Juvenile

Bellflower Courthouse 10025 E. Flower St., Bellflower, CA 90706-5499

Bellflower juvenile cases will go to the Los Padrinos Juvenile Court, 7281 E. Quill Dr., Downey, CA 90242. Many juvenile cases may be dealt with under the Deferred Entry of Judgment Program.

If someone is above the age of 18, even if they are still in high school, they are no longer eligible for juvenile court.

People who commit crimes and are under the age of 18 years do not go to the same court as adults. Instead, their cases are handled by the juvenile court. The only exception to this is when a juvenile commits such a serious crime that a special hearing is held to determine if it should go to the adult court. (This is a hearing under welfare and institutions code section 707) Some gang cases that involve murder or attempted murder fall into this category and sometimes children as young as 15 are tried as adults on these very serious charges.

Bellflower Juvenile Attorney Will Bruzzo has successfully represented many juveniles in juvenile proceedings. Juvenile cases are different from adult cases in that the purpose of juvenile court is to rehabilitate the juvenile, as opposed to adult court where the goal is generally simply to punish.

Bellflower Juvenile Attorney Will Bruzzo has managed to avoid court proceedings altogether for some juvenile clients by handling the case informally under Welfare and Institutions Code Section 654. This section usually applies only to minor crimes like petty theft or marijuana possession. Notably, even if the matter goes to court many of the cases can be dismissed after a short period of time under the Deferred Entry of Judgment (DEJ) program pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code Section 790. Mr. Bruzzo has managed to get many juvenile cases dismissed under W & I Code Section 790. Contact the Law Offices of William W. Bruzzo for any juvenile matter at (714) 547-4636.