Criminal accusation

Question

If one parent in falsely accused of sexual abuse by a child

is their any consequence to the child (age 13) no charges has been given to a district attorney but DHS has said the parent is guilty and the detectives have said they side with the parent

Answer 1

A lot would depend on the local statutes as no Federal crimes would apply and like no statewide ones would either. The *possible* crimes would be:

1. Filing a false police report - unlikely to apply, since it was probably DHS who filed and not the child. Unless DHS had reasonable evidence to believe the charge was bogus and filed anyway, they would not be liable.
2. Lying to a police officer - the child would certainly be guilty of this but the simple of act of lying to a police officer may or may not in itself be legally a crime, depending on the jurisdiction. However, it would certainly be arguable that the child would be guilty of obstruction of justice.
3. Perjury - if the child made statements under oath that turned out to be demonstrably and knowingly false, that would constitute perjury by definition.

Consequences to the child is a whole different matter. Even if proven guilty of a felony such as perjury, it's highly unlikely there would be jail time involved for a minor of that age. Much more likely would be a suspended sentence with probation or, for a repeat offender, some time in juvenile hall.