Quoting Tightrope
Joanne, vegasmike6 is indeed correct. If you were under 18 years of age you are eligible to use the VWP.
Joanne, after a little more research, crimes of moral turpitude, depending on which US documentation you read are only attributed to people aged over 18, however see this US Embassy video
http://www.usembassy.org.uk/visaservices/?p=2137
There is a chap who was 16 when he committed an offense and he is not using ESTA he is applying for a visa.
So anyone who done stupid thing below the age of 18 should be ok ?
Just to share my recent encounter while appling for a visitors Visa
I have two criminal records going back to l975 and 1982 and when I wanted to transit the USA this year I had to visit London to try and obtain a Visa
The experance at the Embassy was not very good and they decided that they would have to refer my case back to the States which was to take between 14- 16 weeks
The email only arrived last week confirming that they had approved my application and that I would have to send my passport back to the Embassy for the Visa
I think this prove's that if you are prepared to wait they will consider your case but take note it can take upto 6 months for the Visa to be granted
Check this out, it's a really interesting story
http://noentrytotheusa.wordpress.com/
Reading this last post, I realize just how naive (or else dishonest) that person is--
In summary, he claims that:
(1) He was sexually propositioned multiple time in front of multiple people, but never filed a claim against the lady doing so. Rather than take action, he waited until she claimed he committed a sexually suggestive act, and only then got a lawyer to defend himself.
(2) Due to his lawyer's actions, he was arrested but never charged with any crime.
(3) Lastly, he has decided that the US has no right to ask him why he was arrested--and that to attend a hearing where he could explain his version of the circumstances would "compromise [his] integrity". Not sure exactly how he comes to that conclusion--but he claims doing so would also put him through terrible pain and suffering.
Sorry--but I'm not buying this explanation. Either he's a bit of a "drama queen"--or more likely, there's a concern that something might come out in the interview with the US embassy.
If he truly was never charged with any crime, that explanation alone would probably end the interview in a matter of minutes.
I guess the real losers in this story are his kids, who won't be able to visit Disneyland or Disney World.
--and personally, I don't see the US laws being the big issue here.
[ Edit: Edited on 17-Jun-2012, at 23:31 by Calcruzer ]
You may have missed the point. I think his story typifies the situation for many people who have been arrested throughout the course of a police investigation and then found to be innocent. To me he has a point if he is innocent why should he have to go through the same process as people who have been found guilty? I'm lucky in that I have never been arrested but I can understand his situation, just being human qualifies me in that respect. If we are truly innocent and if the law of his country has decided such that he is innocent then he is innocent we can't go back to a time when people were all considered guilty just because of a suspicion or on the say so of another person, we have to trust the investigation of the professional body. I happen to agree with the author in that it is wrong for people who have merely been arrested without charge or conviction to have to go through the same process as someone who has murdered someone. It doesn't sound like his kids are going to miss out he sounds clever enough to be making good of the the rest of the world.
To comment on your observations:
"(1) He was sexually propositioned multiple time in front of multiple people, but never filed a claim against the lady doing so.
He did actually, and he explains this in his article. He informs his employer when he decided 'enough was enough'
"Rather than take action, he waited until she claimed he committed a sexually suggestive act, and only then got a lawyer to defend himself."
The author does not say that these propositions were in front of other people, the author says that she alleged offense was said to have taken place in front of other people. He appears to have got the lawyer after he was arrested.
"(2) Due to his lawyer's actions, he was arrested but never charged with any crime."
There lies the point, 'he was never charged with any crime'
I cannot see how you can conclude that his lawyers actions got him arrested. The way I read it he took on a lawyer after the arrest was made.
"(3) Lastly, he has decided that the US has no right to ask him why he was arrested--and that to attend a hearing where he could explain his version of the circumstances would "compromise [his] integrity". Not sure exactly how he comes to that conclusion--but he claims doing so would also put him through terrible pain and suffering."
I think anyone who has been accused of something of this nature who is innocent and as he was not charged then by all the laws of the civilised world as well as plain and simple good human moral beliefs he is innocent.
