When a child is accused of robbery, the case usually starts in juvenile court, not adult court. Robbery means taking property from a person by force or fear. A juvenile court can detain, supervise or place a minor, and in some states, including California, an older teen's case can move to adult court after a hearing.
Most people facing this are parents or guardians who got a phone call they never expected: their son or daughter has been arrested, and the word on the paperwork is "robbery." They are trying to work out whether their child will come home tonight, what this means for school and whether one afternoon can follow a teenager for years. This page walks through how juvenile court treats a robbery allegation, step by step, using California's rules as the worked example and noting where other states differ.
What a Juvenile Robbery Charge Actually Means
California's definition sits in Pen. Code § 211: "Robbery is the felonious taking of personal property in the possession of another, from his person or immediate presence, and against his will, accomplished by means of force or fear." That is California's statute. Other states write their own definitions.
The force-or-fear element is what separates robbery from other property offenses. Taking an item from a store shelf without paying is generally a theft. Entering a building is the core of burglary. Robbery requires property taken from a person, or from their immediate presence, against their will, through force or fear. That is why a dispute that starts as a shoplifting stop can be charged as robbery if force is alleged. The page on juvenile theft charges covers the lower-level offenses.
Some states divide robbery into degrees. What raises the degree depends on that state's statute and the facts alleged.
Juvenile court also uses its own words. A case begins with a petition, the filing that asks the court to take jurisdiction over the minor, not a criminal complaint. If the court finds the allegation true, the petition is "sustained," which is not a conviction. Robbery is a serious allegation, and in California it can bring the transfer rules of Welf. & Inst. Code § 707 into play, covered below.
How Juvenile Court Handles a Robbery Case
The first rule is who the court covers. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 602, California's juvenile court has jurisdiction over 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 ordinance), except as § 707 provides; § 602 also covers a minor under 12 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 may adjudge the minor a ward of the court, meaning the court takes legal supervision over the child. Ages and procedures vary by state.
Intake and detention. When police deliver a minor to probation, § 628 requires the probation officer to release the minor to a parent, guardian or responsible relative unless continuing in the home is contrary to the minor's welfare and 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. Under § 631(a), a minor in custody is generally released within 48 hours, excluding nonjudicial days, unless a petition or criminal complaint is filed in that time. Under § 632(a), a detained minor must generally see a judge or referee before the end of the next judicial day after the petition is filed, at a detention hearing, where the court decides whether the child stays in custody.
At that hearing, §§ 635 and 636 let the court keep a minor detained only on grounds like those above or an escape from a juvenile court commitment. The court may consider the circumstances and gravity of the offense with other factors. Under § 636, an order to detain in juvenile hall lasts no more than 15 judicial days. Sections 635(b)(2) and 636 also give a minor equal consideration for release on home supervision, which may include electronic monitoring, regardless of whether the minor lives in the county where the offense occurred.
Jurisdiction hearing. Also called the adjudication hearing, this is where the court decides whether the petition is sustained.
Disposition. At disposition, the court decides the consequences, which can include probation (supervision in the community under conditions) or placement. California's Division of Juvenile Justice no longer operates. Which disposition fits depends on the offense, the minor and the court.
Diversion. Diversion means handling a case outside formal court. The OJJDP case flow overview describes intake deciding to dismiss a case, handle it informally, or request formal court action. Whether that is available for a robbery allegation depends on the offense, the jurisdiction and the court.
When a Juvenile Robbery Case Can Move to Adult Court
The fear of adult court is often the heaviest one a parent carries out of that first phone call. A transfer hearing, called a fitness or waiver hearing in some states, is where a juvenile judge decides whether a case leaves juvenile court for a court of criminal jurisdiction.
In California, a transfer motion under Welf. & Inst. Code § 707(a) may be made only in two situations. The first is an offense alleged to have been committed when the minor was 16 or older, if it is 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 who was not apprehended before juvenile court jurisdiction ended. The motion must be made before jeopardy attaches, and the court orders a probation report on the minor's behavioral patterns and social history, including any statement from the victim.
