Criminal Defense Lawyers

New York Juvenile Court Process Explained

The judge is not the first person who decides your child’s fate. That’s the thing nobody tells you. Everyone assumes the courtroom is where decisions get made, where justice happens, where your kid either walks free or faces consequences. But by the time your child stands in front of a Family Court judge, the most important decisions have already been made by a probation officer you’ve never met, during an interview you probably didn’t realize was so critical.

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. Our goal is to give you the real information about New York’s juvenile court process – not the sanitized version that makes parents feel comfortable. The system is designed to “rehabilitate” your child, but the process itself can cause more damage than any sentence ever could. We put this information on our website because most parents have no idea how any of this actually works until they’re living through it.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: a child who refuses to plead guilty to something they didn’t do can sit in detention for years. A child who admits to something they didn’t do goes home. Kalief Browder was sixteen years old when he was accused of stealing a backpack. He maintained his innocence. He spent over 1,000 days at Rikers Island waiting for a trial that never happened – including 700 days in solitary confinement. The charges were eventually dismissed. Two years later, he killed himself. That’s what “innocent until proven guilty” actually looks like in New York’s juvenile system.

The Judge Doesn’t Decide First – The Probation Officer Does

Heres the part that shocks every parent. When your child is arrested and the case gets referred to Family Court, the first stop isnt a courtroom. Its a probation office. A probation officer conducts whats called an “intake” – and this stranger has more power over your childs immediate future then the judge does at this stage.

The probation officer interviews your child. They interview you. They interview the arresting officer. And heres the kicker – they also interview the alleged victim and the victims family. All of this happens before anyone decides wheather your child even goes to court. The probation officer takes all this information and makes a decision: should this case be “adjusted” (meaning resolved without court involvement) or referred for prosecution?

Think about that for a second. If the other kids parents are angry and want blood, that factors into wheather your child gets diverted or prosecuted. If your child says the wrong thing during this interview – without a lawyer present – that becomes part of the record. The probation officer isnt your friend. There not there to help your child. There there to make an assesment that will follow your child through the entire process.

The probation department also uses something called the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory in New York City – its basicly an algorithm that scores your child based on risk factors. Family history. School performance. Prior contacts with the system. Mental health issues. All of this gets fed into the assesment. A bureaucratic scoring system influences wheather your child gets a second chance or gets prosecuted. Most parents have never heard of this instrument. Most parents dont know there childs entire history is being evaluated by a checklist designed to predict future behavior.

What Police Don’t Tell You About Your Child’s Rights

Police officers have a line they use on parents constantly. “Dont worry, a lawyer will be assigned when you get to court.” This is technicaly true. Its also completly misleading. By the time your child gets to court and a lawyer is assigned, the damage is already done.

Heres what nobody explains: police can legaly question your child without a lawyer present if you – the parent – are there and consent. Most parents dont know they can refuse. Most parents think cooperating with police will help there child. Most parents are wrong. Your child, just like an adult, has the right to remain silent. Your child has the right to an attorney before answering any questions. But the police arnt going to volunteer that information in a way that actualy protects your kid.

Todd Spodek has handled hundreds of juvenile cases, and he says the same thing to every parent: the interrogation room is where cases are won or lost. Not the courtroom. If your child confesses during police questioning – even to something they didnt do, even if they were scared or confused – that confession becomes evidence. And children confess to things they didnt do at alarming rates. There developing brains arnt equiped to handle the pressure of an interrogation. They want to please adults. They want to go home. They’ll say whatever they think will make this stop.

The science on this is clear and terrifying. Studies show that juveniles are two to three times more likely then adults to make false confessions. There brains literaly arnt finished developing – the prefrontal cortex, which handles decision-making and understanding long-term consequences, dosent fully mature untill the mid-twenties. So when a detective says “just tell us what happened and you can go home,” your child hears a way out. They dont hear “this statement will be used against you in court for the next three years.” They dont understand that going home tonight might mean going to placement for the next eighteen months.

And heres the part that makes parents furious when they learn it later: the police knew all of this. There trained in interrogation techniques. There trained to get confessions. Your child is not trained in anything except wanting this scary situation to end.

The Kalief Browder Reality – What Pretrial Detention Actually Looks Like

Kalief Browder’s name should be required reading for every parent in New York. In 2010, this sixteen-year-old from the Bronx was accused of stealing a backpack. The accusers story changed multiple times. The evidence was questionable at best. But Browder was booked into Rikers Island with bail set at $3,000 – more then his family could afford.

