When a minor is charged in Contra Costa County, the case goes to the juvenile court of the Superior Court, which hears juvenile matters at the Walnut Creek Courthouse. A detained child generally must see a judge or referee before the end of the next judicial day after a petition is filed. The case can end in release, diversion, probation or other orders.
This page walks through the sequence the way the county's court and probation pages and California's Welfare and Institutions Code describe it, from the first hours of custody through to whether the record can later be sealed.
How Contra Costa County Juvenile Court Works
The Juvenile Law page of the Superior Court of California, County of Contra Costa, states that juvenile law cases generally fall into three categories: juvenile delinquency under section 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, which are "law violations that, if committed by an adult, would be considered crimes"; juvenile status offenses under § 601, such as truancy, being out of the control of a parent or guardian, or running away from home; and juvenile dependency under § 300, where a child might become a dependent of the court if abused, molested, neglected or abandoned by parents or caretakers. This page covers delinquency only.
Under § 602, a minor between 12 and 17, inclusive, who violates a state or federal law or a local ordinance defining a crime (other than an age-based curfew) is within the juvenile court's jurisdiction, generally, except as § 707 provides. A minor under 12 is within it only for the offenses § 602(b) lists: murder, and rape, sodomy, oral copulation or sexual penetration by force, violence, duress, menace or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury.
The words differ from adult court. The case begins with a petition, the document asking the court to declare the child a ward of the court, meaning a minor under the court's supervision and orders. The court decides the facts at a jurisdiction hearing (adjudication), then decides what happens at a disposition hearing. A California juvenile defense overview follows the same steps statewide.
Detention in Contra Costa County: The First 24 to 72 Hours
Release is the starting rule under Welf. & Inst. Code § 628. When a minor taken into temporary custody is delivered to the probation officer, the officer must immediately investigate and immediately release the minor to a parent, legal guardian or responsible relative, unless it is shown that staying in the home is contrary to the minor's welfare and at least one condition exists: detention is a matter of immediate and urgent necessity for the minor's protection or reasonable necessity to protect another person or property; the minor is likely to flee; or the minor has violated a juvenile court order.
A minor who is held must generally be released within 48 hours, excluding nonjudicial days, unless a petition (or a criminal complaint) is filed in that time, under § 631. If a minor held in custody by the probation officer for more than 24 hours is released and no petition is filed, the probation officer must prepare a written explanation of why within 72 hours after the release and send a copy to the parents, guardian or other person having care or custody of the minor.
Once a petition is filed, § 632 generally requires the detained minor to be brought before a juvenile court judge or referee as soon as possible, and in any event before the end of the next judicial day, for the detention hearing, the hearing on whether the minor stays in custody. A minor arrested without a warrant for a misdemeanor not involving violence, threats or weapons, and not on probation or parole, must be brought before the judge or referee as soon as possible and no later than 48 hours after being taken into custody, excluding nonjudicial days, after a petition has been filed. A minor not brought in on time must be released.
What the Court Decides at the Detention Hearing
At that hearing, § 635 directs the court to hear evidence from the minor, the parent or guardian and counsel, and to release the minor unless the minor violated a juvenile court order or escaped a commitment, detention is a matter of immediate and urgent necessity for the minor's protection or reasonably necessary to protect another person or property, or the minor is likely to flee. The court must also release the minor unless a prima facie showing is made that the minor is described in § 601 or § 602. The circumstances and gravity of the alleged offense may be considered with other factors.
If grounds exist and continuing in the home is contrary to the minor's welfare, § 636 allows detention in juvenile hall or another suitable place the court designates, for no more than 15 judicial days per order. Under §§ 635(b)(2) and 636, the decision cannot rest solely on county of residence, and a minor gets equal consideration for release on home supervision, which may include electronic monitoring, regardless of whether the minor lives in the county where the offense occurred. That is a rule about residence, not a general preference for home supervision. The Contra Costa County Probation Department's Juvenile Services page lists Home Supervision, an Intake unit and Institutional Facilities among its services.
A Minor's Right to Counsel and Police Questioning in California
Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 625.6, before a custodial interrogation and before any waiver of Miranda rights, a youth 17 or younger shall consult with legal counsel in person, by telephone or by video conference, and the consultation may not be waived. When the court decides whether the youth's statements are admissible, it must consider any failure to comply, and a willful violation bears on the officer's credibility. The section does not apply where the officer reasonably believed the information was necessary to protect life or property from an imminent threat and limited questions to what was reasonably necessary to get it, and it does not require a probation officer to comply when performing duties under §§ 625, 627.5 or 628.
