Juvenile Courts are responsible for handling Court related matters for individuals under the age of 18. The three types of hearings this Court processes are: Dependency cases, Delinquency (felony and misdemeanor) cases, and Juvenile Traffic matters. Juvenile Dependency matters are handled at the main Courthouse in Department 15 and the Clerks that process these cases are located in the Family Law/Probate Division at 1100 I Street. All other Juvenile matters are handled in Departments 17 and 18 at 2215 Blue Gum Avenue and the Clerks that process these cases are located there in Room 15.
Most juvenile proceedings are confidential matters and are inaccessible to anyone other than the parties involved in the case. A juvenile record is not sealed automatically upon reaching the age of eighteen. To have a juvenile record sealed, an individual at age 18 may petition the Court through the Juvenile Probation Department requesting that their juvenile record be sealed. Juvenile records are retained by the Court for approximately 25 years after a minor reaches age 18. An individual may petition the Court for a copy of their Juvenile Court record at any time during that 25 year retention period.
The statutory law that governs Juvenile matters are covered in sections 300 (Dependency) and 602 (Delinquency) of the Welfare and Institution Codes.
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