Many people believe that a juvenile case is not as big of a deal as an adult case. They think that the case will end up in “kiddy court” and the juvenile will only receive a slap on the wrist. Unfortunately, this belief is wrong.
The results of a juvenile conviction can have even larger ramifications than an adult conviction. Some schools expel students if they are merely charged with a crime, even if the case does not result in a conviction. If a juvenile case does result in a conviction, the consequences can completely change the trajectory of a young person’s life. Juvenile convictions make it significantly harder to get into college or get a job after high school. Worse yet, juvenile convictions can result in children being removed from their parents’ homes and get them sent to youth homes, or even juvenile jails which have some of the worst conditions in the state. In some situations, the government can charge juveniles as young as 14 years old as adults. This means the crimes your child is facing may end up on their record for the rest of their life and even result in them going to adult prison.
When searching for the best lawyer to represent your child, it is important to understand that there are many major differences between the ways the adult and juvenile criminal systems work. For example, many of the rights automatically given to adult defendants must be affirmatively asserted by the defense lawyer in a juvenile case. If your child’s lawyer does not know this, your child may lose their ability to have their case heard by a judge, and even the ability to have their trial in front of a jury. This means your child’s case could be decided by a single unelected referee, as opposed to a more sympathetic and advantageous jury of their peers.
Perhaps even worse, a lawyer without experience working in the juvenile system would not know about the differences between adult and juvenile dismissal and diversion programs. Unlike in the adult system, negotiating dismissals and alternatives to convictions are much more common to end juvenile cases. This is partly because several diversionary programs exist for juveniles that do not exist for adults. But if you hire a defense attorney without experience working in the juvenile system, that attorney may not even know to ask for those programs. This means hiring the wrong attorney could result in your child having a conviction on their record instead of getting their case dismissed. When choosing a lawyer to represent your child in juvenile court, you need to make sure that lawyer not only understands that differences between the adult and juvenile systems exist, but also has experience working through the nuances of the juvenile system.
KBW Criminal Law’s founding attorney, Kevin, has handled hundreds of juvenile delinquency cases, ranging from truancy to first degree murder and everything in between. Kevin’s time as a juvenile prosecutor gave him an inside understanding of how to best navigate the system for your child’s defense. Unlike most private criminal defense attorneys in Michigan, Kevin has actually taken juvenile cases to trial – and won.
If your child is charged with a crime in juvenile court, a conviction could change the way their entire life unfolds. Don’t trust the rest of your child’s life to an overworked public defender or a private attorney who has never even appeared in juvenile court. Hire a lawyer with relevant experience that specializes in juvenile delinquency cases. Contact KBW Criminal Law today to preserve your child’s best chance at a bright future.