So he waited. And waited. And waited.

Over three years. Thirty-one court appearances before eight diffrent judges. More then 1,000 days in one of the most violent jails in America. 700 of those days in solitary confinement. As a teenager. Becuase he refused to plead guilty to something he insisted he didnt do.

The system punishes innocence. Let that sink in. If Browder had just admitted to stealing that backpack – wheather he did it or not – he would of gone home. Becuase he maintained his innocence, he was held in conditions that a federal investigation later found violated constitutional rights. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara issued a report finding that more then 40% of teenage inmates at Rikers were subjected to use of force by guards. These kids required emergency medical assistance over 450 times in a single year.

Browders case was eventualy dismissed. He earned his GED. He started community college. And in 2015, after multiple suicide attempts and psychiatric hospitalizations, he hanged himself. He was twenty-two years old. His family settled with New York City for $3.3 million – money that cant bring back there son, money that represents the citys acknowledgment that the system destroyed him.

How Your Child Gets “Adjusted” Out of the System – Or Doesn’t

OK so heres were things get technicaly complicated but incredibly important. “Adjustment” is basicly the systems way of resolving cases without formal court proceedings. If your child is eligible and the probation officer approves, the case gets handled through supervision and conditions rather then prosecution.

The adjustment period lasts up to 60 days, sometimes extending to four months. Your child follows certain rules – maybe curfew, maybe community service, maybe counseling. If they complete everything, the case ends. No court. No adjudication. No record of any kind. This is the best possible outcome for most juvenile cases.

But heres the thing – the probation officer decides. Not you. Not your lawyer. Not a judge. The probation officer interviews everyone involved and makes the call. If the victim or the victims family is pushing for prosecution, that weighs heavily. If your childs school records show problems, that weighs heavily. If your family situation looks “unstable” – and probation officers have alot of discretion in defining that – your child is more likely to be referred for prosecution.

At Spodek Law Group, we get involved before this intake happens whenever possible. Having an attorney present during the probation intake dosent guarantee adjustment, but it dramatically changes how your childs case is presented. Its the diffrence between your scared teenager trying to explain themselves and a professional advocate framing the situation in the most favorable light possible.

Theres also something called designated felony acts – serious offenses like murder, certain sexual offenses, and violent felonies. For these cases, the law says no case “may be adjusted at intake unless prior written approval is given by a judge of the family court.” So if your child is accused of something serious, the probation officer dosent even have the authority to divert them. It goes straight to prosecution. This is another reason early legal involvement matters – understanding what category your childs case falls into determines what options even exist.

The Racial Reality Nobody Wants to Discuss

Heres an uncomfortable truth the system dosent advertise. According to New York State data, Black youth referrals to court increased 41% compared to 2022. Black youth placed in secure confinement increased 77% in a single year. Seventy-seven percent. Read that again.

The juvenile justice system is not colorblind. Its not even close. Latino youth represent 25% of New Yorks juvenile population and account for 25% of court referrals – which sounds proportional untill you look at what happens after. The deeper into the system you go, the more the racial disparities widen. Who gets adjusted out and who gets prosecuted. Who gets detained pretrial and who goes home. Who ends up in placement and who gets probation.

This isnt about politics. This is about understanding that if your child is Black or Latino, the stakes are statistically higher. The system that claims to be focused on “rehabilitation” and “the best interests of the child” produces dramatically diffrent outcomes based on race. Thats the data. Thats the reality. Parents need to know this going in.

What does this mean practicaly? It means if your child is a person of color, you need to be even more vigilant about legal representation from the very first moment. It means understanding that implicit bias exists at every decision point – from the arresting officer to the probation intake to the judges ruling. It means not assuming the system will give your child the benefit of the doubt, becuase statisticaly it dosent. None of this should be true in a fair system. But were not talking about a fair system. Were talking about the system that actualy exists.

No Bail Doesn’t Mean Freedom – It Means No Price Tag on Release

Parents hear “theres no bail in juvenile cases” and think thats good news. It isnt. In adult criminal court, bail means you can pay a specific amount and your loved one comes home. You know the number. You can try to raise it. Its a concrete obstacle with a concrete solution.

