When a child under 18 in New York is arrested or charged, the case usually goes to Family Court as a juvenile delinquency case, not to adult criminal court. Some teens charged with certain felonies start in criminal court instead, and the law lets some of those cases move to Family Court.

Most people reading this page are parents or guardians who got a phone call they never expected: a son or daughter picked up by police, held overnight, or handed papers with a court date on them. The questions that follow are usually the same ones: which court the case is in, whether the child will come home before the next hearing, what this means for school, and whether a mistake made at fifteen or sixteen will follow the child into adulthood. Each of those questions has a place in how New York's system works.

This page walks through that system in order: the courts and terms, the first hours after an arrest, detention, alternatives to a formal case, the hearings, criminal-court cases for younger and older teens, and sealing.

How New York's Juvenile Justice System Works

New York's Family Court has "exclusive original jurisdiction over any proceeding to determine whether a person is a juvenile delinquent," according to the Family Court Act's jurisdiction section. That means a delinquency case begins in Family Court and nowhere else. The same section makes the child's age on the date of the alleged act controlling, not the age when the case is filed.

A "juvenile delinquent," under the Family Court Act's definitions, includes a person at least twelve and less than eighteen years old who committed an act that would be a crime if an adult did it. It also includes a person over seven and less than twelve for a short list of very serious acts, including manslaughter and murder in the second degree.

A few terms recur throughout the case:

  • Petition: the document that starts a Family Court delinquency case. It is not an indictment or a criminal complaint.
  • Respondent: the child named in the petition.
  • Presentment agency: the government office that brings the petition and presents the case against the child.
  • Fact-finding hearing: the Family Court hearing that decides whether the allegations are proved, the closest thing to a trial.
  • Dispositional hearing: the hearing that decides what happens next if the allegations are proved.
  • Adjudication: the court's finding at fact-finding. It is not a criminal conviction.

New York also has two categories, juvenile offender and adolescent offender, whose cases begin in criminal court. Which category applies depends on the offense charged and the child's age at the time.

Arrest, Questioning, and the Right to Counsel

The first hours after an arrest often matter more than parents expect, because what a child says to police can become evidence later, including at a fact-finding hearing.

New York law addresses what police must do when a minor is taken into custody, including contact with a parent or guardian, and it addresses a child's right to a lawyer in a delinquency proceeding. How those rules apply turns on three facts: whether the child was actually in custody, which court will hear the case, and what happened at the station.

The court the case is headed to shapes the rest. If the child is under the ages and outside the offense categories that send a case to criminal court, the case will be decided in Family Court. If the child is charged as a juvenile offender or an adolescent offender, the first appearance is in criminal court, a different setting with different rules for questioning, release and counsel. A parent in New York City may hear the case discussed in terms of a borough, but the governing framework is the same state law.

Detention and the Detention Hearing

At the child's initial appearance in Family Court, the judge "in its discretion may release the respondent or direct his detention," under the Family Court Act's release and detention section. The judge may also release the child on conditions the court considers appropriate.

The same section limits detention. The court shall not order it unless available alternatives, including conditional release, would not be appropriate, and the court finds that without detention there is either:

  • a substantial probability the child will not appear in court on the return date; or
  • a serious risk the child may, before the return date, commit an act that would be a crime if an adult did it.

A detention order must state the facts behind it, including the level of risk the child was assessed at under a detention risk assessment. The court must also state why remaining at home would be contrary to the child's best interests, based on, and limited to, the facts available at that first appearance.

In plain terms, a detention hearing is the court proceeding where a judge decides whether a child stays held or goes home while the case continues. Detention can mean a locked facility or a less restrictive setting, and the probation department may be involved before that first appearance. How quickly a held child must be brought to court, and which setting is used, depend on the case and the court.

Diversion, Adjustment, and Alternatives to a Formal Petition

Not every arrest becomes a petition. In New York, some cases can be handled by the probation department before anything is filed in Family Court, a process often called adjustment or diversion. It is an informal resolution in which the child and family agree to conditions instead of going through hearings.

Whether adjustment is offered depends on the offense alleged, the child's history and other facts. When it is offered, a plan may involve services in the community, such as counseling or school-based support, and its contents are set case by case.

A case that ends in the child's favor after a petition is filed is treated differently from one that ends in an adjudication; the sealing rules for each are covered below.

For a parent, the practical meaning is that the stage before a petition is filed is a real stage of the case, with its own decisions.

