Stopped by police in Delaware: Family Court, adult court, and who defends you

Delaware law defines a child as a person who has not reached their eighteenth birthday, and a delinquent child as a child who does something that would be a crime if an adult did it. Title 10 of the Delaware Code gives the Family Court exclusive jurisdiction, meaning it is the only court that can hear the case, over any child charged with delinquency.

The exceptions start at 16. Under section 921 of Title 10, a child aged 16 or older charged with first- or second-degree murder, first- or second-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping, or certain first-degree robbery and assault charges is charged in Superior Court, the adult court, from the start. A second group, including manslaughter, second-degree robbery, home invasion, and first-degree arson after the sixteenth birthday, also begins in Superior Court, but the child gets an 'amenability' hearing, which asks whether the young person can still be helped by the Family Court's programs. That hearing must be set as soon as practicable after the first appearance, with written notice to the parent or custodian.

In re Gault (1967) gives a young person in juvenile court most of the protections an adult gets. The U.S. Supreme Court held that juvenile courts must give written notice of the charges, a right to a lawyer, the right to question witnesses, and the right not to be forced to speak against yourself. Delaware's Family Court operates under that rule.

On police questioning, the Delaware statutes we could read do not set a separate rule requiring a parent or lawyer before a minor gives up the right to stay silent. The general rule still holds: you can say you want a lawyer and do not want to answer questions. Say it calmly, once, and then stop talking.

We found no statewide youth curfew in the sections of the Delaware Code we reviewed. Curfews are set town by town: the Family Court's authority covers a child who violates 'any laws of this State or any subdivision thereof,' and a city ordinance is a law of a subdivision. Look up your own town's ordinance before you need it.

Juvenile records are kept by the Family Court and can be expunged, which means removed from public view as if the case never happened. Which cases qualify, and how long you wait, depends on the offense and how the case ended. We could not load the Family Court's expungement pages to quote the exact rules, so confirm them with the court or a lawyer. The Office of Defense Services runs expungement clinics around the state; its events calendar lists the next one.