The United States Supreme Court held in In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1 (1967), that a child facing delinquency proceedings has a constitutional right to counsel. The Contra Costa court's Juvenile Law page states it plainly: "The child in a juvenile delinquency case has a right to an attorney."
The Jurisdiction Hearing, Disposition and Probation in Contra Costa County
At the jurisdiction hearing in Walnut Creek, the court decides whether the allegations in the petition are true. If they are found true, the petition is sustained, and the court may adjudge the minor a ward of the court under § 602. A sustained petition is not a conviction, and the order that follows is a disposition, not a sentence.
At disposition, the court decides what supervision, conditions or placement follow. Probation is court-ordered supervision with conditions, overseen by the probation department. The probation department's Juvenile Services page lists Investigative Services, Juvenile Supervision, a Placement Unit, a Community Probation Program and a School Based Deputy Probation Officer Program among its services. That page also says field offices include the main office in Martinez and branches in Antioch and Richmond, as well as offices at high schools and police departments.
California's Division of Juvenile Justice no longer operates, so no disposition today commits a child there. The court decides the disposition in each case.
Diversion: Resolving a Case Before Adjudication
Diversion means handling a case outside the formal petition process. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 654, a probation officer who concludes a minor is or would be within the court's jurisdiction may, instead of filing or requesting a petition, and with the consent of the minor and the parent or guardian, refer the minor to services from a health agency, community-based organization, local educational agency, another appropriate non-law-enforcement agency, or the probation department. If probation provides the services, the program of supervision may not exceed six months.
That path has limits. The probation officer may still request a petition at any time during the six months or a 90-day period after, and may file or request one if the minor has not participated within 60 days. The statute also says that when the officer judges the interest of the minor and the community can be protected, the officer shall make a diligent effort to proceed under § 654. Whether that happens rests on the probation officer's judgment. Satisfactory completion of an informal program under § 654.2 is one of the routes to sealing described below.
Transfer to Adult Court: What Welf. & Inst. Code § 707 Requires
Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 707(a), the district attorney may move to transfer a case to a court of criminal jurisdiction only in two situations: the offense is alleged to have been committed when the minor was 16 or older and is an offense listed in § 707(b) or any other felony; or the offense is a § 707(b) offense alleged to have been committed at 14 or 15 by a person not apprehended before juvenile court jurisdiction ended. The § 707(b) list contains serious offenses, including murder. The motion must be made before jeopardy attaches.
At this transfer hearing, the juvenile court in Contra Costa County orders the probation officer to report on the minor's behavioral patterns and social history, including any statement from the victim under § 656.2, and considers other relevant evidence from either side. The court may order a transfer only if it finds by clear and convincing evidence that the minor is not amenable to rehabilitation while under the juvenile court's jurisdiction, considering the criteria § 707 specifies. A broader look at juvenile felony defense covers how felony petitions move.
Sealing a Juvenile Record in Contra Costa County
Sealing means the court orders records closed, under the conditions that sections 786 and 781 set. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 786, if a person satisfactorily completes an informal program of supervision under § 654.2, probation under § 725 or a term of probation for any offense, the court shall dismiss the petition and seal the records held by the court, law enforcement, the probation department and the Department of Justice, and the proceedings are deemed not to have occurred. Satisfactory completion is deemed to have occurred if the person has no new findings of wardship or conviction for a felony or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude during the supervision or probation and has not failed to substantially comply with the reasonable orders that are within the person's capacity to perform (§ 786(c)). Under § 786(d), the court shall not seal or dismiss under § 786 if the petition was sustained for a § 707(b) offense committed at 14 or older, unless that finding was dismissed or reduced to a misdemeanor or to a lesser offense not listed in § 707(b).
Under § 781, the person or the county probation officer may petition five years or more after juvenile jurisdiction ended (or after the citation or contact, if no petition was filed), or at any time after the person turns 18. The court orders sealing only if it finds that, since jurisdiction ended, the person has not been convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude and that rehabilitation has been attained to its satisfaction. For a § 707(b) offense committed after turning 14 that resulted in wardship, a petition may be filed or considered only if the person has reached 18 and has completed any period of probation supervision related to that offense, or, if the person was committed to the Division of Juvenile Facilities, has reached 21 and has completed probation supervision after release (§ 781(a)(1)(D)). The probation department's Juvenile Services page lists Juvenile Record Sealing among its services.
Discussing Your Child's Case in Contra Costa County
To request a consultation about a child's juvenile case in Contra Costa County, contact Juvenile Justice Defense Group.