Juvenile Justice
Juvenile Justice tests North Carolina's juvenile jurisdiction, custody, interrogation, and confidentiality rules, including the post-2019 Raise the Age framework that troopers must apply to 16- and 17-year-olds.
Jurisdiction
Since Dec. 1, 2019, NC juvenile court has jurisdiction over 16- and 17-year-olds charged with misdemeanors and Class H or I felonies. Exceptions: traffic and motor vehicle offenses remain in adult court, and Class A–G felonies remain adult criminal cases. Juvenile court adjudicates delinquency, not a criminal conviction; there is no jury trial, and records are confidential. A trooper must identify the alleged offense class before deciding whether to use juvenile custody procedures.
Custody and questioning
A juvenile in custody has Miranda rights plus NC juvenile protections, including the right to have a parent or guardian present during custodial interrogation under G.S. 7B-2101. Notify the parent or guardian promptly and document efforts. Do not use adult booking or jail detention for a juvenile held in secure custody; follow juvenile detention and transport rules. Fingerprinting and photographing are restricted.
Worked example: A trooper stops a 17-year-old suspected of a Class H felony. The trooper confirms the offense class, takes the juvenile into custody under juvenile procedures, notifies the parent, and avoids interrogation until the juvenile's rights and parent-presence issues are addressed. Reasoning: Class H is within juvenile jurisdiction; a Class A–G felony or a traffic offense would be handled differently. The parent-notification and interrogation rules are separate from the adult arrest sequence.
Traps: assuming every 16- or 17-year-old is an adult; forgetting the traffic exception; questioning a juvenile without addressing parent/guardian presence; using adult jail booking; treating a delinquency adjudication as a criminal conviction; releasing a juvenile to an unauthorized adult.