When a minor is charged in San Mateo County, the case goes to the Superior Court's Juvenile Division, which hears juvenile justice cases at the Juvenile Branch, 222 Paul Scannell Drive in San Mateo. A child who is held may be detained at the Youth Services Center's Juvenile Hall at the same address. California's Welfare and Institutions Code governs each step.
This page explains how this county's juvenile system works, as its court and probation pages describe it and as California law sets it out.
How San Mateo County Juvenile Court Works
The Superior Court of California, County of San Mateo, describes juvenile justice hearings as the ones that "take place when the juvenile has been charged with, or accused of, committing a crime," and its Juvenile Division page separates them from dependency hearings about a parent's care of a child, which this page does not cover. Juvenile traffic matters are handled by the county's Probation Department, not the court.
These cases start with a petition, the court document alleging that a minor committed an offense. It is not a criminal complaint. A ward of the court is a minor the juvenile court has taken legal responsibility for after finding the petition true. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 602, the juvenile court generally has jurisdiction over a minor who was between 12 and 17, inclusive, at the time of an alleged violation of law, except as § 707 provides. A child under 12 is within its jurisdiction only for the offenses that section lists: murder and certain forcible sex offenses.
Confidentiality is a real difference from adult court. The court's page says all juvenile cases are confidential. Only the minor, the parent or guardian and the minor's attorney may view the file, and anyone else needs a judge's permission.
Arrest and Detention in San Mateo County
The probation officer makes the first release decision. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 628, when a minor in temporary custody is delivered to the probation officer, that officer must immediately investigate and release the minor to a parent, guardian or responsible relative. The exception is when staying home is contrary to the minor's welfare and at least one condition exists: detention is urgently necessary to protect the minor or reasonably necessary to protect another person or property, the minor is likely to flee, 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, excluding nonjudicial days, unless a petition or a criminal complaint is filed in that time. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 632, a minor who stays in custody must generally be brought before a juvenile court judge or referee for a detention hearing, the hearing that decides whether custody continues. That hearing must happen before the end of the next judicial day after the petition is filed. A separate 48-hour rule applies to certain warrantless arrests for nonviolent misdemeanors when the minor is not on probation or parole. A minor not brought before the court in time must be released.
In this county, the probation department's Institutions Services page names the Youth Services Center – Juvenile Hall and the G.I.R.L.S. Program (Girls' Camp) as its two residential spaces for court-involved youth. It also says classes are provided on regular school days.
A Minor's Rights During Police Questioning in California
Welf. & Inst. Code § 625.6 sets a rule that reaches further than Miranda warnings alone. Before a custodial interrogation, and before any waiver of Miranda rights, a youth 17 or younger must consult with legal counsel in person, by telephone or by video conference, and that consultation cannot be waived.
The statute also addresses what happens afterward. When a court decides whether a youth's statements can be used, it must consider any failure to provide that consultation, and it must weigh a willful violation when judging an officer's credibility. The rule does not apply to admissibility when 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. It also does not require probation officers to comply while performing certain intake duties.
These protections concern questioning. The court process that follows is a separate track, explained next and in the guide to California juvenile defense.
The Juvenile Court Process: From Petition to Disposition
Not every case reaches a petition. Diversion means handling a case outside formal court proceedings. 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 a petition and with the consent of both the minor and the parent or guardian, refer the minor to services. Those services may come from a health agency, a community-based organization, a local educational agency, another non-law-enforcement agency or the probation department. A probation-run program of supervision may last no more than six months. The officer may still request a petition during that period or within 90 days after it, and may do so if the minor has not participated within 60 days. Whether diversion is offered depends on the officer's judgment and the facts.
If a petition is filed, the court holds a jurisdiction hearing, also called an adjudication, where it decides whether the allegations are true. Nationally, a judge rather than a jury makes that determination in nearly all such hearings, according to the federal OJJDP case flow summary. If the petition is sustained, the court holds a disposition hearing to decide what happens next. A disposition is not a sentence. One common disposition is probation, meaning court-ordered supervision with conditions. The same federal summary notes that dispositions are often multi-faceted. The specific options depend on the case. The guide to the California juvenile court process covers each step in sequence.
