Ocean City Student Defense Lawyer
If a student has been charged or convicted of a crime in the criminal justice system, the university may use that as a basis to sanction the student and potentially remove the student from campus, suspend them, or not allow them to come back for the following semester. It’s important for students to understand that there can be consequences regardless of what happens in the criminal justice system. An Ocean City criminal lawyer who has worked student cases in the past can explain the circumstances to any students charged with criminal conduct and what the negative implications will be on their student status.
University Consequences for Criminal Conduct
A student’s university can take action by suspending the student or putting the student on probation without any sort of resolution in the criminal justice system. It’s also important for students to understand, depending on the university they attend, their conduct off campus could also be a violation of the student code of conduct. Many students, particularly upper classmen who don’t reside on campus, are charged with an offense and the university still takes action against them because they’re still students.
Location of Residency
Regardless of where they’re residing, whether it’s on campus or off campus, they’re still students and they are required to abide by the code of conduct. How it is that the university finds out depends on the university’s relationship with each law enforcement agency. Nonetheless students whose criminal case was resolved very favorably can still suffer consequences at the university level to the point where they may not come back the following semester or they were removed in the middle of that semester.
Since the university does not refund the tuition, the student is out the money for that semester. They’re not going to get any credit for those classes and then they have to figure out if they’re going to be allowed to come back the following semester.
Criminal Charges on Ocean City College Campuses
Incurring criminal charges on campus can be just as serious as being off campus in Ocean City. For example, any time a student maliciously destroys property that is owned by the campus, they can be charged with malicious destruction of property. It’s not accidental, but a student does it purposely with the intent to destroy. That could mean defacing it by drawing on it or tearing it up to the point where it can’t be used anymore. That could lead to a destruction of property charge.
Thefts on Campus
Theft is the taking away of somebody else’s property with the intent to keep it. It’s permanently depriving the person of the property, and those charges can arise on campus in a lot of different ways. For example, taking a roommate’s belongings with the intent to keep them would be a theft charge. A large number of thefts occur from campus bookstore. Taking items off the shelf at the campus bookstore and trying to leave the store without paying for them would be another example of theft on campus. More often students are taking things from their roommates or classmates.
Noise Violations on College Campuses
A lot of universities have noise violations. They may not necessarily call it a noise violation, but it may be a behavior that is understood to be unacceptable because it is similar to disorderly. For example, Salisbury University calls it conduct infringing on others. According to their student code of conduct, it would include disorderly conduct, public drunkenness, public urination, obscenity, et cetera.
A lot of times dorms will have quiet hours. They may have a time-frame where it’s understood that students are not supposed to be playing their music loudly and screaming at one another from across the hallway. Those are not necessarily going to lead to criminal charges, but it could be a violation of the university’s policy about noise ordinance.
Should a student face academic penalties from their university, a lawyer can also help them fight those charges.
Role of an Ocean City Student Defense Attorney
Student defense attorneys in Ocean City can familiarize themselves with the student code of conduct and give advice to the student about how to handle whatever the hearing might be at the university.
In some instances in Ocean City, the university will allow the student defense attorney to come on campus and sit in on the hearing, but probably not participate in the hearing or not be allowed to participate at the same level of advocacy as they would in a criminal court system. It can be helpful to have an attorney there who can advise the student by saying, “Okay, this is what the university has to prove you did. Here is where it seems that the university is lacking in their evidence of that. I think you need to call these witnesses because they will help you for this defense.”
An attorney can be very helpful. Because it’s not a criminal matter and the university can limit a Ocean City student defense attorney’s role and how the attorney can help, the attorney may not be able to participate in the same way that you would expect an attorney to participate if you walked into criminal court.