We can't assume that something might come out in the interview and I don't get the impression he's a drama queen. I get the impression he was wronged and the system is failing him and he believes (and I agree with him) he does not see why he should be made to re-live what was an awful time in his life, mind you I would say that ironically he is re-living it by writing that blog
The point he is making and this a great belief of mine is that if no charge or conviction has been brought against any individual then there it should be left, I agree with him as he has put in his article 'innocent until proven guilty.
I think reading between the lines he loves the USA, so do I, geography wise it's one of the most wonderful continents on the planet, as well as culturally having influenced so much of the world in many ways, some people don't like that but I do, the USA says to me 'fun and adventure'. I care about people, and I say nobody can deny the high level of security to enter the USA now due to the atrocities carried out by some fanatical idiots but some of the precautions are truly affecting a lot of otherwise good people. I also think he highlights a general feeling amongst a lot of people he is deciding to not bother and to take his family holidays in other places. Shame he's missing out the USA has so much to offer.
[ Edit: Edited on 18-Jun-2012, at 03:23 by Tightrope ]
@calcruzer
I came here looking for a couple of answers regarding visas n stuff, I thnk I'm getting somewhere but I just read this website http://noentrytotheusa.wordpress.com/ (link on two posts above)
and i have to comment on your reply to tighrope the guy in the website says himself that he was naive unless you meant in not knowing stuff about not being charged and that he'd probably get a visa, but thats not being naive thats just not knowing the same as just about eerybody else where this subject is concerned, which is next to nothing. you also seem to be judging him lets assume its all true and he has been done wrong then he was right to post the quote from Abe Lincoln. not everybody who gets arrested is guilty or do you belive otherwise coz i'm here coz I got arrested when i was 17 for criminal damage and I need some answers, i broke a window and it was an accident but I was too afraid to say too much and they arrested me. I got myself together and stopped crying and spoke out about the window and I swung my bag over my shouloder and it hit the window. The police got their statements and let me go without charge so what do i do?
thanks to anybody who was gonna reply but me and my girl just spent the whole evening looking into this stuff and we're gonna go to Mexico instead. Taking a holiday in the US inolves jumpin through too many hoops and I'm not gonna spend all that money and time on a visa when the cops let me go without even charging me. Have fun all. 
Look, O.J. Simpson was arrested for murder, but never found guilty also. By your standards, the US shouldn't even be allowed to ask him about this arrest if he were a foreigner wanting to travel to the US.
The rules for traveling to the US are different than the rules for ending up in jail. Nobody's forcing you to come here. As we say here in the US--it's not a right, it's a privilege. You have the choice to follow the country's rules and come here--or not to follow them, and not come here.
And as one of our most famous Supreme Court judges, Oliver Wendell Holmes said "The laws of Rome and the laws of London are not--and do not need to be the same". Same for the US--what you may think is appropriate in your country may not be appropriate in ours. We have 50 states--and the same applies from one state to another. In some states, there are state income taxes--in others, there are none. In some states, it is legal to gamble, in others gambling is illegal. In some states, if you are married, half of what you earn belongs to your spouse. In other states, whatever you earned is entirely yours.
Apparently you don't like our visa rules--okay, that's fine. I hope you enjoy Mexico--I enjoy my trips there also. Sorry you choose not to follow our visa rules, but that is your choice.
P.S. I'm not saying I agree with all of the US federal laws either--but I do understand why many of them are the way they are.
[ Edit: Edited on 19-Jun-2012, at 16:29 by Calcruzer ]
Hi, Just to let anyone who is reading this thread know ... that everything was okay, and we got to Disney and had an amazing holiday! Would I do it again? No, I don't think I would because it ruined the build up to the holiday and the flight over there and then the next few days just de-stressing. However, because we had already booked it and would have lost loads of money and upset the kids, we decided to go for it and it was all okay. Just thought it would be good to keep everyone updated. M.
p.s Thank you VegasMike!