When a child is arrested in Los Angeles County, the case generally goes to the Juvenile Division of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, not adult criminal court. A probation officer decides whether the child goes home or stays in custody at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey, and a detained child must see a judge quickly under California law.

Most parents facing a child's arrest in Los Angeles County arrive at this page with a phone call still ringing in their ears: a son or daughter picked up by police, questioned, perhaps held overnight, and a court date or a petition that uses words no one has explained. The questions underneath are practical ones: where the child is, who decides whether the child comes home, which courthouse will hear the case, and what any of it means for school and the years ahead. This page walks through how a juvenile case moves through this county's court and probation system, step by step, using the California statutes and the official court and probation pages that govern it.

How Los Angeles County Juvenile Court Works

The Juvenile Division of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, as the court's own Juvenile Division page describes it, "handles cases that involve youth," including Juvenile Justice matters, Juvenile Dependency matters and Adoptions. A case about a child accused of breaking the law is a Juvenile Justice matter. Dependency cases, which concern a parent's care of a child, are a different kind of case that this page does not cover.

California law sets who belongs in juvenile court. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 602, a minor who is between 12 and 17 years old, inclusive, when the minor violates a state or federal law or a local 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 is 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 court's courthouse directory lists juvenile courthouses that hear Juvenile Justice cases, including the Sylmar Juvenile Courthouse at 16350 Filbert Street in Sylmar and the Inglewood Juvenile Courthouse at 110 Regent Street in Inglewood. Which courthouse hears a particular child's case depends on the case; the notice or petition the family receives names it. The court's page also states that its Juvenile Justice departments offer remote video and audio appearance technology through Webex.

A few terms will come up repeatedly:

  • Petition: the court document that starts a juvenile case and states what the child is alleged to have done. It is not a criminal complaint.
  • Detention hearing: the first hearing for a child held in custody, where a judge or referee decides whether the child stays detained.
  • Jurisdiction hearing (adjudication): the hearing where the judge decides whether the petition's allegations are true. A finding that they are true is an adjudication, not a conviction.
  • Disposition: the court's order about what happens next once allegations are found true. It is not a sentence.
  • Ward of the court: a child the juvenile court has placed under its authority.
  • Probation: supervision of a child in the community under court-ordered conditions.
  • Diversion: handling a matter outside the formal court process, such as through a program of supervision instead of a petition.
  • Transfer hearing: a hearing on whether a case moves from juvenile court to adult court.
  • Sealing: a court or agency order closing off records of the case.

When a Minor Is Arrested or Questioned in Los Angeles County

California law places a firm step before police question a young person in custody. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 625.6, before a custodial interrogation and before any waiver of Miranda rights, a youth 17 years of age or younger must consult with legal counsel in person, by telephone or by video conference, and that consultation cannot be waived. When a court later decides whether the youth's statements can be used, it considers any failure to follow that rule, and it may weigh a willful violation in judging the officer's credibility. The rule does not govern admissibility when the officer reasonably believed the information was necessary 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 require a probation officer to follow it in the normal performance of certain duties. More on this stage appears in the guide to the juvenile court process.

After an arrest, the probation department, not the police, makes the first custody decision. The court's page on what happens when a child is taken to juvenile hall explains that a probation officer decides whether the child remains in custody, and may let the child go home without asking the district attorney to file a petition, let the child go home and ask for a petition, place restrictions on the child, or keep the child in juvenile hall.

That decision follows Welf. & Inst. Code § 628. The probation officer must immediately investigate and immediately release the child to a parent, legal guardian or responsible relative unless remaining in the home is shown to be contrary to the child's welfare and at least one of these conditions exists: detention is a matter of immediate and urgent necessity to protect the child, or reasonably necessary to protect another person or their property; the child is likely to flee the court's jurisdiction; or the child has violated a juvenile court order.

Los Angeles County Probation, according to its Juvenile Hall page, houses all pre-disposition youth at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey. The same page describes family visiting on Saturday or Sunday (not both) during set afternoon windows assigned by housing unit.

