The worst nightmare of a parent is to be informed that their child has been arrested in Southern California. However, when the prosecution is building a case to prosecute them as adults, the stakes entirely change. The California juvenile justice system is designed for rehabilitation; however, in cases involving certain serious felonies, the law suspends these protections.
If your child is 16 or older and charged with a serious crime under Welfare and Institutions Code 707(b), they may be subject to the adult criminal justice system. The repercussions could include state prison sentences and a lifetime felony conviction. It is not the time to wait and see because it is a time of aggressive legal defense.
At Singh Law, we recognize that your child’s mistake should not define their whole life as an adult. We are experienced in complex fitness hearings to retain cases in juvenile courts. If the prosecution is seeking to transfer your child to the adult justice system, we are available to provide qualified defense, ensuring the future of your child is safeguarded.
Understanding the Legal Threshold
The juvenile justice system in California has undergone significant changes in the past decade, shifting its focus from punishment to rehabilitation. To know the threats your child may be exposed to, you must understand the current legal threshold. Prosecutors could previously direct-file cases against minors in the adult court without a judge, but that power was taken away.
Nowadays, the filing of Proposition 57 and the subsequent legislation does not allow a prosecutor to decide to prosecute a minor as an adult arbitrarily. Instead, they must submit a motion requesting a transfer, which is a high-stakes legal contest known as a transfer hearing. The decision-making process of a judge is revisited in this hearing, and they must consider certain evidence before revoking the juvenile privileges of a minor.
More importantly, the report prepared by the County Probation Department plays a significant role in the judge’s decision-making process. A probation officer will also research the background of your child before the hearing. For example, by interviewing family members, teachers, and even the victims. This report suggests the fitness of your child for juvenile court. Since this is a document that the court pays so much attention to, your lawyer should actively engage the probation officer early in the process. Your lawyer should gather good evidence regarding the character and changeability of your child, rather than allowing the prosecution to take over the file.
The existing legislation, namely Senate Bill 1391, has ensured a firm protective barrier against younger teenagers. Senate Bill 1391 tends to ban the transfer of any minor to adult court, regardless of the offense committed, irrespective of its seriousness. It implies that if your child is 14 or 15 years old at the time of the alleged crime, they must, by default, remain in the juvenile system, where the emphasis is on education and rehabilitation rather than punishment.
The act supersedes previous laws that had granted the ability to prosecute even heinous offenses by children who were as young as 14. There are only exceptional cases to this rule, which can be seen in situations where a person has been arrested after the age of 18 and has committed a crime when they were younger. Still, in the present case, with the large majority of families that we serve, 16 years of age is the key cutoff point.
Therefore, the risk area of transfer to adult court is specifically among minors aged 16 and 17 years. When a child in this age bracket is accused of a felony, the prosecution can opt to have the case transferred to criminal court. This is not an automatic process. The prosecution has the burden of proving that your child does not belong in the juvenile system.
However, being confronted with a transfer motion is a legal emergency. The result of this hearing is either rehabilitation with closed records or prison with an irrevocable conviction. The difference is absolute, and the defense strategies used in this stage are usually more important than even the trial itself.
WIC 707(b) Crimes That Trigger Adult Prosecution
The offenses that qualify a minor for adult prosecution are defined in Welfare and Institutions Code section 707(b). Lawyers and judges commonly know these as 707(b) offenses. They are serious and violent felonies that have been established by legislative statute as too serious to be automatically afforded the protection of juvenile court. When your child commits a crime that is not on this list, they cannot be moved out of the juvenile court in most cases. Thus, the first line of defense is the nature of the charges against your child. These offenses are crucial to understand, as they serve as the basis for the prosecution’s motion to transfer.
Homicide and Attempted Murder
The most frequent causes of adult transfer motions include charges related to the taking of a human life. According to the legal system, homicide is the final unpardonable offense. Therefore, prosecutors tend to claim that the severity of the offense is more important than the age of the minor.
This category includes:
- Murder (Penal Code 187): This involves first-degree and second-degree murder. Proving that the murder had been planned weeks before is not essential to the prosecution; even a careless act that shows a degraded indifference to human life (implied malice) may suffice to bring these charges. One should bear in mind that a minor does not have to be the actual shooter to be charged with the murder offense based on a felony murder theory, but the recent changes in the laws have limited it. But even when your child was a key figure in a felony such as robbery, which ended in death, and behaved recklessly towards a human being, they can still be charged with homicide. Prosecutors frequently employ this doctrine to cast a broad net, indicting all teenagers present at the scene for the eventual crime committed by the major actor.
- Attempted Murder (Penal Code 664/187): A difference between a completed murder and an attempt is often a medical treatment, neither of which lessens the legal liability of the minor in the eyes of the prosecution.
- Special Circumstances Murder (Penal Code 190.2): These allegations increase the penalty, often to life imprisonment without parole. Examples include lying in wait, killing for financial gain, drive-by shootings, or killing a peace officer.
