Under 17 in Georgia: juvenile court, adult court, and sealing the record

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A 16-year-old in Savannah is stopped by an officer on River Street and ends up with a shoplifting charge. His case goes to juvenile court. His cousin, who turned 17 last month and was stopped with him, is booked as an adult. Same night, same store, different courts. In Georgia the line is the 17th birthday, lower than in most states, and what happens on each side of it is most of what a family needs to know.

Juvenile court ends at 17, and some cases skip it entirely

Georgia's juvenile courts handle delinquency cases, meaning acts that would be crimes if an adult did them, for children under 17. Once you turn 17, a new charge goes to the regular adult criminal courts, even though you cannot vote or sign a lease yet.

There is a second exception that starts much younger. Under Georgia's juvenile code, a child aged 13 to 17 charged with one of a short list of offenses is tried in superior court, the adult felony court, from the start. The list includes murder, voluntary manslaughter, rape, aggravated sodomy, aggravated child molestation, aggravated sexual battery, armed robbery with a firearm, and aggravated assault or aggravated battery with a firearm against a public safety officer. For these, a 13-year-old in Augusta starts outside juvenile court.

For other serious felonies, the juvenile court and the superior court share jurisdiction, and a prosecutor can ask a juvenile judge to transfer the case. That is a hearing, not an automatic step, and the young person has a lawyer at it.

What you keep no matter which court it is

The U.S. Supreme Court decided In re Gault in 1967, about a 15-year-old in Arizona locked up after a phone-prank complaint with no lawyer and no real hearing. The Court held that a young person facing a delinquency charge has the same core protections as an adult: written notice of the charges, a lawyer (appointed if the family cannot pay), the right to stay silent, and the right to question the witnesses against them. Every juvenile courtroom in Georgia, from Fulton County to Lowndes County, runs on that rule.

At a stop, the calm version of those rights is simple. Give your name if asked. Say you want to stay quiet and you want a lawyer, then stop talking. Ask for a parent. We could not confirm a Georgia statute that requires police to reach a parent before questioning a minor, so do not count on the officer doing it for you.

Sealing a juvenile record in Georgia

A juvenile case in Georgia does not vanish on its own. The law lets a person who was adjudicated delinquent, the juvenile-court word for found responsible, apply to have the record sealed. The court can grant it once two years have passed since final discharge from the case, as long as there has been no new felony or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude and no new delinquency finding, and the judge finds the person has been rehabilitated. The court can also seal a record on its own motion.

Sealing is strong. The law says the case is treated as if it never happened: index entries are deleted, and the court, police, and state agencies must answer that no record exists. Only a court order or a criminal-justice official with a legitimate reason can open it. Put the two-year date on a calendar and ask the same juvenile court that handled the case.

Finding a defender and checking your town's curfew

중요

Georgia's statewide agency for free defense is the Georgia Public Defender Council (GPDC). Its website, gapubdef.org, has a 'Find Your Public Defender' directory that lists the local office for each judicial circuit. Call the circuit office, not the courthouse, and ask for the juvenile unit.

Curfews in Georgia are city and county ordinances, not one state rule. Atlanta and Macon-Bibb can set different hours and exceptions, and some towns have none. Search your city's name with 'curfew ordinance' to read the actual text before a late shift or a late ride home.

기억하세요

Georgia juvenile court covers children under 17; a new charge at 17 goes to adult court.
From age 13, a short list of the most serious charges, including murder and armed robbery with a firearm, starts in superior court automatically.
In re Gault (1967) gives every young person in delinquency court notice, a lawyer, silence, and the right to question witnesses.
Two years after a juvenile case ends, you can ask the same court to seal it, and a sealed record is treated as if it never existed.

출처

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