At a juvenile initial hearing, a judge decides whether your child stays in custody or goes home, tells your child what the petition alleges, and confirms the right to an attorney. In some places your child also admits or denies the allegations. Whether the allegations are true is decided later.

If your child was arrested in the last day or two, you may be waiting for a phone call from juvenile hall, holding a notice with a court date on it, or trying to work out whether your son or daughter will sleep at home tonight. If your family has never been in a juvenile courtroom, the words on the paperwork — petition, detention, ward — do not explain themselves. This guide walks through what happens from arrest to the first court appearance and the decisions that follow, using California's juvenile court rules as the worked example and noting where other states differ.

The process below has five steps. How long each one takes depends on the state, the offense alleged and whether the child is held in custody.

Before You Start: What to Know Before the Hearing

Juvenile court is a separate system from adult criminal court, with its own vocabulary. A petition is the formal document the prosecutor files alleging that a minor committed an offense; it is not a criminal complaint. The detention hearing is the court's first decision on whether the minor stays in custody. At the adjudication or jurisdiction hearing, the court decides whether the petition's allegations are true; a finding there is not a conviction. The disposition is the court's decision about consequences, and it is not a sentence. A ward of the court is a minor placed under the court's ongoing supervision. Probation is supervision in the community under court-ordered conditions. Diversion is a program that can resolve a case without a formal finding. A transfer hearing decides whether a case moves to adult court. Sealing is a legal process that limits who can see a juvenile record.

The rules — the ages juvenile court covers, the deadlines and the available outcomes — differ by state. People who may be present at a first hearing include the minor, a parent or guardian, a probation officer, a prosecutor and the minor's defense attorney. Whether a parent or guardian must attend depends on the state and the court. The right to counsel in delinquency proceedings comes from In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1 (1967), discussed in Step 5. For a wider overview of every stage, see the juvenile court process guide.

Step 1: Arrest, Referral, and What Happens Before the First Hearing

A case does not always begin with a child being held. A minor may be taken into custody by police, referred to the juvenile system after an incident at school, or cited and released to a parent with a date to appear. After custody, a probation or intake officer may review the case and decide whether to release the minor, place the minor on informal supervision, or send the case to the prosecutor to consider a petition. That intake decision shapes whether a detention hearing is needed at all.

In California, Welf. & Inst. Code § 628 requires the probation officer to investigate immediately and to release the minor to a parent, legal guardian or responsible relative unless staying in the home is contrary to the minor'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.

California also limits how long a minor can be held before a petition. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 631, a minor taken into custody generally must be released within 48 hours, excluding nonjudicial days, unless a petition or a criminal complaint is filed in that time; the rule does not protect a minor who willfully misrepresents being 18 or older. For a minor arrested without a warrant for a misdemeanor not involving violence, a threat of violence or a weapon, and not currently on probation or parole, release within that window is required unless a petition is filed and a juvenile judge or referee orders detention.

In California, the petition alleges that the minor falls under Welf. & Inst. Code § 602, which covers minors between 12 and 17, inclusive, who violate a law defining a crime (other than an age-based curfew ordinance), except as Welf. & Inst. Code § 707 provides. Children under 12 are covered only for murder and certain forcible sex offenses that § 602(b) lists. Other states may use a different name for the charging document.

Step 2: The Detention Hearing — The Court's First Custody Decision

The detention hearing is the court's first decision on custody, and its single central question is whether the child stays in custody or is released while the case goes forward. It does not decide whether the allegations are true. The timing is set by each state's law.

In California, Welf. & Inst. Code § 632 requires a detained minor to be brought before a 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 minor arrested without a warrant for a misdemeanor not involving violence, a threat of violence or weapons, and not on probation or parole, the hearing must take place no later than 48 hours after custody began, excluding nonjudicial days, once a petition is filed. A minor not brought before the court within those periods must be released.

At a California detention hearing, Welf. & Inst. Code § 635 directs the court to examine the minor, the parent or guardian and others with relevant knowledge, hear the evidence they or counsel wish to present, and order release unless the minor violated a court order, escaped from a juvenile commitment, is likely to flee, or detention is urgently necessary to protect the minor or reasonably necessary to protect another person or property. The gravity of the alleged offense may be weighed with other factors, and the court must order release unless a prima facie showing is made that the minor is a person described in Welf. & Inst. Code § 601 or § 602. County of residence alone cannot be the basis for detention.

Possible outcomes include release to a parent or guardian, release with conditions such as a curfew or school attendance, home supervision, or detention. Home supervision means the child lives at home under rules monitored by probation, which in California may include electronic monitoring. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 636, a California court that orders detention must also find that remaining in the home is contrary to the minor's welfare; it may order the minor held in juvenile hall or another suitable place for up to 15 judicial days, with written findings, or place the minor on home supervision for up to 15 judicial days where that statute's criteria apply. In California, the minor and a parent or guardian, if present, are first informed at the detention hearing of the reasons the minor was taken into custody, the nature of the juvenile court proceedings, and the right to be represented by counsel at every stage.

Step 3: The Arraignment or Initial Appearance — Responding to the Petition

At this stage the minor formally responds to the petition, and the response options are few. Depending on the state, this happens at the same appearance as the detention hearing or at a separate hearing.

A minor may admit the allegations, which is roughly comparable to a guilty plea in adult court; deny them, which is comparable to a not-guilty plea; or, in some jurisdictions, enter a no-contest response. An admission moves the case toward a disposition without a contested hearing. A denial leads the court to schedule an adjudication or jurisdiction hearing, where evidence is presented and the court decides whether the allegations are proven.