In Family Court, theres no bail. Which means theres no dollar amount that buys your childs release. The judge has complete discretion to detain your child “for there own good” or “for community safety” – and theres nothing you can pay to change that. Your child can be held in detention for months while awaiting a fact-finding hearing, and you have no financial recourse to get them out.

The law says fact-finding hearings must begin within 14 days if the child is detained on a serious felony. 14 days might not sound long – untill you realize thats just when the hearing must START, not end. The actual process can drag on for weeks or months. And during that entire time, your child sits in a detention facility. Missing school. Separated from family. Exposed to whatever happens inside those walls.

Todd Spodek always tells parents the same thing: detention is the enemy. Even if your child is eventualy found not responsible for the alleged act, the damage from weeks or months of detention doesnt dissapear. The psychological impact, the educational disruption, the trauma – none of that gets erased by a favorable outcome.

The Fact-Finding Hearing – Trial Without a Jury

If your childs case isnt adjusted and it goes to court, the next major event is called a “fact-finding hearing.” This is basicly a trial, but with one critical diffrence: theres no jury. A single Family Court judge hears all the evidence and decides wheather your child committed the alleged act.

Think about what that means. In adult criminal court, twelve citizens have to unanimously agree that someone is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. In juvenile court, one judge makes that determination alone. One persons assessment of the evidence. One persons interpretation of credibility. One persons decision about your childs future.

The fact-finding hearing follows many of the same rules as a criminal trial. The prosecution has to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Your child has the right to an attorney. Witnesses can be called and cross-examined. Evidence must be properly obtained or it can be suppressed. But the stakes feel diffrent when your childs fate rests entirely in the hands of a single judge who may be handling dozens of similar cases that same week.

If the judge finds that your child committed the alleged act, your child is “adjudicated” a juvenile delinquent. This is the juvenile equivalent of a guilty verdict. Then comes the dispositional hearing – essentially sentencing – where the judge decides what happens next. Probation. Placement in a residential facility. Community service. Mental health treatment. The options range from minimal supervision to years away from home.

What Happens After – The Damage That Follows Your Child Home

Lets talk about what the system dosent track. The cascade of consequences that follow your child even when the case “resolves.”

Your child gets questioned by police. You were present but no lawyer was. Your child, scared and wanting to go home, says something incriminating. That statement becomes evidence. The case goes to court instead of being adjusted. Your child is detained while waiting for the fact-finding hearing. They miss months of school. They fall behind academicaly. When they finaly get out – wheather adjudicated delinquent or not – they have to reintegrate into a school that moved on without them. Classmates know where they were. Teachers treat them diffrent. The likelihood of future system involvement goes up, not down.

This is what “rehabilitation” looks like in practice. A system designed to help children ends up creating conditions that make future problems more likely.

At Spodek Law Group, weve seen this pattern play out hundreds of times. The kids who do best arnt necesarily the ones with the strongest cases – there the ones who had attorneys involved from the very begining, before statements were made, before the probation intake, before the system had a chance to build momentum. Thats why we tell every parent the same thing: call us before you talk to anyone else. Call us at 212-300-5196. The consultation is free. The mistake of waiting isnt.

Heres the final reality check. The New York juvenile court process is technicaly designed to protect children. No criminal records. Sealed proceedings. Focus on rehabilitation. But the system only works that way if you understand how to navigate it. If you dont have representation from the earliest possible moment, your child faces the full weight of a process that moves fast, makes decisions quietly, and dosent explain itself along the way.

The Raise the Age law that went into effect in 2018 and 2019 was supposed to make things better. Sixteen and seventeen year olds charged with misdemeanors now go to Family Court instead of adult criminal court. Many felony cases get transferred to Family Court after 30 days. Kids are no longer held at Rikers Island. These are real improvements. But the underlying problems remain. Detention center populations have exploded three to four times higher then when the law first took effect. Violence continues in the facilities that replaced Rikers. The system absorbed more young people without necesarily helping them more.

Every year, thousands of New York families go through this process. Most of them didnt see it coming. Most of them dont understand what there facing untill there already deep into it. We put this information on our website becuase knowledge is the first line of defense. Understanding how the system actualy works – not how its supposed to work, but how it actualy operates in practice – gives you the ability to make informed decisions about your childs future.

Your child deserves better then what the system offers by default. Your child deserves someone fighting for them from the very first moment.