A time limit also applies. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 631, a child taken into custody must generally be released within 48 hours, excluding nonjudicial days, unless a petition to declare the child a ward, or a criminal complaint, has been filed within that time; a child held without a warrant for a misdemeanor not involving violence, a threat of violence or a weapon, who is not on probation or parole, must be released within 48 hours unless a petition has been filed and a judge or referee has ordered detention. The court's page notes that a petition is usually filed within 48 hours of a child being taken into custody.

The Juvenile Court Process in Los Angeles County: From Petition to Disposition

A petition, the Los Angeles County court explains, is filed by the Probation Department or the District Attorney's office and states the offense the child is alleged to have committed. A 602 petition, filed by the District Attorney's office, alleges conduct that would be a crime if the child were over 18, whether a misdemeanor or a felony. The court's page adds that the family has a right to a copy of the petition and that its filing "does not mean your child is guilty." Charge-specific questions are covered in this site's guide to juvenile felony defense.

The detention hearing. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 632, a detained child must 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 after the petition is filed; for a child held without a warrant on a non-violent, non-weapon misdemeanor who is not on probation or parole, the limit is no later than 48 hours after custody began, excluding nonjudicial days, after the petition is filed. A child not brought before the court within the required period must be released. The court's own page puts it plainly: there must be a detention hearing the next day court is in session.

At that hearing, Welf. & Inst. Code § 635 directs the court to hear from the child, the parent or guardian and others with relevant knowledge, and to release the child unless the child violated a court order, escaped a juvenile court commitment, is likely to flee, or detention is a matter of immediate and urgent necessity to protect the child or reasonably necessary to protect another person or property. The court may consider the circumstances and gravity of the alleged offense along with other factors, cannot rest its decision solely on the child's county of residence, and must give the child equal consideration for release on home supervision, which may include electronic monitoring, whether or not the child lives in the county where the offense occurred. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 636, a detention order runs for no more than 15 judicial days, and where the home supervision criteria apply, the court places the child on home supervision for no more than 15 judicial days.

The jurisdiction hearing. The court's petition page explains that it is the judge's job to decide at the hearing whether what the petition states is true, and that this must be proved.

Disposition and wardship. If the allegations are found true on a 602 petition, the court's page states that the child "becomes a ward of the court" and that the outcome "will depend on what your child did." Dispositions can include probation. For the most serious cases, the county's Barry J. Nidorf Secure Youth Treatment Facility, according to Los Angeles County Probation, became a secure youth treatment facility on July 17, 2023, after Senate Bill 823 closed the state's Division of Juvenile Justice, allowing youth to be treated locally under juvenile court jurisdiction.

Diversion. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 654, a probation officer who concludes a child is or could be within juvenile court jurisdiction may, with the consent of the child and parent or guardian, refer the child to services instead of filing or requesting a petition. A probation department program of supervision may last up to six months; a petition may still be requested during that period or within 90 days after, or if the child has not participated within 60 days. Whether diversion is offered depends on the facts and on the probation officer's judgment.

Transfer to Adult Court: What Los Angeles County Law Allows

In California, the rules for moving a case from juvenile court to adult court sit in Welf. & Inst. Code § 707, and the decision belongs to a judge at a transfer hearing rather than happening on its own.

Subdivision (b) of Welf. & Inst. Code § 707 lists offenses that bring a case under that subdivision, including murder; certain arson offenses; robbery; rape, sodomy or oral copulation by force, violence or threat of great bodily harm (with duress or menace also listed for sodomy and oral copulation); certain lewd or lascivious acts; certain sexual penetration offenses; kidnapping for ransom, for robbery, or with bodily harm; attempted murder; assault with a firearm or destructive device; assault by force likely to produce great bodily injury; discharging a firearm into an inhabited or occupied building; certain firearm-related offenses and enhancements; a felony in which the minor personally used certain listed weapons; certain felonies involving witnesses or victims; manufacturing, compounding or selling one-half ounce or more of certain controlled substances; a violent felony that would also be a felony gang offense; and escape by force from a juvenile facility in which great bodily injury is intentionally inflicted on an employee.

Under § 707(a), the district attorney may move to transfer a case only when the offense is alleged to have been committed at 16 or older (an offense listed in subdivision (b) or any other felony), or when a subdivision (b) offense is alleged to have been committed at 14 or 15 by a person who was not apprehended before the end of juvenile court jurisdiction. The juvenile court decides, and it may order a transfer only if it finds by clear and convincing evidence that the minor is not amenable to rehabilitation while under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, considering the criteria § 707 lists. Offense-specific discussion appears in this site's guides on juvenile homicide cases and juvenile weapons charges.