Serious Sex Offenses
Sex crimes are handled with a lot of seriousness by the law. Should your child be placed in adult court and found guilty of any of these heinous sex crimes, they will probably become a registered sex offender forever (Penal Code 290).
The transferable crimes in question are:
- Rape by Force or Violence (Penal Code 261): This concerns the predatory and violent sex, but not the statutory rape based on age only.
- Sodomy by Force or Violence (Penal Code 286): Force, violence, duress, threat, and fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury are all classified under this section.
- Forcible Sexual Penetration (Penal Code 289): It is the sexual penetration using a foreign object done against the will of the victim through the use of force or violence.
- Lewd or Lascivious Act on a Child Under 14 (Penal Code 288(b)): This is a charge that is applicable in a situation where the act committed is through the use of force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily harm.
Aggravated Violent felonies
WIC 707(b) also encompasses various violent felonies of persons and property in addition to homicide and sex crimes. The law, however, is particular about the circumstances under which these crimes should be transferred:
- Robbery (Penal Code 211): Although robbery is a typical charge, the possibility of transfer is exponentially high in cases where the robbery is armed or causes an injury.
- Carjacking (Penal Code 215): The process of taking another person’s or an individual’s motor vehicle by using force or fear is considered to be extremely dangerous because of the possibility of violence to the people.
- Kidnapping for Ransom or Robbery (Penal Code 209): The mere simple movement of a victim may not include a transfer, but kidnapping with a view to robbery or ransom suggests a greater level of criminal intent and organization.
- Arson Causing Great Bodily Injury (Penal Code 451(a)): This is used where the fire causes great bodily injury to the other individual.
- Arson of an Inhabited Structure (Penal Code 451(b)): This is used in cases where people live in the home or building that is set on fire willfully, which differs from destroying property by fire in an uninhabited building.
Gang and Firearm Enhancement
The offense itself is often a normal felony, although the manner of execution will elevate the offense to a WIC 707(b) crime. This is usually expressed in the form of certain improvements, which indicate some degree of risk that prosecutors employ to insist on adult prosecution:
- Personal Use of a Firearm (Penal Code 12022.5): When your child is suspected of personally using a gun when committing a felony, the law is at stake on a very high level.
- Shooting a Firearm (Penal Code 12022.53): This applies when the discharge of the firearm occurred, mainly when it resulted in significant bodily injury or death.
- Assault with a Firearm (Penal Code 245(a) 2): The crime is considered serious; however, assault with a deadly weapon is specifically put under 707(b) when it involves a firearm.
- Criminal Street Gang Enhancement (Penal Code 186.22): When a violent felony is committed in the interest of a criminal street gang or at its command or in connection with it, it is subject to WIC 707(b).
The 5 Criteria of Judges in Their Decision of a Transfer
Where a transfer hearing is held, the judge does not throw a dice. The law requires an intensive assessment of five distinct criteria commonly known as juvenile fitness hearing factors. These are the key points that you need to know, as your defense team at Singh Law will build your child’s case entirely based on refuting the prosecution’s allegations on these five aspects. The judge should take into consideration the overall circumstances, and no particular circumstance is expected to be decisive, yet the seriousness of the crime usually speaks volumes.
Level of Criminal Sophistication
The initial standard is the level of criminal sophistication applicable to minor defendants. The judge considers whether the crime was impulsive, as is often the case with teenagers, or whether it was planned and carried out in an adult manner. Sophistication can be argued by evidence of sophisticated planning, procuring weapons before the crime, disguising oneself, and attempting to hide the evidence afterward.
On the other hand, when the act itself is impulsive or impelled by peer pressure, we would say that this is an act of immature, adolescent judgment, rather than mature criminal intent. Psychology specialists are frequently used to clarify how the teenage brain operates, showing that what appears sophisticated to an adult may be impulsive risk-taking.
These arguments are heavily dependent on modern neuroscience. The prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that controls impulse and long-term planning, is not fully developed until the mid-20s. We contend that a behavior that seems like sophistication to law enforcement, like concealing a weapon or lying to the police, is usually just normal paralanguage of a terrified immature brain attempting to escape instantaneous distress and not the cynical concealment of a hardened criminal. This neurological setting is crucial in refuting the allegations of adult-like guilt.
Feasibility of Rehabilitation Before Jurisdiction Ends
The second question is whether the minor can be rehabilitated before the expiration of the juvenile court’s jurisdiction. Mostly, the juvenile court does not have jurisdiction once the person attains the age of 25. All the judge has to do is determine whether there is enough time. If your child is 17 and is accused of a serious crime, the prosecution will argue that seven or eight years are insufficient to reverse the damage caused by the behavior.
It is our responsibility to provide a tangible and workable rehabilitation course of action. We find certain programs in the Division of Juvenile Justice or county facilities that have specialized in addressing the unique needs of your child, and it takes the court to believe that the schedule is sufficient to effect reform.
As the state-operated Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) was shut down, attention has shifted to the county-level Secure Youth Treatment Facilities (SYTF). These centers have specialized programming that adult prisons cannot possibly keep up with, such as aggression replacement training, substance abuse counseling, and high school or college educational courses. When you provide an elaborate roadmap of how your child will make use of these particular SYTF resources, you can prove to the court that the local system has all it takes to deal with even hardcore offenders safely.
