Can a juvenile criminal case turn into an adult case? Attorney Matthew Brown from Combs Waterkotte answers the question “Can A Juvenile Criminal Case Turn Into An Adult Case?” Juvenile Criminal Defense Lawyers in Missouri.
Jessica Ambuehl: So can you tell me if a juvenile case can turn into an adult case?
Matt Brown: Oh, absolutely.
In the juvenile process, any case can be certified into adult court. That means the juvenile officer would have to file a petition requesting that the juvenile court basically certify that juvenile to stand trial as an adult.
That would then essentially remove the case from juvenile court, and now you’re being tried as an adult, you’re in adult court. Most serious crimes are delinquency acts by a juvenile. They can get certified. They don’t have to; there’s no mandatory crimes that say, “Okay, this particular crime, you have to be certified as an adult.”
There is statute and law that says there’re certain violent crimes that you have to have a status hearing on or certification hearing on. The court is not mandated to do that.
Oftentimes the more violent crimes that you see, or the more harsh the penalties. Also the juvenile’s background. Has he been involved in the system a while? Those are all things that the court takes in consideration when certifying a case.
So in order to get a case from juvenile court to adult court, you would have to go through that certification process.
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