Trial by jury.?

Question

Someone told me that a juvenile can not be tried by a jury. Is this true? If not what is the procedure for a juvenile trial by jury.

Answer 1

Juveniles are tried in family court, if tried as juveniles. There is no jury in those courts, but only a judge that makes the decisions. Lawyers plead their cases, and they make the pleadings to the judge as opposed to 12 jurors.

The reason for this is confidentiality. The juvenile court records are sealed when they turn 18. If there were jurors, they couldn't guarantee the "second chance" that is supposed to be given to a juvenile when they turn 18.

The only way that a juvenile gets a jury trial is if they are tried as an adult.

Answer 2

It would probably depend on the state and the charge. In Georgia juveniles do not have a right to trial by jury. THe only exception is if the juvenile is charged as an adult for certain crimes.

Answer 3

The only logical answer I could think of would be how could they be tried by a jury of their peers. That is why when a juvenile is up on adult crimes the Judge has to make the ruling that the kid will be tried as an adult to be tried by a jury of their peers.

God, could you imagine a jury box full of teenagers. I shudder to think about it.

Answer 4

Certainly Generally juvenile crimes are handled by a judge.
However, for sufficiently grim crimes, a child can be treated
as an adult and have a full jury trial.

Answer 5

I see no exclusion pertaining to minors in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.

The 6th amendment has no age limitations:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

The 7th amendment has no age limitations:

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

The 9th amendment shows that not ALL Rights have been enumerated. (including the Rights of minors)

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

And the 10th amendment shows that, worst case scenario, this would be left to the States to decide.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Answer 6

Ok, alot of this will depend on the state, in GA for example unless they are tried in adult court, they are in family court, and are not considered criminals and are not being "tried" but are having a hearing to determine if they are delinquent or not.
Often even if they are found not actually guilty of the crime, the court still looks into thier family and home life to see if there are problems.

juvenile court is not interested ( by the idea maybe not by how it actually works in many today but by the way it was set up)
in finding them guilty, but in being sure that if they are guilty they find "help" ( don't laugh) and even if not guilty but only associated, they can still be held by the court if they find issues in the childs life style even.

The rules of evidence are different, issues not related to the crime is considered including school grades, friends they hang with, past crimes, opinions of school teachers and principal and so many things not allowed into adult court.

Answer 7

i think that is why for some crimes of teens they decide to try them as adults