California

Lower Age: None specified

Upper Age: 17


Discretionary Waiver Welf. & Inst. Code, Div. 2, Pt. 1, Ch. 2, Sec. 7

The juvenile court may declare that a minor meeting specified age/offense criteria is not amenable to the care, treatment, and training facilities available to it, and thus is "not a fit and proper subject to be dealt with under the juvenile court law." The law specifies that the minor's probation officer must investigate the issue and submit a report to the court, and that the report must be considered, along with various other listed factors, in making the fitness determination.


Offense Category Minimum Age Offense Detail

Any Criminal 16

Murder 14

Person 14 Forcible/violent rape, sodomy, or oral copulation; kidnapping for ransom or robbery, or with bodily harm; kidnapping of a victim under 14; and kidnapping in connection with a carjacking; escape involving intentional injury of an employee of a juvenile facility; torture; aggravated mayhem; attempted murder; any of a number of listed crimes (robbery, assault, rape, kidnapping, and carjacking), in the commission of which the minor personally used a firearm; and personally shooting a gun into an inhabited or occupied building.

Property 14 Burglary in which the minor personally used a firearm.

Drug 14 Manufacturing, compounding, or selling at least half an ounce of various listed controlled substances.


Presumptive Waiver Welf. & Inst. Code, Div. 2, Pt. 1, Ch. 2, Sec. 707

For various age/offense categories specified by statute, a minor is presumed to be not a fit and proper subject for treatment as a juvenile, but is entitled to present evidence to the contrary. The fitness determination must be based on evidence, including a probation officer's report, presented at a hearing, and on consideration of various factors listed in the statute.


Offense Category Minimum Age Offense Detail

Certain Felonies 16 Any felony in which the minor used one of various listed illegal weapons.

Murder 14/16 14—First or second degree murder in which the minor either personally killed the victim, or (with the intent to kill) aided, asked, advised, or ordered any other person to kill the victim; and first degree murder in which the minor, while not the killer, acted with reckless indifference to human life while participating in any of various listed felonies (robbery, kidnapping, rape, rape by instrument, sodomy, lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14, oral copulation, first or second degree burglary, arson, train wrecking, mayhem, and carjacking).

16—Any murder.

Person 16 Armed robbery; violent/forcible rape, sodomy, or oral copulation, certain lewd or lascivious acts, and penetration with a foreign object; kidnapping for ransom, robbery, or with bodily harm, and kidnapping of a child under 14; attempted murder; assault with a firearm, destructive device, or any means of force likely to produce serious injury; certain crimes against elderly, blind, or disabled victims; witness/victim bribery or intimidation; any violent felony committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal street gang; escape resulting in injury to a juvenile facility employee; torture; aggravated mayhem; armed carjacking, or carjacking in which a victim is kidnapped; explosion, ignition, or attempt to explode or ignite any explosive or destructive device with intent to kill; and firing a gun into an inhabited or occupied building, or from a motor vehicle.
Property 16 Arson
Drug 16 Manufacturing, compounding, or selling at least half an ounce of any of various listed controlled substances.


Once an Adult, Always Welf. & Inst., Div. 2, Pt.1, Ch. 2, Sec. 707.01

Once a minor has been transferred and convicted in a court of criminal jurisdiction, subsequent charges against the same minor need not be filed in juvenile court (that is, they may be filed in adult court, with no necessity for a juvenile court fitness hearing), provided (1) the minor was at least 16 years old at the time of the alleged violation and (2) the violation was one for which waiver is allowed. Even if the minor is not convicted following a transfer, subsequent charges may nevertheless be filed directly in adult criminal court, provided the two above conditions are met and the original unfitness decision was based solely on the minor's previous delinquency history, the failure of the juvenile court's previous attempts to rehabilitate the minor, or both.