If you have ever been on the wrong side of the law, resulting in an arrest, then you understand how traumatizing the experience is. Imagine if you were younger than eighteen at the time. How would you handle being handcuffed, going through complex court processes, and being committed to a secure facility for rehabilitation?

Minors or juveniles experience severe distress when they are apprehended for delinquent acts. And even though a sustained petition does not attract stringent penalties like incarceration or court fines, the child’s future will be affected.

When your juvenile engages in a serious crime like murder, sex offenses, drug offenses, or violent crimes, the court can try them as adults through the adult criminal court system, resulting in criminal penalties. Whether the child is being tried in juvenile or adult court, you should talk to a defense lawyer to protect their freedom and future. At Riverside Criminal Attorney , we have knowledgeable lawyers to walk you and the juvenile through the court process and offer legal representation as we pursue a fair verdict. 

A Quick Glance at California Juvenile Delinquency

Any criminal activity your child between the ages of 12 and 17 participates in is juvenile delinquency. All juvenile delinquency cases, misdemeanors, or felonies are adjudicated in the juvenile court. The court system also deals with status offenses or violations that the law only deems criminal if minors commit them, like curfew violations. The court handling juvenile cases aims to rehabilitate and not punish children because the law considers them to lack the mental capacity to make informed decisions.

After an apprehension, you and the minor must understand what is expected of you. Knowing what to do ensures that the child does not engage in conduct that implicates them further in the crime.

When the juvenile is apprehended, the apprehending officer can opt to release or detain them in the juvenile hall. After arrest, a police officer can choose to do any of the following with the minor:

  • Record the apprehension and let the juvenile go home.
  • Refer the minor to an agency or shelter for further guidance.
  • Issue the child with a citation requiring them to show up in court on a specific date.
  • Detain the underage person in the juvenile facility.

The delinquent should not resist the apprehension, but this does not mean they should be friendly to the police and confess to participating in the criminal conduct. The juvenile should be polite to the officers and avoid answering questions until an attorney is present.

They decide whether to bring a petition against the suspect at the detention proceeding. So, it would help if you spoke to our attorneys immediately after you learn of the apprehension to prevent a petition from being filed or avoid detention.

Juvenile Representation Background

Juvenile court procedures are not as complex as the adult criminal justice system, but this does not make them simpler.

Once your juvenile is apprehended, the officer can put them in custody pending a petition and detention proceeding within 72 hours. It would help to understand that even if your minor can come home after arrest, the detention proceeding must happen within three days. After the proceeding, your child’s lawyer can request another proceeding to contest the petition’s efficiency. The hearing should also occur within 72 hours.

Based on the petition preferred by the prosecutor, more hearings can be arranged to:

  • Examine proof.
  • Establish the period of the suspect’s detention.
  • Determine whether the alleged delinquent should be detained awaiting petition adjudication.
  • Take into account the issue of jurisdiction.

The court can guide the suspect to legal guardianship, invalidate parental rights, or put the delinquent up for adoption.

Court Procedures in Juvenile Delinquency

The juvenile court system has procedures for apprehension, petition adjudication, or trial. When your child, the suspect, follows these procedures and is subjected to a fair adjudication, the petition against them can be dropped or sustained. The case starts after an arrest for committing a delinquent act, after which other court processes follow.

Detention Proceeding

The detention proceeding or hearing will be your child’s first appearance in juvenile court. If the suspect is in custody, the hearing is scheduled to establish whether they will stay in detention or be allowed to reunite with their family pending trial. Your juvenile’s freedom is on the line, so you want a lawyer representing them at this proceeding. In these cases, the child lacks the right to a pretrial release on bail, so you need a lawyer with good negotiation skills to convince the court or the probation officer (PO) in charge of the case that the suspect is better off with the family than in custody.

Also, the judge reads out the charges or petitions brought against the minor, allowing them to enter a plea. The suspect can plead guilty, not guilty, or allege insanity. Typically, the PO will recommend that the court grant the delinquent a pretrial release.

Nevertheless, the court detains the juvenile until the petition closes if it deems them a flight risk, and they are likely to skip town and fail to attend scheduled hearings. It is up to your juvenile’s defense lawyer to convince the court that the suspect is not a flight risk.

Another reason the court could deny your child the chance to reunite with the family while the petition continues is if they have a record of contravening court orders. Juvenile courts have no bail, meaning your child has not made any monetary commitment to the court, and there is an elevated risk of them not appearing. If the juvenile has skipped court before, there is a possibility they will miss court again, giving the court a reason to detain them until the case closes.

Also, when the safety of the delinquent or other persons is on the line, the court denies the suspect the chance to reunite with the family. The judge takes measures like detaining your child in custody to protect them from harm. Additionally, when the minor is in detention for a violent crime like murder, the court continues detaining them for their safety and that of the public.

Lastly, juvenile courts rarely punish delinquents with detention, making it easy for them to violate commitment conditions like curfew or probation. When your child is a repeat offender who has previously violated juvenile commitment, the court places them in juvenile hall until the petition is determined.