The Fact-Finding and Dispositional Hearings

At a fact-finding hearing, the court decides whether the presentment agency has proved the acts alleged. It is not a criminal trial and does not end in a criminal conviction; a finding that the acts were proved is an adjudication.

If the petition is sustained, the case moves to a dispositional hearing. A disposition is the court's order about what happens to the child, focused on the child's needs, not a sentence. Under the Family Court Act's order-of-disposition section, the options include:

  • Conditional discharge: release with conditions, without supervision.
  • Probation: a period of supervision, usually at home, with conditions the child must meet.
  • Placement: continuing the case and placing the child outside the home.
  • Restrictive placement: a more restrictive placement used for the most serious acts.

The list in that section is longer than these four. Where the act is a "designated felony act," a category of serious acts by older children, the court decides the disposition under the restrictive-placement rules. In all other cases, the court must order the least restrictive available alternative consistent with the child's needs and best interests.

An adjudication is not an adult conviction, but school, employment and immigration consequences can still follow, depending on facts and rules outside the scope of this page.

Juvenile Offenders and Adolescent Offenders: When Cases Move to Criminal Court

Parents are often surprised that a child can start in criminal court at all. New York's Criminal Procedure Law definitions define both "juvenile offender" and "adolescent offender."

A juvenile offender includes a thirteen-year-old criminally responsible for certain acts constituting murder in the second degree, and a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old criminally responsible for murder in the second degree and other serious crimes the definition lists. An adolescent offender is a person charged with a felony committed on or after October 1, 2018, at sixteen, or on or after October 1, 2019, at seventeen. These cases are heard in the Youth Part of criminal court, and a conviction there is a criminal conviction.

Adolescent offenders

The removal section for adolescent offenders requires the court to remove most felony cases to Family Court after arraignment, unless within thirty calendar days the district attorney moves in writing to prevent removal, and the law ties that decision to extraordinary circumstances. The exceptions include class A felonies (other than drug felonies), violent felonies, the felonies in the juvenile offender definition and Vehicle and Traffic Law offenses. For class A or violent felony charges, the court must schedule an appearance within six calendar days of arraignment and decide in writing whether the district attorney proved certain listed factors by a preponderance of the evidence.

Juvenile offenders

The juvenile offender felony complaint section requires dismissal if there is no reasonable cause to believe any criminal act was committed, and allows removal to Family Court in the interests of justice at the district attorney's request, with further conditions for charges including murder in the second degree and armed felonies. A case removed from the Youth Part stays in Family Court even if the respondent turns eighteen first.

Sealing a New York Juvenile Record

Family Court delinquency records are not public in the way adult court records are, but the record exists, and parents understandably worry about who will see it when a child applies to college or for a first job.

The Family Court Act's sealing section addresses cases that end in the child's favor. When a delinquency proceeding terminates in favor of the respondent, the court orders the records sealed and not made available to any person or public or private agency, unless the presentment agency, on written motion with at least eight days' notice, shows the interests of justice require otherwise, or the court on its own motion, with the same notice, so determines. A proceeding ends in the child's favor where, among other situations the section lists, the petition is withdrawn or is dismissed in certain ways. Sealed records remain available to the respondent or a designated agent, and the section lets certain others reach them in specific circumstances.

Sealing is not automatic in every case. Whether and how a record can be sealed after an adjudication depends on the act, the disposition and other facts.

What This Site Covers — and What It Does Not

This page explains how New York's juvenile justice system is structured, how cases generally move through Family Court and the Youth Part, and what the key terms and stages mean.

It does not address:

  • the facts of any individual case;
  • immigration consequences, which are governed by immigration law;
  • school discipline policies, which vary by district, or college admissions and employment consequences;
  • the rules of adult criminal proceedings beyond the Youth Part;
  • dependency cases, where a parent is accused of abuse or neglect, or custody between adults.

Other states' systems differ: this site's pages on California juvenile defense, Pennsylvania juvenile defense and Sacramento County juvenile cases explain those rules separately.

The rules that apply to a particular child depend on the offense alleged, the child's age on the date of the act, the county and other facts. A parent or guardian with questions about a specific case can send a consultation request through this site.

Discussing Your Child's New York Case

New York's system turns on details a general page cannot settle: whether the case is in Family Court or the Youth Part, whether a thirty-day removal window or a six-day appearance is running, and whether the child was released or held at the first appearance. A consultation can cover the petition or charge, the next hearing date, whether the child is detained and the stage the case has reached.

To discuss a case like this with an attorney, you can contact Juvenile Justice Defense Group to request a consultation about a child's juvenile case.