These rules are California's. Other states handle transfer very differently; the U.S. Justice Department's OJJDP case flow overview describes states where prosecutors must or may file certain cases in criminal court, which is a description of other systems, not of California's § 707.

Juvenile Record Sealing in Los Angeles County

Sealing is the part of the case many families think about last and worry about most, often with a sense that the record will simply vanish at 18. California law does not work that way: sealing happens through specific routes, each with its own conditions.

Sealing after successful probation or supervision. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 786, when a person alleged or found to be a ward satisfactorily completes an informal program of supervision under § 654.2, probation under § 725, or a term of probation for any offense, the court must dismiss the petition and order sealed the records about it held by the juvenile court, law enforcement, the probation department and the Department of Justice. The court sets a date for destroying the sealed records; under Welf. & Inst. Code § 786, if the record includes a sustained petition that bars owning or possessing a firearm until age 30, that date is the person's 33rd birthday. Once the petition is dismissed, the arrest and proceedings are deemed not to have occurred, and the person may answer inquiries from employers, schools and others accordingly. Under § 786(d), the court may not dismiss the petition or seal the record this way if the petition was sustained for an offense listed in § 707(b) 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).

Sealing after diversion. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 786.5, the probation department must seal its citation, arrest and other records when a juvenile satisfactorily completes a diversion or supervision program, including informal supervision under § 654, to which the probation officer or the prosecutor referred the juvenile instead of filing a petition. Law enforcement and the Department of Justice must seal their records within 60 days of the probation department's notice, and the department must then notify the young person in writing within 30 days; if records were not sealed, that notice explains the right to petition the court directly.

Sealing by petition. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 781, the person or the county probation officer may petition the court to seal records, including arrest records, five years or more after juvenile court jurisdiction ended (or, if no petition was filed, five years or more after the contact with probation or law enforcement), or at any time after the person turns 18. The court notifies the district attorney and the county probation officer, who may testify at the hearing, and it orders the records sealed 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 its satisfaction. For an offense listed in § 707(b) committed at 14 or older that resulted in wardship, a petition may be filed or considered only in the circumstances § 781(a)(1)(D) lists.

School, college, employment and similar consequences can follow a juvenile case and depend on the facts and on rules this page does not cover. Immigration consequences are governed by immigration law this page does not cover. Questions specific to particular charges appear in this site's guide to juvenile drug charges.

What to Look for in a Los Angeles County Juvenile Defense Attorney

Parents comparing attorneys often wonder what actually sets one juvenile defense lawyer apart from another, and the answer starts with the system itself. A Los Angeles County juvenile case runs through the Superior Court's Juvenile Division, the Los Angeles County Probation Department and, for a detained child, Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, each with its own role and timing. Familiarity with how the probation department makes the first custody decision, and how a detention hearing unfolds the next judicial day, bears directly on the earliest and most time-sensitive stage.

The courthouse matters too. Juvenile Justice cases are heard at courthouses the court's directory lists, such as Sylmar and Inglewood, and knowledge of the specific courthouse and department handling a case, along with the Juvenile Court Rules the court publishes, is part of practical preparation.

The kind of allegation shapes the work as well. A misdemeanor petition, a felony petition and a petition alleging an offense listed in § 707(b) raise different questions: whether diversion under § 654 is possible, whether a transfer hearing is on the table, and what disposition and sealing look like later.

This page covers the legal framework for juvenile cases in Los Angeles County's juvenile court under California law. It does not cover adult criminal defense outside a transfer, dependency cases, school discipline without police involvement, or immigration law. For a broader view of how juvenile cases work, this site's overview of juvenile defense walks through each stage.

Discussing Your Child's Case in Los Angeles County

A juvenile case here moves on a short clock at the start, from the probation officer's custody decision to a detention hearing the next judicial day, and later stages turn on details such as the offense alleged, whether § 707(b) is in play and how sealing may follow. This page does not cover a dependency case or another county's juvenile system.

To request a consultation about a child's juvenile case in Los Angeles County, contact Juvenile Justice Defense Group.