College kids and drinking alcohol from Northside Woman
This month thousands of Metro Atlanta parents will eagerly await the return of their college-aged child for winter break. The holidays provide a welcome respite from the rigors of a full course load. However, some students who have become entrenched in the campus social scene will find temptations lurking in the abundance of down time.
Northside Woman asked a resident criminal defense expert, Raymond Giudice, to advise parents on the pitfalls of college students engaged in the holiday party scene.
NSW: Based on your 25 years of experience in the criminal defense field, can you tell us if the holiday season is a busy time for the Youthful Offender branch of your practice?
RVG: Absolutely. A lot of normal, good kids go off to college and experience independence for the first time in their lives. Unfortunately, they don’t always make the best choices. While on campus students may engage in under-age drinking at frat parties, the legal age in Georgia is still 21. Kids come home on winter break and make the same type of decisions, but outside the safety of a dorm room or frat house. That is when my phone starts to ring.
NSW: Which sorts of convictions stay on an individual’s permanent record, no matter how old the offender is at the time of conviction?
RVG: All of them do, and, as you know, potential employers have easy access to public court records.
NSW: Can certain convictions affect scholarships like the Hope, or even admission into colleges, military academies or services, or graduate programs?
RVG: Definitely! A drug, DUI, or theft conviction would be more than enough to block an admission into a top school. Students currently enrolled and receiving the Hope Scholarship would lose that funding. This would be enough to derail some students permanently from completing their studies. Parents need to consider the yearly cost of college tuition and the loss of even a partial scholarship.
