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Ind. Code § 35-33-6-2

Probable cause; detention; procedure; statements by juveniles

Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case Adams v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (2003)

Most recently applied in Tikidanke Bah v. Mac's Convenience Stores, LLC d/b/a Circle K and David Ruffin (June 2015)

As added by Acts 1981, P.L.298, SEC.2

How often courts cite this section

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Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

Sec. 2. (a) An owner or agent of a store who has probable cause to believe that a theft has occurred or is occurring on or about the store and who has probable cause to believe that a specific person has committed or is committing the theft:

(1) may:

(A) detain the person and request the person to identify himself or herself;

(B) verify the identification;

(C) determine whether the person has in the person's possession unpurchased merchandise taken from the store;

(D) inform the appropriate law enforcement officers; and

(E) inform the person's parents or others interested in the person's welfare that the person has been detained; but

(2) shall not ask the person to make a statement that acknowledges that the person committed the theft or conversion or waives any of the person's legal rights if:

(A) the person is less than eighteen (18) years of age; and

(B) the person has not been afforded an opportunity to have a meaningful consultation with his or her parent, guardian, custodian, or guardian ad litem.

(b) A statement acknowledging that a child committed theft or conversion in violation of subdivision (a)(2) cannot be admitted as evidence against the child on the issue of whether the child committed a delinquent act or a crime.

(c) The detention must:

(1) be reasonable and last only for a reasonable time; and

(2) not extend beyond the arrival of a law enforcement officer or two (2) hours, whichever first occurs.

Official source: Indiana General Assembly. Reproduced from public-domain Indiana statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.