Transfer to Adult Court: What California Law Allows
A transfer hearing decides whether a case leaves juvenile court for a court of criminal jurisdiction, and Welf. & Inst. Code § 707 limits when the prosecution may ask for one. The district attorney may move to transfer a minor who was 16 or older at the time of an offense listed in subdivision (b) or any other felony. The district attorney may also move to transfer an individual who was 14 or 15 at the time of a subdivision (b) offense but was not apprehended before juvenile court jurisdiction ended. In either case, the motion must be made before jeopardy attaches.
Transfer is a decision the juvenile court makes, not an automatic result. Once the motion is filed, the court orders the probation officer to report on the minor's behavioral patterns and social history, including any statement offered by the victim. After considering that report and any other relevant evidence either side submits, the court decides whether to transfer the case. To order a transfer, it must find by clear and convincing evidence that the minor is not amenable to rehabilitation while under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. If the court transfers a case, it proceeds in a court of criminal jurisdiction. For a parent hearing the word "felony" for the first time, the guide to juvenile felony defense sets out the wider context.
Sealing a Juvenile Record in San Mateo County
Sealing means restricting access to records, and California does not seal a juvenile record automatically at 18. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 781, the person or the county probation officer may petition the court in either of two situations. The first is five years or more after juvenile court jurisdiction ends or, if no petition was filed, five years after the citation or contact with probation or law enforcement. The second is any time after the person turns 18. The court notifies the district attorney and probation, and they or others with relevant evidence may testify. The court 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) that was committed at 14 or older and resulted in wardship, § 781(a)(1)(D) allows a petition only after the person has completed any probation supervision related to it and has reached 21 if committed to the Division of Juvenile Facilities, or 18 if not, unless the offense was dismissed or reduced to a misdemeanor.
Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 786, when a person satisfactorily completes informal supervision under § 654.2, probation under § 725, or a term of probation, the court must dismiss the petition and seal the related records. Under § 786(d), the court may not do so if the petition was sustained for an offense listed in § 707(b) that was committed at 14 or older, unless the finding on that offense was dismissed or reduced to a misdemeanor or to a lesser offense not listed in § 707(b). The court also sets a destruction date. That date is later, age 33, where a sustained petition bars firearm possession until 30. After dismissal, the arrest and proceedings are deemed not to have occurred, and the person may answer inquiries from employers and educational institutions, among others, accordingly. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 786.5, probation must seal its records after satisfactory completion of a diversion or supervision program it or the prosecutor referred.
Sealed records are not gone. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 787, agencies may access them for required data reporting, and a court may authorize research access, in both cases without releasing personally identifying information. The court's Juvenile Division page directs a person who wants to seal juvenile records to the county Probation Department.
School, employment and other consequences can follow a juvenile case, and they depend on the facts and on rules this page does not cover. Immigration consequences are governed by immigration law this page does not cover.
Where Cases From Across San Mateo County Are Heard
The court's Juvenile Branch page lists juvenile delinquency, juvenile dependency and adoptions at 222 Paul Scannell Drive in San Mateo The page also states that cell phones, cameras and recording devices are not allowed in the Youth Services Center and the Juvenile Court. It gives driving directions from Highway 101 and Highway 280 by way of Highway 92 and Ralston Avenue, with parking in front of the Youth Services Center.
The probation department's office locations page places its Juvenile Probation main office and Juvenile Hall at that same address. Its Pretrial Services and Adult Probation offices are at 400 County Center in Redwood City, and it has another office in South San Francisco. The court's Juvenile Branch, the Juvenile Hall and Juvenile Probation's main office therefore share one address. The court's Juvenile Division page also notes that transfer-in hearings, for cases moving here from another county, are heard at the Youth Services Center Monday through Thursday at 2:00 p.m.
This page covers juvenile cases in San Mateo County's juvenile court under California law. It does not cover another county's juvenile system.
What Juvenile Defense Involves
Juvenile cases are governed by their own statutes and use their own vocabulary. The Welfare and Institutions Code speaks of petitions, wards and dispositions, and the stages in a case include the detention hearing, diversion under § 654, the transfer hearing under § 707 and sealing. Each stage turns on its own findings. Some offense categories carry added questions, explained in the guide to juvenile sex crimes.
Discussing Your Child's Case in San Mateo County
A San Mateo County juvenile case can involve a detention hearing, a probation officer's decision about diversion and, in some cases, a transfer motion, each described above. This page does not cover dependency matters or another county's court. To request a consultation about a child's juvenile case, contact Juvenile Justice Defense Group.