Diversion may come up at or around this point. Diversion allows a minor to complete requirements — such as counseling or other services — in exchange for a petition not being filed or being dismissed. Eligibility and program terms vary by state, by the offense and by the minor's history.

How a child responds to the petition is a consequential decision in the case. It depends on the specific facts, the evidence and the law of the state, and this page does not address any individual child's choice.

Step 4: What the Court and Probation Department Decide Next

The probation department may prepare a report on the minor's background for the court to consider at later hearings.

The court then schedules what comes next: an adjudication hearing if the petition was denied, and eventually a disposition hearing. At disposition, the court decides what happens to the minor. Outcomes can include probation, community service, restitution, placement in a group home or residential program, or, in California, commitment to a secure youth treatment facility, which is available only for a ward aged 14 or older adjudicated for an offense listed in Welf. & Inst. Code § 707(b) that was committed at 14 or older and is the most recent offense adjudicated, and only when the court finds on the record that a less restrictive disposition is unsuitable. California's Division of Juvenile Justice no longer operates. A minor placed under the court's continuing supervision is a ward of the court.

In cases involving older minors and serious offenses, a transfer hearing (called a fitness hearing in some states) may be set to decide whether the case moves to adult court. In California, Welf. & Inst. Code § 707 allows the prosecutor to move for transfer when the minor was 16 or older at the time of an offense listed in the statute or any other felony, or was 14 or 15 at the time of a listed offense but was not apprehended before juvenile court jurisdiction ended. The motion must be made before jeopardy attaches; probation then prepares a report on the minor's behavioral patterns and social history, including any victim statement. Transfer requires a finding by clear and convincing evidence that the minor is not amenable to rehabilitation in juvenile court, based on criteria the statute lists. More on this is in the guide to a juvenile tried as an adult.

Time between hearings varies with the state, the offense and whether the minor is detained.

Step 5: Rights at the Initial Hearing

The U.S. Supreme Court held in In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1 (1967), that, in proceedings to determine delinquency which may result in commitment to an institution in which the juvenile's freedom is curtailed, due process requires notice of the charges, the right to counsel, the right to confront witnesses and the privilege against self-incrimination. Gault also recognized that when a family cannot afford an attorney, counsel is to be appointed. How appointment works in practice varies by state.

In California, a minor alleged to be a person described in § 602 who appears at a hearing without counsel must be given appointed counsel unless the minor intelligently waives the right to counsel. A parent does not stand in for the child's own attorney.

A minor generally has the right to remain silent, and statements obtained without proper advisements may be challenged in court. In California, Welf. & Inst. Code § 625.6 requires a youth 17 or younger to consult with legal counsel — in person, by phone or by video — before a custodial interrogation and before any waiver of Miranda rights, and that consultation cannot be waived. When a court decides whether a youth's statements are admissible, it must consider any failure to comply. 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, and it does not require probation officers to comply during certain normal intake duties.

In California, the public is not admitted to a juvenile court hearing unless the minor and any parent or guardian present request it, though the judge or referee may admit people with a direct and legitimate interest in the case or the work of the court, and for petitions alleging certain listed offenses members of the public are admitted on the same basis as in criminal court, subject to the rest of that section. Other states differ. For an overview of how charges by offense are handled, see this site's page on juvenile crimes.

Typical Timeline and When the Process Gets More Complicated

A single hearing and a whole case run on very different clocks. How long a hearing or a whole case takes depends on the state, the offense, whether the minor is detained and whether the petition is contested; a contested adjudication hearing takes longer than a detention hearing. In California, the deadlines in §§ 631, 632 and 636 described above apply to a minor in custody.

Probation is one of the dispositions a court may order in a delinquency case, but the outcome in any case depends on the offense, the minor's history and the jurisdiction.

What extends the process

A denial and a contested adjudication hearing, a transfer motion, a probation report that needs more time, continuances requested by either side, and a complex alleged offense can all lengthen a case.

School, work and immigration

School, employment and other consequences can follow a juvenile case and depend on the facts and on rules this page does not cover. For a child who is not a U.S. citizen, immigration consequences are governed by immigration law this page does not cover.

Record sealing afterward

Sealing is a separate process, and in California it is not automatic at 18. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 786, when a person satisfactorily completes informal supervision under § 654.2, probation under § 725 or a term of probation for any offense, the court must order the petition dismissed and the records sealed, and the arrest and proceedings are deemed not to have occurred; but a court may not do so if the petition was sustained based on an offense listed in § 707(b) that was 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 § 786.5, probation seals records after satisfactory completion of a diversion or supervision program offered instead of a petition. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 781, a person or the county probation officer may petition for sealing five years or more after jurisdiction ends, or at any time after the person turns 18; the court orders sealing only if, after a hearing, it finds that the person has not been convicted of a felony or of a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude since jurisdiction ended and that rehabilitation has been attained to its satisfaction. For an offense listed in § 707(b) that was committed at 14 or older and led to wardship, § 781(a)(1)(D) allows a petition only after the person has reached 18 (21 if committed to the state juvenile facilities division the statute names) and completed any probation supervision, unless the offense was dismissed or reduced to a misdemeanor; and a record of such an offense for which the person must register under Penal Code § 290.008 shall not be sealed. Welf. & Inst. Code § 787 allows limited access to sealed records for data reporting and approved research, without releasing identifying information.

Discussing Your Child's First Hearing

This page describes the juvenile initial hearing in general terms and does not cover the facts of any particular case.

You can request a consultation about a child's juvenile case through Juvenile Justice Defense Group.