Juveniles: transfer to court of criminal jurisdiction.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill's status is 'Passed Legislature' in the metadata, but its last action indicates it failed passage. This discrepancy needs clarification.

Changing Rules for Juvenile Court Transfers

This bill changes how courts decide if a young person should be tried as an adult in criminal court instead of staying in juvenile court.

What This Bill Does

• Changes the standard of evidence needed to transfer minors from juvenile court to criminal court.
• Requires that courts use 'preponderance of the evidence' rather than 'clear and convincing evidence' when deciding if a minor should be tried as an adult.

Who It Names or Affects

• Minors aged 14-15 who are accused of certain serious offenses but were not caught before they turned 16 or older.
• District attorneys and other prosecuting officers

Terms To Know

preponderance of the evidence

The standard used to decide if there is more than a 50% chance that something is true.

clear and convincing evidence

A higher standard where it must be shown with high certainty that something is true.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill did not pass the legislature as of its last action date.
• It does not specify what happens if a minor turns 16 or older before being caught for a serious crime.

Official Summary Text

AB 2040, as introduced, Macedo.
Juveniles: transfer to court of criminal jurisdiction.
Existing law, as amended by the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016, enacted by Proposition 57 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, authorizes the district attorney or other prosecuting officer to make a motion to transfer a minor from juvenile court to a court of criminal jurisdiction in a case in which a minor is alleged to have committed a felony when the minor was 16 years of age or older, or in a case in which a specified serious offense is alleged to have been committed by a minor when the minor was 14 or 15 years of age, but the minor was not apprehended prior to the end of juvenile court jurisdiction. Under existing law, in order to find that the minor should be transferred to a court of criminal jurisdiction, the court is required to find by clear and convincing evidence that the minor is not amenable to rehabilitation while under the jurisdiction of the
juvenile court.
This bill would instead require that the court find by a preponderance of the evidence that the minor is not amenable to rehabilitation while under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF