When Is A Juvenile An Adult?

Last week, I wrote about the juvenile justice market and our estimates of the size of the juvenile justice population (see Defining The Juvenile Justice Population). But this number (now at 780,400, or a decrease of 11% since 2011) is based on juvenile court cases – and does not reflect all juveniles in the corrections system – just those that are “processed” as juveniles rather than adults.

Which raises the question, when exactly is a juvenile tried in the adult criminal justice system?

The largest factor in determining which court has jurisdiction over juveniles is their age, which varies between states . . .