When a minor is arrested in San Bernardino County, the case goes to the county Superior Court's Juvenile Court, which publishes juvenile delinquency locations in San Bernardino and Victorville. California law sets how fast a detained child must be released or brought to a detention hearing, when a case can move to adult court, and how a record can later be sealed.
This page walks through how a delinquency case moves through this county's juvenile court under California law, step by step.
How San Bernardino County Juvenile Court Works
The Superior Court's Juvenile division page describes the Juvenile Court as handling cases where anyone under 18 is "cited or arrested by a law enforcement agency for allegedly violating the law," which it calls "Delinquency." Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 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, subject to the transfer rules of § 707. A child under 12 is within that jurisdiction only for the serious 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 court publishes two juvenile delinquency locations: San Bernardino Juvenile Delinquency at 900 East Gilbert Street, Bldg. 2, San Bernardino, CA 92415-0942, and Victorville Juvenile Delinquency at 14455 Civic Drive, Criminal Department: Suite 200, Victorville, CA 92392. The court's directions call the San Bernardino building the Juvenile Delinquency Court building.
Juvenile court uses its own words. A petition is the document asking the court to declare a child a ward of the court. It is not a criminal complaint. The main steps are the detention hearing (whether a held child stays held), the jurisdiction hearing, also called adjudication (whether the allegations are proved), and disposition (what the court orders next). An adjudication is not a conviction, and a disposition is not a sentence.
Detention in San Bernardino County: What Happens After an Arrest
The probation officer acts first. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 628, when a minor in temporary custody is delivered to the probation officer, that officer must immediately investigate. The officer must immediately release the child to a parent, legal guardian or responsible relative unless continuance in the home is 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 minor, or reasonably necessary to protect another person or property; the minor is likely to flee the court's jurisdiction; or the minor has violated a juvenile court order.
Time limits follow. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 631, a minor generally must be released within 48 hours of being taken into custody, excluding nonjudicial days, unless a petition to declare the minor a ward, or a criminal complaint, has been filed in that time. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 632, a detained minor must 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 a warrantless arrest on a misdemeanor not involving violence, threats or weapons, where the child is not on probation or parole, the limit is 48 hours, excluding nonjudicial days, after the petition is filed. A minor not brought before the court in time must be released.
At the hearing, Welf. & Inst. Code § 635 directs the court to release the minor unless it appears the minor violated a juvenile court order, escaped from a juvenile court commitment or is likely to flee, or that detention is a matter of immediate and urgent necessity for the protection of the minor or reasonably necessary for the protection of the person or property of another, and it may weigh the gravity of the alleged offense alongside other factors. Under § 636, a detention order lasts no more than 15 judicial days. Home supervision is release home under conditions instead of juvenile hall, possibly with electronic monitoring. Sections 635(b)(2) and 636 require equal consideration for home supervision regardless of whether the minor lives in the county where the offense occurred.
A Minor's Rights During Police Questioning in San Bernardino County
Welf. & Inst. Code § 625.6 provides that before a custodial interrogation, and before any waiver of Miranda rights, a youth 17 years of age or younger "shall consult with legal counsel in person, by telephone, or by video conference," and that consultation "may not be waived."
The statute covers custodial interrogation, not every conversation with an officer, and it contains limits. When a court decides whether a youth's statements can be used, it must consider any failure to comply. It must also weigh a willful violation in judging the officer's credibility. The section does not apply to admissibility where 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. It also does not require a probation officer to comply in the normal performance of duties under §§ 625, 627.5 or 628.
This consultation before questioning is separate from having counsel at later court hearings. More on these protections appears in the guide to California juvenile defense.
Transfer to Adult Court: When It Can Happen in California
Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 707(a), a prosecutor may move to transfer a case from juvenile court to a court of criminal jurisdiction only in two situations. The first is an offense alleged to have been committed when the minor was 16 or older, if it is either an offense listed in § 707(b) or any other felony. The second is a § 707(b) offense committed at 14 or 15 by a person not apprehended before juvenile court jurisdiction ended. The motion must be made before jeopardy attaches.
The juvenile court then orders the probation officer to prepare a report on the minor's behavioral patterns and social history, including any statement from the victim. The § 707(b) list includes serious and violent felonies; it is the statute's own list, and whether a given petition falls on it depends on the exact offense alleged.
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. The court considers criteria the statute sets out in subparagraphs (A) through (E). Felony-level petitions are discussed further under juvenile felony defense.
Diversion, Probation, and Disposition Options in San Bernardino County
Diversion means resolving a matter without the court declaring the child a ward. 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 parent or guardian, refer the minor to services from a health agency, community-based organization, local educational agency, another non-law-enforcement agency or the probation department. Probation-run programs of supervision may not exceed six months. The probation officer may still request a petition within that period or 90 days after, and may file or request one if the minor has not participated within 60 days. Where the officer judges the interests of the minor and community can be protected, the officer must make a diligent effort to proceed this way. Whether diversion is offered depends on the facts and the officer's judgment.
Probation is court-ordered supervision in the community. Supervision can be informal, under § 654.2, without a wardship finding, or formal probation following a sustained petition. Disposition orders depend on the facts of each case and the court's findings.
Sealing a Juvenile Record in California
Sealing closes records to most inquiries; under Welf. & Inst. Code § 786(b), after dismissal the arrest and proceedings are deemed not to have occurred, and the person may answer inquiries from employers, schools and others accordingly, subject to the statute's exceptions. A record is not erased, and nothing seals it automatically at 18.
Under § 786, when a person satisfactorily completes informal supervision under § 654.2, probation under § 725, or a term of probation for any offense, the court shall dismiss the petition and seal the related records held by the court, law enforcement, the probation department and the Department of Justice. 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 § 781, a person or the 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 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 the person attained 14 years of age that resulted in wardship, a petition may be filed or considered only if the person was committed to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Facilities, has reached 21 and has completed probation supervision after release from the division, or was not so committed, has reached 18 and has completed any probation supervision related to the offense (§ 781(a)(1)(D)). That limit does not apply where the § 707(b) offense was dismissed or reduced to a misdemeanor by the court (§ 781(a)(1)(E)), and a record of such an offense for which the person is required to register under section 290.008 of the Penal Code is not sealed (§ 781(a)(1)(F)).
Section 786.5 requires the probation department to seal records of an arrest and participation in a diversion or supervision program in the circumstances it lists. Section 787 allows limited access to sealed records by agencies including courts, probation and the Department of Justice, for purposes including data collection.
School, employment and other consequences can follow a juvenile case and depend on the facts and rules this page does not cover. Immigration consequences are governed by immigration law this page does not cover.
Scope of This Page in San Bernardino County
Petitions involving sex offenses raise separate issues covered under juvenile sex crimes.
This page covers delinquency proceedings under Welf. & Inst. Code § 602 in San Bernardino County. Dependency cases about abuse, neglect or foster care, which the same Juvenile Court also hears, are a separate area of law this page does not cover. A broader overview of juvenile defense explains how other states differ.
Discussing Your Child's Case in San Bernardino County
To request a consultation about a child's juvenile case in San Bernardino County, contact Juvenile Justice Defense Group.