Juvenile court blended sentencing offense and minimum age criteria, 2016

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Serving Children, Families, and Communities

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Juveniles Tried as Adults

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Q:	How do juvenile court blended sentencing provisions vary by state?
A:	As with transfer laws, state's juvenile court blended sentencing provisions are limited by age and offense criteria.

Juvenile court blended sentencing offense and minimum age criteria, 2016

State	Minimum age	Any criminal offense	Certain felonies	Capital crimes	Murder	Certain person offenses	Certain property offenses	Certain drug offenses	Certain weapon offenses
Alaska	16					16
Arkansas	NS		13	NS	NS	13			14
Colorado	NS		NS			NS
Connecticut	NS		NS			NS
Illinois	13		13
Indiana	10				10
Kansas	NS	NS
Massachusetts	14		14			14			14
Michigan	NS	NS	NS		NS	NS	NS	NS
Minnesota	14		14
Montana	NS		12		NS	NS	NS	NS	NS
New Mexico	14		14		14	14	14
Ohio	10		10		10
Rhode Island	NS		NS
Texas	NS		NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS

Note: Ages in the minimum age column may not apply to all offense restrictions, but represent the youngest possible age at which a juvenile may be eligible for blended sentencing. "NS" indicates that no minimum age is specified.

Juvenile blended sentences mitigate what happens to young offenders in that the juvenile court judge retains jurisdiction while imposing sanctions typically under the purview of the (adult) criminal court. States provide for this kind of sentencing as an alternative to trying and sentencing a juvenile as an adult in criminal court.
Juvenile blended sentencing differs from an extended juvenile disposition when the juvenile court judge retains jurisdiction over the juvenile while an adult criminal sanction is imposed.
In most states with these provisions, the juvenile court judge may order a juvenile disposition and an (adult) criminal sentence that is suspended pending successful completion of the juvenile sanction. The judge must usually find that the juvenile is “not amenable” to juvenile rehabilitation or has violated terms of the juvenile sanction before a course of adult incarceration is imposed.
Some states require a "redetermination" hearing at the age the person can no longer reside in a juvenile correctional facility or the state’s age of majority (usually age 18 or 21) so the juvenile court judge can rule on whether the adult portion of the sentence is still required.
Before imposing a blended sentence, some states require a legal status determination with labels such as "extended jurisdiction juvenile" or "youthful offender" to refer to differential juvenile or adult status. These labels can be confusing when comparing states, because the same terms are used in juvenile or adult (criminal) court, depending on the state. These prosecutorial or offender categories generally afford minors differential sentencing, adult protections of criminal due process, and juvenile protections, such as criminal record expungement.
Juvenile blended sentence provisions do not include when juvenile or adult reclassification or release decisions are made by an executive agency without further judicial approval.
As of the end of the 2016 legislative session, 15 states had blended sentencing laws that enable juvenile courts to impose criminal sanctions on certain juveniles.

Internet citation: OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book. Online. Available: https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/structure_process/qa04113.asp?qaDate=2016. Released on March 27, 2018.