California Implementing Juvenile Justice Overhaul

California is implementing four bills to overhaul its juvenile justice system and align California’s juvenile justice practices with research findings about youth development. One will set the minimum age for juvenile court prosecutions at 12, except in the case of serious crimes, and will raise the age of juvenile jurisdiction to 17. Another will prevent the transfer of 14- and 15-year-olds charged with felonies into adult court. The third will limit the amount of time youth who are deemed mentally incompetent can spend in juvenile halls. The fourth will require that detained youth be provided with access . . .