Previous Delinquent History
The third requirement is the minor’s history of delinquency. The judge will look at the whole history of your child to decide whether rehabilitation or punishment is the right way. Even a serious first-time offense, in this case, poses a significant burden in retaining the case in juvenile court. The absence of a criminal record suggests that the present offense is an isolated incident, rather than a recurring pattern.
But in case your child has a long record of arrests and petitions, the prosecution will make the case that he is a future career criminal. We will then need to put that history into context by demonstrating how earlier interventions were inappropriate or how unidentified problems led to the behavior.
Past Rehabilitation Attempts Success
The fourth criterion is the effectiveness of the past efforts made by the juvenile court to rehabilitate the minor. This aspect is harmful to children who previously entered the system. In case your child has been on probation and has returned to crime, the prosecution will argue that the juvenile system has been ineffective or that your child is incurable.
We respond to this by evaluating the quality of such earlier attempts. Did your child receive any real therapy, or only superficial supervision? In case the above-mentioned efforts failed to suffice, we claim that the juvenile system failed your kid; it did not forget it, it just has not tried.
The Seriousness of the Crime Charge
The fifth and last criterion is the seriousness of the alleged offense, which is among the key juvenile transfer criteria. This is the strongest argument presented by the prosecutor. They will emphasize the violence, the harm done to the victim, and the emotional effect of the crime. They will cast the facts in the most outrageous perspective possible to appall the judge into giving the transfer.
Although we cannot alter the realities of the arrest, we can provide some context for it. We help the judge see your child as an individual, not just the sum of one bad day. We underline the fact that it is gravity that must not determine the future of the minor, as the law is aimed at equalizing all five factors.
The Implication of an Adult vs. Juvenile Adjudication
The juvenile adjudication versus adult conviction is not merely a procedural difference; it leaves two completely different futures for your child. Comprehending these unique courses underscores precisely why the most crucial facet in defending your child is battling a transfer motion.
Juvenile Citation
The juvenile system has rehabilitation as its main statutory objective as opposed to punishment. Although your child may be convicted of a 707(b) serious offense, they are not found guilty as a criminal but rather as a ward of the court. This legal difference will have a significant impact on their future. The confinement typically lasts until the individual reaches the age of 25.
In the process, they have the right to education, vocational training, and intensive therapy aimed at reintegrating them into society. When released, and in many cases earlier, a clear legal avenue exists for sealing the juvenile records. Sealed juvenile records are usually not visible to employers, which helps keep your child safe in terms of securing employment and living a life without the stigma of having committed a serious crime.
Adult Conviction
Conviction in an adult court is a lifetime sentence. Should your child be transferred and convicted, they are subject to the same sentencing rules as a 40-year-old adult. This implies that they will serve decades in adult prison in California, or even life. Although offender parole hearings for youths are available in later stages, the initial sentence is harsh.
Although it has laws such as AB 1308 and SB 261, which provide, under the name of Youthful Offender Parole Hearings (also known as Franklin hearings), an opportunity to consider parole earlier (after 15, 20, or 25 years), it is a perilous gamble. These hearings present an opportunity, rather than a promise, of release.
Even then, it is upon the inmate to demonstrate that they have grown up, and this is extremely hard in the violent and resource-strained atmosphere of an adult prison. It is due to this that evading the adult system altogether is the only safe course of action. Moreover, a conviction of an adult felony is a public record that will never be entirely expunged, unlike a juvenile record. It leads to the irreversible loss of civil rights, such as the right to vote during the time of imprisonment and the right to keep a gun.
Worst of all, a conviction of a WIC 707(b) offense at the adult level qualifies as a strike in the Three Strike Law to which the minors are subjected. This implies that if your child is found guilty as an adult at the age of 17, they will join adulthood with a strike against their record.
A doubled sentence may be imposed for a non-violent felony in the future. The third felony would lead to a life sentence. By retaining the case in the juvenile court, we gain the advantage of avoiding this strike label in the adult system and of seeing your child begin their adult life with one foot already in the prison system. The adult system is aimed at incapacitation, and the juvenile system is aimed at second chances. The only way to ensure a second chance is by fighting the transfer.
Search for a Criminal Lawyer Near Me
There is a difference between a second chance and a lifetime, between a juvenile adjudication and an adult conviction. When the prosecution seeks to transfer your child to adult court, the time to defend your child is limited. It requires a defense team that is knowledgeable about the complexities of WIC 707(b) and can effectively persuade the judge regarding the five requirements of a fitness hearing. Your child should not be left to chance or the advice of inexperienced people.
At Singh Law, we will ensure that we defend the rights of minors, and their cases remain in the Southern California juvenile system, where they can be rehabilitated. We are aggressive in contesting transfer motions and struggle to secure your child’s release. Call us today at 714-328-6189 to have a confidential consultation. We will build your child’s defense that is required in this desperate moment.
