What Is The Arrest Process For A Juvenile In Travis County?

In Travis County, when a juvenile is being arrested, they are actually being detained. While an officer can get what would be the equivalent of an arrest warrant, called a directive to apprehend, they are not required to do so. Within 48 hours, there would need to be a detention hearing. They would not be taken to the Travis County adult jail; they would be taken to the Gardner Betts Criminal Justice Center and would be held there until the detention hearing. At the detention hearing, a judge would need to make a determination about whether or not the juvenile will be released.

It is essential if you are going to engage an attorney for a juvenile offense, to do so quickly. The attorney will be able to interview the juvenile and can do so before the detention hearing, asking them all types of questions and being able to then give the answers to the judge in order to make it more likely that the individual will be released. The judge is going to be concerned about all the stability factors because it’s not a criminal offense, it’s a juvenile offense, which is a combination of family law and criminal law.

The judge will be checking on factors like drug use and stability in the home, abuse, and school attendance. If the judge chooses not to allow that juvenile to be released, then there needs to be another detention hearing, 10 days later, to determine whether conditions have changed such that the juvenile may be released.

How Do Juvenile Courts Differ From Traditional Adult Courts In Austin, Texas?

The juvenile courts differ in that they don’t actually charge the individual with a criminal offense. It’s a blend of criminal and civil law and the court is going to be making different determinations than they would in a criminal court. In a criminal court, the question is whether or not a person is guilty of the offense. While that may be something that ultimately gets determined in a juvenile offense, it’s one of the last things that we are going to be dealing within the case.

Before that, we are going to be looking at factors like the juvenile’s relationship with their parents, their peer relations, whether or not they are associating with people who may cause them to engage in further delinquent behavior, whether or not they are able to comply with house arrest, whether or not they are complying with urinalysis, and their attendance in school. In juvenile court, it’s not just the juvenile who needs to show up for court. In every single setting, the parent will need to be there as well. If the prosecutors are not able to be satisfied that there is some sort of resolution that doesn’t require the defendant to be on juvenile probation, then we may get to the merits of the case and whether or not the individual or juvenile is guilty of the offense.

For more information on Juvenile Arrest Process In Travis County, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (512) 478-9898 today.