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Adult Time for Adult Crimes?

Youthful offenders aren't always treated with kid gloves in the justice system. Depending upon the circumstances of the offense, virtually all states allow for the possibility that juveniles may be tried as adults.

While the law varies from state to state, four factors usually weigh heavily on the prosecutor's ability to try a juvenile as an adult:

• The age of the juvenile;
• The type of offense charged;
• The extent of the juvenile's past history of delinquency; and
• Whether the district attorney invokes the district court's original jurisdiction or seeks to transfer a pending juvenile court proceeding to the district court.

In general, the likelihood that a prosecutor will be able to file criminal charges against a juvenile as an adult increases with the age of the juvenile, the severity of the charged offense, and the juvenile's past history of delinquency. And, even where all of these factors are present and state law permits it, the prosecutor has wide discretion in deciding whether to have a suspect tried as an adult at all.

For this reason, it is extremely important for defense lawyers to dissuade the prosecutor from persuing adult charges in the first place. As Professor Warnken emphasized in the video, the difference between juvenile court and adult court can make "all the difference in the world" -- often, it can make the difference between a lifetime behind bars and graduating from reform school as a free citizen.