When a child is arrested in Fresno County, juvenile misdemeanor and felony cases are heard at the Superior Court's Juvenile Justice Court on East American Avenue in Fresno. The case runs under California's Welfare and Institutions Code, not adult criminal procedure, and moves through detention, the jurisdiction hearing, disposition, any transfer motion and, in some cases, later record sealing.
The sections below follow the order in which the case moves: which court hears it, who decides whether the child comes home, what the hearings decide, and how the record can later be sealed.
How Fresno County Juvenile Court Works
The Superior Court of California, County of Fresno, lists a separate courthouse for these cases: the Juvenile Justice Court at 3333 East American Avenue, Suite A, Fresno, where the court lists juvenile misdemeanor criminal, juvenile felony criminal and Juvenile Drug Court cases. The court's locations page lists juvenile dependency hearings at the downtown courthouse; dependency (abuse and neglect) cases are a different kind of case that this page does not cover.
The court's juvenile division page separates "Juvenile Justice (Delinquency)" cases, involving law violations that would be crimes if an adult committed them, from status offenses such as truancy or running away, which are illegal only because of a child's age.
Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 602, a minor between 12 and 17 years of age, inclusive, who violates a state or federal law, or a city or county ordinance defining a crime (other than an age-based curfew ordinance), is within the juvenile court's jurisdiction, except as § 707 provides. A child under 12 comes within that jurisdiction only when alleged to have committed murder, or rape, sodomy, oral copulation or sexual penetration by force, violence, duress, menace or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury.
The vocabulary differs from adult court, and it matters. A petition is the document asking the court to declare the child a ward of the court, meaning a child placed under the court's authority. A detention hearing decides whether the child stays in custody while the case proceeds. The jurisdiction hearing, also called the adjudication, decides whether the petition's allegations are true; a sustained petition is not a conviction. The disposition is the court's order afterward, and it is not a sentence. Probation is court-ordered supervision with conditions. Diversion resolves a matter without a petition or adjudication. A transfer hearing decides whether the case moves to a court of criminal jurisdiction. Sealing closes records from most access. For a statewide view of the same stages, see the overview of California juvenile defense.
Arrest, Detention, and the First 24 to 72 Hours in Fresno County
Before police question a child in custody, Welf. & Inst. Code § 625.6 requires that a youth 17 years of age or younger consult with legal counsel in person, by telephone or by video conference, before a custodial interrogation and before any waiver of Miranda rights, and that consultation cannot be waived. The court weighs any failure to follow that rule when deciding whether the child's statements can be used. The rule does not govern admissibility where the officer reasonably believed the information was needed to protect life or property from an imminent threat and limited the questions to what was reasonably necessary to get it, and it does not apply to a probation officer's normal duties under §§ 625, 627.5 or 628.
Once a child is delivered to probation, Welf. & Inst. Code § 628 requires the probation officer to investigate immediately and to release the child to a parent, guardian or responsible relative unless it can be shown that staying home is contrary to the child's welfare and at least one condition exists: detention is a matter of immediate and urgent necessity to protect the child or reasonably necessary to protect another person or property, the child is likely to flee the court's jurisdiction, or the child has violated a juvenile court order.
The clock is set by statute. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 631, a child generally must be released within 48 hours of being taken into custody, excluding nonjudicial days, unless a petition or a criminal complaint is filed in that time; for a warrantless arrest on a misdemeanor not involving violence, a threat of violence or weapons, where the child is not on probation or parole, release is required within that period unless a petition is filed and a judge or referee orders detention under § 635. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 632, a detained child must generally be brought before a juvenile court judge or referee as soon as possible and no later than the end of the next judicial day after the petition is filed; for that same nonviolent misdemeanor group, the child must be brought in 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 child not brought before the court in time must be released.
At the hearing, Welf. & Inst. Code § 635 directs the court to release the child unless the child violated a juvenile court order, escaped from a juvenile court commitment, or detention is a matter of immediate and urgent necessity for the child's protection or reasonably necessary to protect another person or property, or the child is likely to flee to avoid the court's jurisdiction. The court also must order release unless a prima facie showing is made that the child is a person described in § 602 (or § 601). Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 636, a detention order lasts no more than 15 judicial days. Home supervision, under § 628.1, is release to a parent, guardian or responsible relative on written conditions, which may include curfew and school attendance requirements, and § 635(b)(2) says it may include electronic monitoring; where the § 628.1 criteria apply, the court shall place the child on home supervision for up to 15 judicial days. Both § 635(b)(2) and § 636 require equal consideration for release on home supervision regardless of whether the child lives in the county where the offense occurred, and a detention decision cannot rest solely on county of residence.
