Juvenile Court
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If you or a loved one has been or may be charged with a crime, you should retain counsel before releasing any information to the investigating bodies.
Mashney Law Offices has several highly experienced attorneys. Don’t risk your freedom or worse on a public defender that you can not trust and whose only interest is becoming the next District Attorney. Call “The Law Firm to Trust” and we will fight for your freedom
The Juvenile Court handles cases involving:
- Delinquents
- Juveniles accused of traffic violations
- Children in need of services
- Children in need of supervision
- Children who have been subjected to abuse or neglect
- Family or household members who have been subjected to abuse
- Adults accused of child abuse or neglect, or of offenses against members of their own family (juvenile or adult)
- Adults involved in disputes concerning the support, visitation, parentage or custody of a child
- Abandonment of children
- Foster care and entrustment agreements
- Court-ordered rehabilitation services
- Court consent for certain medical treatments
In recent years, an unforgiving attitude permeates the corridors of our juvenile courts resulting in our children being treated with a severity that was rarely seen before and unless an attorney experienced in juvenile matters is retained the results could be devastating.
Some of the possibilities include:
- Imprisonment of the innocent because the appointed attorney did not take the time to investigate the case.
- A matter being certified to adult court because the appointed attorney did not take the time to learn about the social history of the minor so a favorable perspective of the minor’s life could have been presented to the court.
- A minor having to admit to multiple strikes and risking being incarcerated for life when he commits a minor felony offense when he becomes an adult.
Juvenile courts were designed to handle crimes committed by individuals when they were under the age of eighteen. Juvenile proceedings are not considered criminal proceedings even though a conviction in a juvenile court can have the same impact as a conviction in a criminal court, such as imprisonment and enhanced penalties in the future as a result of the conviction. Because the law does not see a juvenile proceeding as a criminal case many of the guarantees afforded a criminal defendant is not provided to a juvenile offender. This is why a juvenile is not entitled to a jury trial. There are no jury trials in juvenile court. The determination of the guilt or innocence of the minor is determined by a judge.
If a minor is found culpable for a criminal act he becomes a ward of the court. Basically what this means is that the judge has the final decision over the minor’s life and not the parents, the judge becomes the final parental authority over the minor. Once a minor is a ward of the court the judge has several options available to him as far as where the minor is going to live. He has the authority to allow the minor to live at his parent’s home under their supervision. He has the power to remove the minor from the parent’s residence and have the minor reside at Juvenile Hall, Juvenile Camp, Suitable placement, or the California Youth Authority.
Juvenile Hall is like a county jail for children. The children live in a dormitory setting under the supervision of the state. The vast majority of the juveniles housed at juvenile hall are those minors who have been removed from the parents home waiting a trial to determine if they are guilty of the offense or not.
Juvenile Camp is the next step up from Juvenile Hall. Usually camp is for repeat offenders who have shown they are not able to live at home and abide by the rules imposed upon them by the court. The camp programs are facilities in the rural areas of the county. The purpose of the camps is to give the juveniles more intense supervision and educate them of the errors of their ways. Juveniles can be ordered to attend a camp program from anywhere to three months to a year.
Suitable placement is a group home setting. A minor is usually required to attend these facilities when he has a problem that is not being addressed at home. An example of this is if the minor is having a problem with drugs. In that situation a minor will be placed in a group home setting that will concentrate on resolving the minor’s drug abuse problem.
California Youth Authority is simply prison for minors. A minor can be ordered to stay in the California Youth Authority up until the age of twenty-five. Minors who are sent to the California Youth Authority are those who have either committed a serious crime or repeatedly show that they refuse to abide by the terms of their probation.
Can a Minor Be Tried as an Adult?
If the minor is fourteen years or older and has committed a serious crime he can be tried as an adult. That means he can face all of the penalties that an adult would face if he committed the same crime, except the death penalty. Thus a minor could be imprisoned in a state prison for the rest of his life for a crime committed when he was under the age of eighteen.
Who decides if a minor is to be tried as an adult or a minor? The district attorney. It use to be that this decision had to be made by a judge. But the legislature passed a law several years ago that this decision could be made by the prosecutor of each county. It just so happens that the district attorney of
If you or a loved one has been or may be charged with a crime, Mashney Law Offices is ready to help you. Please call us at (800) 555-6655 or submit an online case evaluation. This is a FREE CONSULTATION.
