Vandalism is when someone hurts or damages another person’s property. Most of the time, the law says this has to be done on purpose to count as a crime — just being careless usually isn’t enough, except in one small situation: if the damage is small (under $250) and happens because someone wasn’t being careful with someone else’s stuff, that can still count too. In Alaska, this is officially called “criminal mischief.” One kind of vandalism is graffiti, which means spray-painting or marking on someone’s property without asking first — and graffiti has to be done on purpose to be against the law. Even if you think it looks cool, it’s still against the rules, and you could have to pay to fix it. If a kid does this, their parents might have to help pay too. In Anchorage, if you get caught doing graffiti for the first time, you could be fined $500. If you do it again, the fine goes up to $1,000. That money goes into a special fund used to reward people who help catch other graffiti offenders.