Disposition, Diversion and the Right to an Attorney in Fresno County
At disposition, the court decides the order that follows. The court's page states that in delinquency cases it can order a child confined in locked facilities, naming the Juvenile Justice Campus, ranches and other secure youth detention facilities, and that when a child is removed from home, the probation department takes responsibility for placement. A deeper look at serious charges appears in the guide to juvenile felony defense.
Diversion can begin before any petition is filed. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 654, a probation officer who concludes a child is or would be within the court's jurisdiction may, with the consent of the child and parent or guardian, refer the child to services or to a probation program of supervision lasting no more than six months instead of filing a petition. The officer may still request a petition within that period or 90 days after it, and may file one if the child has not participated within 60 days. Whether diversion is offered rests on the probation officer's judgment under § 654.
On counsel, the Fresno court's juvenile page states that the child in a Juvenile Justice case has a right to an attorney.
Transfer to Adult Court: What Welf. & Inst. Code § 707 Requires
Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 707(a), the prosecutor may move to transfer a minor to a court of criminal jurisdiction only where the offense is alleged to have been committed when the minor was 16 or older and is either an offense listed in § 707(b) or any other felony, or where the offense is a § 707(b) offense committed at 14 or 15 by a person not apprehended before juvenile court jurisdiction ended. Section 707(b) is a list of specific serious offenses set out in the statute. The motion must be made before jeopardy attaches.
When a motion is made, the juvenile court orders the probation department to prepare a report on the minor's behavioral patterns and social history, including any statement offered by the alleged victim. The court then considers that report and any other relevant evidence either side submits, applying specific criteria the statute sets out.
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. If the court orders a transfer, jurisdiction passes from the juvenile court to a court of criminal jurisdiction.
Juvenile Record Sealing in Fresno County
California's sealing rules, in Welf. & Inst. Code §§ 786 and 781, carry conditions and exclusions. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 786, when 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 juvenile court, law enforcement, the probation department and the Department of Justice, setting a date for their destruction. 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(a), where a sustained petition bars firearm possession until age 30, the destruction date is the person's 33rd birthday. Under § 786(d), the court shall not seal or dismiss under § 786 if the petition was sustained on 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 Welf. & Inst. Code § 781, the person or the county probation officer may petition for sealing five years or more after juvenile court jurisdiction ends, or at any time after the person turns 18. The district attorney and probation are notified and may testify. The court orders sealing only if it finds that, since jurisdiction ended, the person has not been convicted of a felony or of any misdemeanor involving moral turpitude and that rehabilitation has been attained to the court's satisfaction. For a § 707(b) offense committed after age 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)).
Once a petition is dismissed under § 786, the arrest and proceedings are deemed not to have occurred, and the person may answer inquiries from employers, educational institutions and others accordingly.
Fresno County Probation and Court Programs
The Superior Court of California, County of Fresno lists the Juvenile Justice Court in Fresno for juvenile misdemeanor and felony matters. The Fresno County Probation Department's Juvenile Services page lists the Juvenile Services Division at 3333 E. American Ave., Building 701 Suite B, Fresno, and describes four functions: an Intake and Court Services Unit that prepares written reports on minors for the court, a Juvenile Supervision Unit whose officers monitor probation conditions at home and at school, a Placement Unit that works with group homes and other out-of-home placements, and electronic monitoring.
The court also lists specialized programs. Its juvenile page describes Unity Court as a specialized court for youth identified as at risk of or victims of human trafficking who are involved in the dependency or Juvenile Justice systems, and the court states that it provides interpreting services in juvenile Justice proceedings.
This page covers delinquency cases in Fresno County's juvenile court under California law. It does not cover dependency cases about a parent's care of a child, adult criminal cases other than a transfer from juvenile court, or school discipline with no police involvement.
Discussing Your Child's Case in Fresno County
To request a consultation about a child's juvenile case in Fresno County, contact Juvenile Justice Defense Group.