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. It must consider the criteria § 707 lists and, if it transfers the case, state its reasons in the order. Until the transfer hearing ends, the court postpones taking a plea to the petition.
That is California's rule. The OJJDP overview notes that in many states legislatures require or allow certain serious cases to be filed in criminal court, so transfer rules vary widely. A transferred case is handled in adult criminal court, where adult terms and consequences apply. The page on juvenile court vs. adult court explains the differences.
A Minor's Rights When Questioned by Police
California sets a specific rule here. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 625.6(a), "Prior to a custodial interrogation, and before the waiver of any Miranda rights, a youth 17 years of age or younger shall consult with legal counsel in person, by telephone, or by video conference. The consultation may not be waived."
The statute covers custodial interrogation, questioning while the youth is in custody. When a court decides whether a youth's statements can be used, it must consider the effect of any failure to comply, and it must consider a willful violation when judging an officer's credibility.
Two exceptions apply. Under § 625.6(c), the rule does not govern whether statements are admissible if 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. Under § 625.6(d), probation officers are not required to comply in the normal performance of certain intake duties.
The California rule speaks of consultation with legal counsel. Rules on questioning minors vary by state, and this is California's rule. The overview of California juvenile defense places this rule in the wider process.
Juvenile Robbery and Record Sealing
Sealing a record means a court orders the records closed to the public and to most inquiries. It is not the same as a record vanishing, and a juvenile record is not sealed automatically when a child turns 18. Many parents ask about this first, because sealing is tied directly to college, jobs and the years after a case.
Sealing on satisfactory completion. Under Welf. & Inst. Code § 786, if 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. Once dismissed, the arrest and proceedings are deemed not to have occurred. There is an exception in § 786(d): the court shall not seal a record or dismiss a petition under § 786 if the petition was sustained on a § 707(b) offense 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).
Sealing by petition. Under § 781, a person may petition for sealing five years or more after juvenile court jurisdiction ended, or at any time after turning 18. The court orders sealing only if it finds that since jurisdiction ended the person has not been convicted of a felony or 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 in the circumstances § 781(a)(1)(D) lists.
When a robbery finding is a § 707(b) offense, both paths are narrower than for lower-level offenses. School, college, employment and other 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.
What a Juvenile Defense Attorney Does in a Robbery Case
A juvenile defense attorney works inside a court built around rehabilitation, with its own vocabulary and its own sealing rules. That difference shapes the work at each step.
At the detention hearing, an attorney for a minor charged with robbery can present the evidence and facts bearing on the release grounds in §§ 635 and 636, including home supervision. At the jurisdiction hearing, the attorney tests whether the evidence supports the petition. At disposition, the attorney can present the minor's background and the options available to the court. In a transfer hearing, the attorney can offer evidence that bears on amenability to rehabilitation, the question the court must decide by clear and convincing evidence.
Juvenile criminal defense is a distinct practice from adult criminal defense. The vocabulary of petitions, sustained findings and dispositions, the transfer standard and the sealing limits in §§ 781 and 786 all belong to juvenile court specifically. No step guarantees any outcome; each depends on the facts and the court.
This page does not cover every state's rules, specific local court procedures or the facts of any individual case. Fight-related cases are covered on the page about a juvenile school fight.
If You'd Like to Talk Through Your Child's Robbery Case
A robbery allegation brings together several rules at once: detention timing, the possibility of a transfer motion and sealing limits tied to § 707(b). A consultation with our juvenile defense attorney can cover the petition and the allegation in it, the hearing dates already set, whether the child is detained or on home supervision, and the stage the case has reached. This page explains how the process generally works and does not address the facts of any one family's case.
To talk with our attorney, request a consultation about a child's juvenile case through Juvenile Justice Defense Group.