Aurora, CO asked in Criminal Law and Juvenile Law for Colorado

Q: My friends 14yr old son punched her in the face and broke her nose. He also hits his brother and has fits of rage.

She had made several reports and no help, the police claim they can't step in. What can she do.

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1 Lawyer Answer

A: The best course of action is therapy or counseling. There are certainly grounds for getting the police or the courts involved if the boy hit his mother intentionally, and certainly when the result was a broken nose. But criminal sanctions may possibly result in the boy being removed from the home or incarcerated (or worse), which is not in anyone's best interests.

If your friend is reporting these incidents to the police already, however, and feels law enforcement is necessary to mitigate the issues, it is surprising to me that the police are not stepping in - again, especially when there is a broken nose.

It sounds like there might be more to the story and that any lawyer would need more information to truly assess the situation and your friend's options.

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