Jurisdiction Proceeding

The judge rules on whether or not the alleged delinquent engaged in delinquency in a jurisdictional proceeding. If your juvenile is detained after the detention proceeding, the jurisdiction proceeding will be scheduled within 15 days. However, if the court allows you to take the suspect home, the proceeding can occur in thirty days.

In the proceeding, the court reads the petition preferred against the delinquent and illuminates the charges. Furthermore, the court explains the possible dispositions and what is expected of you as the parent or lawful guardian of the juvenile. Once you and the suspect understand the petition, the suspect will be required to enter a plea. At Riverside Criminal Attorney , we encourage your child to plead not guilty so that we can challenge the charges on their behalf and obtain a favorable outcome.

If your delinquent opts to challenge the petition, our juvenile defense lawyers will contest the proof submitted by the DA. Before the judge grants a petition against a minor, they must be convinced beyond moral certainty that the child was involved in the delinquency. Poking holes in the prosecutor’s proof will help prevent a sustained petition.

Similarly, we can cross-examine witnesses to impeach their credibility or poke holes in their testimony. Typically, the apprehending officer is the one who testifies against the child. Therefore, we will investigate the case’s facts to determine whether the officer engaged in any misconduct violating the suspect’s rights. If there were misconduct or a rights violation, the evidence obtained would be set aside, leaving the prosecutor with a weak petition that would be dismissed. Besides, we will call your minor’s witnesses to testify in their favor at this hearing.

It would help to know that your child’s delinquency petition does not involve a jury. The judge listens to the evidence presented and issues a verdict. If our defense is convincing and the judge is compelled to say the alleged delinquent act did not happen, they will dismiss the case.

Transfer Hearing

If particular circumstances are present in your child’s case, they can be tried as adults in adult court. However, before this happens, they must hold a transfer proceeding, otherwise known as a fitness hearing. It is devastating to learn that your minor is being transferred to the adult court for trial when they should be tried in the juvenile court. However, when you work closely with a defense lawyer, they can prevent a transfer by ensuring that the court rules against the transfer in the fitness hearing.

One critical factor determining whether your juvenile will be transferred to the adult court is their delinquency history. The court charges your child as an adult if they are repeat offenders, always in and out of the juvenile delinquency court.

Similarly, the minor will be transferred if they commit a severe offense. Usually, cases adjudicated in juvenile court include curfew violations or truancy. Nevertheless, when a child 16 or older commits a brutal crime listed under the Welfare and Institution Code (WIC) 707, the case can be transferred to the adult court.

Another aspect considered during the fitness hearing is the success of past attempts to rehabilitate the delinquent. The objective of the juvenile delinquency justice system is to rehabilitate and turn delinquents into responsible future citizens. If your juvenile is a repeat offender whose previous rehabilitation attempts have failed, the court transfers the child to the adult court.

Lastly, the judge considers the level of sophistication exhibited by the minor when committing the crime. If the delinquent act portrays a high level of sophistication and the offense was perpetrated for a criminal gang or in furtherance of criminal gang activity, the child will be transferred.

WIC 707(b) offenses that will result in the transfer of a juvenile to the adult criminal court are:

  • Armed robbery.
  • Aggravated assault.
  • Forced rape.
  • Forcible sodomy.
  • Lascivious act with a child below 14 years.
  • Kidnapping to demand a ransom.
  • Kidnapping during the commission of a robbery.
  • Murder.
  • Discharges a weapon in an inhabited structure.
  • Attempted murder.
  • Arson with injuries.

When your juvenile is accused of any of these crimes and is convicted in adult court, they risk adult criminal penalties like prison incarceration and hefty court fines. Also, the child will relinquish all the rights provided for in the juvenile delinquency system.

Your child’s future hangs on the line in the transfer hearing. Therefore, you must speak to a knowledgeable juvenile delinquency defense lawyer to prevent the transfer.

Disposition Hearing

Ten days following the jurisdiction proceeding, the court schedules a disposition hearing to rule on the punishment imposed on the minor and the techniques to employ in rehabilitation. Before the sentencing, a PO will jot down information on your delinquent based on their observations. The report will then be shared with you, your minor’s lawyer, and the prosecutor. The information focuses on the following:

  • School and family history of the suspect.
  • Victims’ statements on the delinquent’s violent conduct.
  • PO’s recommendations.
  • Criminal history.

In this proceeding, the PO submits evidence to help the judge develop a fair disposition. The judge must consider your juvenile’s and other people's safety before disposition.

After a disposition has been issued, your juvenile’s lawyer can present an appeal notice if the outcome is unfavorable. The appeal is generally filed within six days after the ruling.

Again, if the case’s circumstances have changed ominously or there is new proof, the delinquent can ask the judge to set aside their ruling.

Furthermore, if the delinquent disregards the conditions imposed after a sustained petition, the court can summon them to set stricter or harsher dispositions.

Finally, if sixty months have passed after the disposition, the delinquent, with the help of a defense lawyer, can bring a motion to seal the records. One can delete the records if they have satisfied all the juvenile commitment conditions. If the PO supports the record sealing, the court grants your child’s petition, giving them a clean slate. The mistakes they made in their teens will not haunt them in adulthood.

