Can a Juvenile Criminal Conviction Count as a Strike Against You?

In California, if you are a juvenile charged with an offense, you have the right to go to trial before a judge. If you lose or choose to take a plea bargain, you may be determined to be guilty by the juvenile court judge.

A felony juvenile criminal conviction typically does not count as a strike under California’s “three strikes” law. The exception is for convictions for serious or violent offenses committed when the offender is age 16 or 17.¹ Individuals who are 18 or older are charged as adults in criminal court.

If you are 16 years of age or older, a prosecutor can file a motion to transfer you and your case to criminal court to be prosecuted as an adult. If you lose at trial or take a plea offer in criminal court, you will have an adult conviction on your record. If the offense was a serious or violent crime, the conviction will count as a strike.

Why Does It Matter How Old I Was?

The statute requires that the offender be 16 years or older at the time of the offense. This means that even if you are convicted of a juvenile offense when you are older than 16 years of age, it will not count as a strike on your record if you were younger than 16 years old at the time of the offense.

4 Conditions that Must Be Met for a Juvenile Felony Conviction to Count as a Strike

All four of these conditions must be satisfied for a juvenile felony conviction to count as a strike:

• The minor must be at least 16 years old when he or she committed the offense.
• The minor was found fit to be adjudicated in juvenile court.
• The juvenile offense was a serious or violent felony.
• The minor was adjudicated a ward of the court on the basis of committing a serious or violent offense.²

Examples of Juvenile Offenses that Count As Strikes

An offense must be considered serious or violent to count as a strike.³ Such offenses include:

• Murder
• Attempted murder
• Voluntary manslaughter
• A felony in which the suspect uses a gun or inflicts great bodily injury
• Arson
• Carjacking
• Robbery in a home
• Kidnapping
• Certain sex crimes, including child molestation

The severity of the crime depends on the conduct of the perpetrator and the age difference between the perpetrator and the victim.

Call the Criminal Defense and Juvenile Attorneys at Wallin & Klarich

If you or your child is in need of a criminal defense or juvenile attorney, you need to call Wallin & Klarich today. At Wallin & Klarich, our attorneys have over 40 years of experience successfully representing those charged in juvenile and criminal court. You and your child cannot afford the consequences of a conviction, so you need to act now.

We have offices in Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks, Torrance, Tustin, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, West Covina and Victorville so that our skilled and knowledgeable attorneys are available to help you no matter where you work or live.

Call us today at (877) 4-NO-JAIL for a free phone consultation. We will get through this together.

<sup>1. [People v. Davis, 938 P.2d 938 (Cal. 1997). See also Calif. Penal Code § 667(d)(3). ]↩
2. [Calif. Penal Code §§ 667(d)(3) and 1170.12(b)(3). ]↩
3. [Serious and violent offenses are listed in Calif. Penal Code §§ 1192.7 and 667.5. ]↩</sup>