As such, the court will often provide minors with an incentive to turn their lives around by offering them a dismissal of the case if they comply with certain terms like community service and/or classes on personal responsibility, drug abuse and other similarly themed educational opportunities.

While minors are subject to the penal code just like adults, the fact that they are 17 or younger also brings them under the authority of the Welfare and Institutions Code. Of special significance to minors is Welfare and Institutions Code Section 790 which permits the Juvenile Judge to enter a Deferred Entry of Judgment (DEJ) for the minor. This resolution requires the minor to plead guilty but sentencing is delayed to give the minor time to complete community service or classes. Once the minor finishes the court requirement, then the case is DISMISSED. In this fashion, the minor is never sentenced on the offense and thus the petition is not sustained against him. This saves the minor from having the juvenile equivalent of a conviction. It also, provides the minor with a reason to “straighten up and fly right” so that he can keep his record clean.

Notably, if the minor has never been to the California Youth Authority (state prison for juveniles), has successfully completed probation on previous cases, is over the age of 14 and is not accused of a serious or violent offense he can qualify for this program. Charges that are too serious to be considered for this program include murder, robbery, rape with force, kidnapping for ransom, attempted murder and other various serious and violent offenses.

However, most juveniles qualify for the Deferred Entry of Judgment Program and are spared a juvenile conviction. Contact the Law Offices of William W. Bruzzo to discuss the particular facts of your child’s case.

Because the student is a minor (under age 18) his case will be prosecuted in the juvenile justice system. On some occasions criminal cases involving juveniles may be prosecuted in the adult system, however, that is generally only the case in very serious matters. While this crime is serious because one bullet passed through two students, it appears to have been accidental in nature and will probably remain in the juvenile system. As a juvenile the student could face up to 6 years at the California youth authority or remain incarcerated until he is 21 years of age. See, California Penal Code Section 246.3 and Welfare and Institutions Code Section 602.

In Garden Grove, Orange County, taggers will now be fined up to $1,000 for possession of graffiti instruments. The city will even make parents pay, if the tagger is a juvenile. The issuance of these citations will be starting March 1st. According to the Orange County Register, City Manager Matt Fertal said administrative fines are a “tried and tested tactic for Garden Grove.” In the recent past, citations for illegal fireworks proved to be very effective after a city ordinance was passed allowing law enforcement to issue administrative citations to those shooting off illegal fireworks. Fertal also notes that the fines are a quicker more efficient way to handle these less serious offenses. Money collected from these fines will help pay for wiping out all the graffiti that’s already been done. In other Orange County cities, taggers face criminal prosecution (and suspension of their license if convicted) in the court system rather than administrative fines, so Garden Grove taggers should count themselves lucky. (See also Penal Code Section 594, Vandalism and Penal Code Section 594.2, Possession of Vandalism Tools).