I used to believe that joy riding was riding in the car without a destination or purpose so every time my mom would put me in the car to drive me around so I would fall asleep I would have to think of a excuse for the police for when they pulled us over for having a ‘fun time driving’ I lived in fear of being put in jail for having fun in the car!

Jaimie

I am from the UK and the first time we went to America my Dad told me that it was the law to salute a picture of the President of the USA whenever you saw one. I looked pretty stupid in the airport when I saluted a picture of Bill Clinton, and was really worried my family would be arrested because they didn't!

Anon

Until I was about 11 or 12 I thought that "prostitute" referred to a female criminal.

Anon

Because of how people use the word `aggravate', I thought that `aggravated assault' must be a lesser charge than other assault, because obviously it's worse to attack without provocation.

Anton Sherwood

I was once coming home from the grocery store with my mom, and she asked me to hand her an apple juice. I was so scared. I thought my mom would get in trouble for "drinking and driving" so I flat out refused to give it to her for fear she would be arrested.

Jasmine

I used to believe avidly in the idea of "if you can't see them, they can't see you." I had an irrational fear of burglars coming in through the windows of my room(which is on the second floor), so every night, I'd get all of my toy stuffed animals and make a fortress on my bed so that I couldn't see any windows and I was hidden. Then I started worrying that since my eyes were so far from my feet, that the burglars would see my feet and know i was there and kill me. To protect me then, I spent a pretty long time before I went to sleep every night trying to think as if my eyes were on my toes so that I couldn't be seen at all.

Shelley V

When I was a child, I was terrified by the "Trespassers will be Prosectuted" signs I saw. I accidentally read 'prosecuted' as 'persecuted'. I had learned in religion class that Jesus was persecuted, and I knew he had been killed, so unfortunately I believed they meant the same thing. Therefore, the signs meant that anyone who trespassed would be immediately killed. I was always terrified to set foot on private property for fear I would be shot.

Pineapple

When my friends slept over my house years ago I always made them sleep on the side of the bed closest to the door. This way, when the bad people broke into my house at night and entered my room, they would be closer and, therefore, be murdered instead of me. I never told them this though, of course. They just thought I was picky on which side of my bed I slept on.

Anon

I used to believe that when the news reported that a woman got "raped"... it meant someone caught her and hit her with a garden rake, or raked her up her back leaving nasty scratches.... and thats why it was such a horrable thing when a woman is "raked"

Sharon

I used to believe that when people said a criminal was going to "the slammer," that the slammer was some sort of machine that crushed people. So when Boss Hogg would state that he was going to put those Duke Boys in the slammer, I actually thought that he meant to execute them.

Anon

I used to believe that getting mugged was having random people run up to you and hit you over the head with a mug.

Anon

i used to think criminals were stupid for stealing money i thought if they were criminals why not steal instead of buy.

Damian

I used to believe that serial killers were people who went around stabbing Cheerios, Frosted Flakes, and other breakfast cerials.

TB Samurai

I used to think that burgulars used to kill people if they ate burgers

angel

I used to beleive (because he told me) that my Uncle Jack sneaked into Armley Prison, to see what it was like, stayed a couple of weeks, did'nt think much of it and sneaked back out again.

As far as i know my Uncle Jack never actual went to prison.

Mark Bennett

In the US, pillows and mattresses have a tag on them that says :

UNDER PENALTY OF LAW THIS TAG IS NOT TO BE REMOVED EXCEPT BY THE CONSUMER.

I used to belive that it was illegal to ever remove the tag from mattresses and pillows. I thought that even if you bought it you still couldn't remove the tag or you would go to jail. ( I didn't now what a consumer was then)

Once the tag came off my pillow. I ran crying to my mom, terrified that I was going to be arrested. She calmed me down and explained that the tag only had to be left on when the pillow/mattress was being sold at the store.

Sharon

Up until recently I thought that arson was a flammable chemical, like gasoline, that criminals used to start fires.

Erika

I used to believe that all 'bad people' (criminals) were short, unshaven and ugly and wore black-and-white striped shirts because that's how they were always pictured in storybooks. If only it were that obvious in real life!

queeneve

Wish this one was mine... my girlfriend was working in a daycare, where they had of course talked in circle time before about not talking to strangers. When you think about it, to a child, "strangers" come across to be a pretty evil bunch.
Later in the year, a police officer came in as a guest speaker. He was asking the kids why they thought he had different parts of his uniform. When he asked why he had a gun, one kid immediately blurted out, "To shoot strangers!"

Pink

I used to beleieve (when VERY young; 12 actually!) that cat burglars stole cats!

Woody