Juvenile Delinquency Court Process in California

California Juvenile Delinquency Court Process

Juvenile Court Jurisdiction
“Juvenile justice” refers to juvenile court proceedings in which a minor is alleged to have committed an act that would be a crime if committed by an adult. The act can be anything from a relatively minor ordinance or misdemeanor violation up to and including murder. In California, juvenile justice proceedings are also referred to as “delinquency” cases, or “602” cases, in reference to the jurisdictional statutes beginning at California Welfare and Institutions Code section 602. Minors may be held under juvenile court jurisdiction until age 21, or until age 25 if he or she is committed to the California Division of Juvenile Justice (formerly known as the California Youth Authority).

How Cases are Filed
Most California juvenile justice cases begin with a law enforcement contact based on the alleged commission of a crime. The law enforcement officer may decide that the youth may be released, delivered to a shelter or diversion program and cited to appear before the probation officer, or held and transported to the probation officer. The probation officer may, in certain cases, decide not to pursue prosecution; may (with the consent of the minor and parent), place an eligible minor on a program of Informal Supervision with specified requirements for six months (the case is dismissed if the minor is successful); or may determine that formal proceedings should be filed and take the case to the prosecuting attorney (district attorney) for filing.

Fitness Motions
The prosecuting attorney may, in some cases, file a “Fitness Petition,” requesting that the youth be found unfit to be handled in the juvenile court system. That Petition must be filed before the jurisdictional hearing, and if the court finds the minor “unfit,” charges may be filed in the adult criminal court. The rules governing the “fitness hearing” vary with the charges, the minor’s age and record, but always require the court to consider the minor’s criminal sophistication; whether the minor can be rehabilitated in the time available to the juvenile court; the minor’s past delinquent history; the success of previous attempts to rehabilitate the minor; and the circumstances and gravity of the offense.

Detained Cases
If a minor is detained in juvenile hall and a formal Petition will be filed, the probation officer may release the youth on a promise to appear, release the youth on home supervision (release to home detention with specified conditions), place the youth in a non-secure detention facility, or order continued detention in the juvenile hall. In California, juvenile halls are county-operated locked facilities. For detained minors, a formal juvenile court Petition must be filed within 48 hours of being taken into custody, and the youth taken before the juvenile court before the expiration of the next judicial day after the Petition is filed.

Detention Hearing
At the juvenile court Detention Hearing, the formal juvenile court Petition is read and the minor admits or denies the allegations. There is no right to bail in juvenile court, but the judge, typically after hearing argument from the defense and prosecution, may order the minor released, placed on home supervision, placed in a non-secure detention facility, or detained in the juvenile hall pending adjudication of the case.

In many cases, this is when the minor’s attorney may file motions for appointment of experts; to discover the evidence against the minor; to challenge the use of evidence or admissions; or to raise mental health issues or the minor’s competence to stand trial. In some cases, this may also be when the court considers motions to refer the case for Informal Supervision or other handling in lieu of formal prosecution.

Jurisdictional Hearing (Trial)
For minors detained in juvenile hall, the jurisdictional hearing (court trial or adjudication) must take place within 15 judicial days of the court’s initial detention order. Juveniles do not enjoy the right to a jury trial in delinquency proceedings, so cases are tried in front of a juvenile court judge or commissioner. The court hears the evidence and decides whether or not the minor comes within the jurisdiction of the court based upon proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the minor committed a crime(s). The rules of evidence applicable in adult criminal court are used, and the minor’s lawyer may argue motions to suppress evidence, to exclude admissions or confessions, or to dismiss the case.

In many cases, before or at the time of the jurisdictional hearing the minor admits some or all of the allegations in the Petition, in a process roughly equivalent to a guilty plea in adult court. In certain eligible cases, the minor may admit the offense and receive “Deferred Entry of Judgment”, in which the charges are dismissed upon successful completion of a service program, but the case proceeds to disposition if performance is unsatisfactory. In cases where the minor is detained, the court may then set the case for sentencing (“disposition”) up to ten judicial days after the jurisdictional hearing, and if the youth is not detained, for up to 30 days from the date the Petition was filed.

Disposition Hearing
At the disposition hearing, the court decides whether the minor will be released on probation, or placed in some form of institutional custody. State law permits the detention of minors pending execution of the disposition order, subject to court approval at periodic reviews to be held every 15 days.

The statutory timelines for detained juvenile justice cases envision that the adjudication and disposition of the case will occur within five to six weeks of the initial contact with law enforcement, depending on holidays and the day of the week the arrest occurred. In practice, it may take much longer for cases to reach disposition because of continuances or post-disposition delays in placement.

Dispositional Options in California Juvenile Justice
The court’s dispositional choices are very broad. It may declare the minor a ward of the court and place the minor on probation, subject to specified conditions. Alternatively, it may place the minor in a non-secure out-of-home placement. Youth placed through the juvenile justice system may be placed in foster care, licensed group homes, community treatment facilities, and even in out of state placements - just like children in the child welfare system. The court may order that youth be incarcerated in juvenile hall for a specific amount of time, or send them to a county-operated juvenile home, ranch, camp, or forestry camp. Finally, if the minor has committed a serious offense listed in Welfare & Institutions Code section 707(b), the court may commit the minor to the Division of Juvenile Justice (formerly called the California Youth Authority), a state-operated system of institutions and camps. All DJJ institutions are locked facilities. Minors may be held in secure physical confinement for up to the maximum amount of time that could be imposed on an adult for the same offense.

California law provides two kinds of facilities specifically for delinquent youth with serious emotional disturbance, but few of these facilities actually exist. First, there can be secure regional facilities for “seriously emotionally disturbed” wards. Second, state law establishes community treatment facilities to serve “seriously emotionally disturbed” youth. Juvenile courts may not directly commit youth to involuntary treatment in the mental health system, though it may refer them for evaluation with respect to competence to stand trial.

Throughout the case, the court has the power to dismiss the Petition in the interest of justice. At the dispositional phase, the court also has the power to join other agencies into the proceedings who have not met their legal obligation to provide services to the youth.

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Law Offices of David L. Avila

Juvenile and Criminal Defense Lawyer