Are there any cases where someone is arrested for doing something (sex, alchohol, whatever) because they are “too young” even though they are chronologically older than the age limit, and the arresters know it, (say they were born in New Zealand at 00:03 on 28 July, and 21 years and 20 hours later they get arrested for having a beer in California, where it’s still 27 July?)
Legal drinking age in New Zealand is 18 while it’s 21 in California, so there is in fact a three-year opening in which this could happen.
I’m aware of that. I’m talking about local legal limits, and in this case, (but not just this case, any similar) someone is 21 years old chronologically for 20 hours, but the date on his passport still reads that his 21st birthday is tomorrow. Any similar things considered too.
I don’t know if it ever happened but no one is going to calculate where the international date line is to determine your age. They will go by local time. Why wouldn’t they?
This isn’t what you were talking about but it reminded me of the story of Rafeal Fercal. He was a shortstop for the Atlanta Braves and at the time was supposed to be the youngest player in the majors. He was arrested for underage drinking and driving when he was 19. He was actually 22 and had been lying about his age. He continued to lie for 2 more years, probably out of embarrassment.
The Dominican youth leagues are basically baseball breeding camps for the majors. But they only want young kids. If you don’t show enough promise by 14 or so they are not interested. They want young kids so they can start feeding them right and getting them strong for when it’s time to go into the minors. Fercal didn’t make it when he was younger so he doctored his paperwork and got excepted later. The new birthdate followed him and later caused his legal problem.
I don’t think his age in NZ would have any effect on his age in CA.
In Israel, it is possible for A to have been born two weeks after B but celebrate his 21st. birthday two weeks earlier. That’s because in 7 years out of every 19, a month is duplicated to keep the calendar from rotating through the year.
Not sure if this qualifies but ---- not arrested but I know a lady who has been detained and questioned to the point that she resorted to packing around a copy of her birth certificate and a notarized letter (from her local police I believe) confirming her age. Even in her mid twenties you wouldn’t put her at being more than maybe 12 or 13. Driving was actually the worst for her and she spent many an hour sitting on the curb waiting for the cops to be convinced she was really legal and it wasn’t some super-trick phoney license. Even trying to check into a hotel, for her, usually ended up with someone wearing a badge saying “Pardon me Miss, can I have a word with you?”
Sorry I can’t remember the detail, but I read somewhere (possibly even on this board) of a principle of common law whereby you are deemed to have reached a certain age the day before your birthday. If this is applicable in this case, it would cover most situations of the type described in the OP.
Found the thread in time for the edit:
And another cite: SSR 63-15
This doesn’t change the problem even if applicable. It simply moves the problem one day earlier. In any case drinking age and buying cigarettes starts (in the U.S.) on your birthday not on the day before your birthday at least according to all the signs I’ve seen.
I know it is a drift but ------ I’ve always wondered about people whose documents give their traditional “Chinese age”. A friend in college was 20 as we figure things but 21 on his drivers license and everything else.
(I forget the details but it has something with age being from conception and not physical birth)
Dubious - since your drivers license does not have age, just date of birth. (Obviously since it is good for several years.) And the d-o-b is proved using birth certificates or documents like a passport which get data from a birth certificate. If the date of birth is wrong someone screwed up somewhere.
Not to mention that date of conception might be a bit hard to prove.
In an opposite example, I recall many years ago someone arrested and made the news in Toronto. (An assault in the subway, if I recall correctly). They announced the name of the person; then a news item a few days later apologized since that was one perp’s 18th birthday, and in fact the law protecting minors applied to the day of their 18th birthday - the identity of a minor committing a crime cannot be publicized. However, you can drink on your 18th birthday in civilized lands (alas, not Ontario any longer, it’s 19).
Even if you stay put in the town you were born in, the exact anniversary of your birth doesn’t always fall on the same calendar date, because a year is not an integer number of days long. This is most widely known for people born on Leap Day, but it actually applies to everyone.
Cecil discusses in detail: When do leap-day babies celebrate their birthdays? (includes brief mention of the non-leap-day birthday situations too).