Possible Disposition in Juvenile Delinquency  

Dispositions in juvenile courts are the same as penalties in adult criminal courts. Therefore, after a sustained petition, your adolescent child risks the following sentencing options:

     1. Juvenile Probation

When your minor commits a minor offense that ends with a sustained petition, the court issues an informal probation disposition. The program runs for up to half a year, with a PO monitoring them. When the duration lapses without violating probation conditions, the court dismisses the petition against the delinquent. The requirements of informal probation are:

  • Graffiti removal.
  • Community labor.
  • Compulsory school attendance.
  • Drug abuse counseling.
  • Restriction on persons that contributed to the delinquent's conduct leading to the arrest.
  • Curfew adherence.
  • Victim restitution.

Nevertheless, if your home is unsafe for the delinquent, the court places them under supervised probation in a relative’s home. Alternatively, they could be placed in a group home. If your child wants to understand the probation conditions better, you should hire an experienced lawyer.

If probation is not an option and is likely unsuccessful, the court sends them to probation camp for a maximum of three months for more structured rehabilitation. The boot camps educate and rehabilitate delinquents.

Probation seems like a minor punishment. However, you should know that a sustained petition in juvenile cases counts as a strike and will affect subsequent petitions. Sustained petitions for minor offenses are eligible for expungement or record sealing.

     2. Deferred Entry of Judgment (DEJ)

DEJ is another disposition or sentence the juvenile court will likely impose after a sustained petition. In this kind of probation, your juvenile pleads guilty to the alleged delinquent act in return for a probation program. DEJ intends to rehabilitate and deter future crimes, explaining why the court typically grants it to first-time offenders for crimes not listed under WIC 707(b). The program lasts two to three years, after which the petition or charges are dismissed.

For children who face felony charges, the DEJ program is only possible if:

  • The delinquent has never been a ward of the court before.
  • The minor has never been committed to a DJJ facility.
  • The child is 14 or older during the petition adjudication.
  • The delinquent’s crime is not sexual.

If the judge is convinced your juvenile will benefit from the education, treatment, and rehabilitation in a DEJ program, they will send the child to this facility.

     3. Youth Authority Commitment (YAC)

The harshest punishment your minor will face, apart from being transferred to an adult court, is the commitment to the youth authority. The judge issues this disposition against juveniles who commit sex crimes, with the obligation to enlist as sex predators or offenders.

Your Minor’s Rights in Juvenile Delinquency

Your minor has several rights, from arrest to petition adjudication. First, the apprehending officer needs probable cause to place the delinquent under arrest. However, for an individual like you with a close relationship with the child, you need reasonable suspicion that the juvenile is engaging in a delinquent act.

After an apprehension, your child is entitled to a call to contact you, the parent, for guidance. When your juvenile contacts you about an arrest, you should immediately call a defense lawyer to represent them.

Also, the child is entitled to know the reason for apprehension before it happens. Law enforcement must explain the kind of petition or charge they will face.

Juvenile delinquency court systems involve several hearings. Therefore, your child must be informed that they are entitled to legal counsel, and if they cannot afford one, the court appoints a public defendant for them. The legal representative will be present during interrogation to avoid self-incriminating statements and during case adjudication to contest the charges.

Juvenile delinquency cases are not as formal as adult criminal cases. However, your child still has a right to cross-examine state witnesses.

Additionally, the child is entitled to have the petition against them proven beyond moral certainty before it is sustained and a disposition issued. However, the child has no right to a pretrial release on bail. The detention proceeding determines whether or not the child should be released without financial commitment or remain in custody.

Your Rights as a Legal Guardian or Parent to the Delinquent

The news of your minor’s arrest can be devastating. What is even more brutal is when you are unaware of the events unfolding or will unfold to your child. Even if the court rules to detain the child, you retain your rights as the child’s legal custodian. You are entitled to:

  • Know when your juvenile has been apprehended.
  • Confidentiality about the juvenile court proceeding to protect the minor from social stigma.
  • Attend court proceedings until the close of the case.
  • Be educated on your minor’s rights.
  • Take your minor home before case determination.

Nevertheless, the court can terminate these parental rights if the child is put up for adoption. You play a critical role in your children’s behavior. So, when the court discovers that you have neglected your duties as a parent, it can put the child up for adoption, giving someone else parental rights. Under these circumstances, you relinquish your parental rights.

Alternatively, you can lose your rights when the court places the minor under legal guardianship. It happens if the minor’s delinquency is triggered by their home environment. Hiring a criminal defense lawyer early in the case will protect your rights and your child's, so you should consider partnering with one.

Find a Knowledgeable Juvenile Delinquency Defense Lawyer Near Me

Despite society’s reluctance to hold children liable for their conduct, a sustained petition can have devastating consequences for the child’s future. Therefore, if your minor faces arrest and charges in the juvenile court system, you should talk to knowledgeable Riverside Criminal Attorney for guidance. Call us today at 951-877-4204 to arrange a meeting.