a reluctant victim to court and try to force them to testify. They have plenty of other cases on their workload that have cooperative victims.

Neither will be popular with the police however.

[mcsap]

1. Our DA could go either way. Even with a reluctant victim , there was a witness and the victims injuries support the charge. The bad guy could still be arrested based on this info. We dont have to have a willing victim.

We have had a number of shootings in my area. The victims sometimes do not want to cooperate but if we can find a witness , we'll charge them. The main reason for this lack of cooperation is so that the victim can later settle the score and be immediately considered a good suspect.


2. If we go to the time and trouble of doing all of this , it is very unlikely that we would deal with the bad guy. Any sensible person would have immedialte cancelled all of their CC's anyway. We are not likely to trade the return of a pocket book to drop burglary / RSP / conspiracy charges.

And the victim cannot demand or withdraw anything. If we charge , only WE can un-charge. I would tell the bad guy that we will drop maybe one charge in exchage for the goods but they do not get a free pass.

[Charlieopera]

Thanks for both responses very much.