What is the youngest age to go to prison?
Every state has different laws concerning how old someone must be before they are considered mature enough to be put in jail. However, most states won’t arrest anyone under the age of 8 years old.
Is 17 years old a juvenile?
In all 31 states, a minor is referred to as someone under the age of 18. Minors aged 16 or 17 who are charged with crimes could sometimes be treated as an adult.
Can juveniles go to prison?
Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW) s 19 provides for young people up to 21 years to serve their sentence at a detention centre. For other young offenders, the Juvenile Justice Act 1992 (NT) s 53 provides that they can continue to be in a detention centre after age 17, but not past the age of 18.
Can a 13 year old go to prison?
But when a young child is accused of a crime, these legal protections vanish, allowing kids under 14 to be prosecuted in adult court and sentenced to adult prison, even for life. Some states allow children to be prosecuted as adults at 10, 12, or 13 years old. Children as young as eight have been prosecuted as adults.
Can you go to prison at 14?
Yes, it is possible for a 15 year old child to be put into jail. Young people under the age of 21 would be placed in a young offenders institute and not an adult prison. If the police suspect a young person of committing a crime and they’re over the age of 10 (or 12 in Scotland), they can arrest them.
What’s the difference between juvie and jail?
Most of these youth are held in facilities that only hold people 17 or younger, but some are held in facilities that hold both adults and youth. Jails are adult facilities operated by local authorities. They generally hold adults who are detained pretrial or who have been convicted of low-level offenses.
Can a 6 year old go to juvie?
California is the only state requiring minors to be at least 12 years old before sending them to juvenile court. Three states have set the age requirement for juvenile court at six years old. Texas has no age requirement for juvenile court.