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Alternative rank speculation: Kevin's parole officer liked him and knew that his superiors in an overworked system wouldn't bat an eye at his wrong interpretat

Alternative rank speculation: Kevin's parole officer liked him and knew that his superiors in an overworked system wouldn't bat an eye at his wrong interpretation of the law. So he played along, and his superiors didn't ask any questions. One less kid to keep up with (and a nonviolent one at that). If on the other hand Kevin's parole officer had been a dick, he would have told Kevin he wasn't allowed to do this. And when Kevin did it anyway, he would have brought it to the attention of his supervisors who would use the right interpretation of the law to hold him accountable and keep the warrant out for some longer amount of time. Since there isn't a series of human-based gates running inside Chromium, this has very little if anything to do with finding exploits in software. Edit: clarification

stephen_g 4y ago
If the description in the article is correct (I don’t know much about US law), it seems like a pretty solid argument and technicality. If the jurisdiction of the Youth Authority expires, there doesn’t seem to be much they can do. The gamble is whether the regular prosecutor could charged him afterwards for something given what he did, and whether they would bother.
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gamblor956 4y ago
Juvenile courts (in CA) only have exclusive jurisdiction over crimes committed while a defendant was under 18 (except for those enumerated crimes for which juvies can be tried as adults), and maintain that jurisdiction for all proceedings related to that crime until the defendant turns 21, at which point the juvenile court proceedings terminate by law. Adult courts have jurisdiction over defendants for crimes committed as an adult (generally 18, though as young as 16 for specific crimes). The arrest warrant was issued when Mitnick was 21 and on parole, or in other words, for a violation committed as an adult. While the arrest warrant was issued by the juvie court, it could have been issued by the adult court, as both courts would have had jurisdiction over the crime for which the arrest warranted was issued. So the lawyer was right, because the statute of limitations for the adult court was tolled while Mitnick fled the jurisdiction. And the parole officer was also right, because the juvie court which issued the warrant would have lost jurisdiction over Mitnick once he turned 21. Juvie court is way nicer than adult court. Mitnick "hacked" the system and only got away with it because prosecutors decided to focus their efforts on more serious crimes. But he could easily have ended up in prison for a few years.

stephen_g 4y ago

If the description in the article is correct (I don’t know much about US law), it seems like a pretty solid argument and technicality. If the jurisdiction of the Youth Authority expires, there doesn’t seem to be much they can do. The gamble is whether the regular prosecutor could charged him afterwards for something given what he did, and whether they would bother.

deleted 4y ago

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gamblor956 4y ago

Juvenile courts (in CA) only have exclusive jurisdiction over crimes committed while a defendant was under 18 (except for those enumerated crimes for which juvies can be tried as adults), and maintain that jurisdiction for all proceedings related to that crime until the defendant turns 21, at which point the juvenile court proceedings terminate by law. Adult courts have jurisdiction over defendants for crimes committed as an adult (generally 18, though as young as 16 for specific crimes). The arrest warrant was issued when Mitnick was 21 and on parole, or in other words, for a violation committed as an adult. While the arrest warrant was issued by the juvie court, it could have been issued by the adult court, as both courts would have had jurisdiction over the crime for which the arrest warranted was issued. So the lawyer was right, because the statute of limitations for the adult court was tolled while Mitnick fled the jurisdiction. And the parole officer was also right, because the juvie court which issued the warrant would have lost jurisdiction over Mitnick once he turned 21. Juvie court is way nicer than adult court. Mitnick "hacked" the system and only got away with it because prosecutors decided to focus their efforts on more serious crimes. But he could easily have ended up in prison for a few years.