If your child has been charged with violating a law, you may be concerned your juvenile will go to jail or have a permanent criminal record. For most juvenile crimes, it is important to hire an attorney to help your child avoid serious repercussions.

Examples include a possible criminal record and lasting effects on educational, housing, and employment opportunities. Juvenile offenders can also be held in a secure detention facility, placed on probation, and charged as an adult for certain offenses.

Attorney Walter J. Benson will work every possible angle to get the best outcome for your child—one that minimizes the negative impact this experience will have on the rest of their life.

After being taken into custody, a juvenile will be released to the child’s parents or guardian, or they will be brought to a detention center if required. The child may not be held in custody for more than three or six hours, depending on the offense, before they are released or detained.

After the child has been taken into custody or arrested, a date for an adjudicatory hearing must be set within 72 hours. At this hearing, the court will determine if the juvenile has violated a law that would be an offense as an adult and if the juvenile must be held in a detention center.

Juvenile offenders do not have the same constitutional protections as adults, and they will not be allowed a jury at their hearing. They are permitted only to present their case to the judge. The juvenile is permitted to have an attorney and present evidence and witnesses in their defense. Following the adjudicatory hearing, the judge will hold a dispositional hearing to determine the appropriate sentence for the juvenile offender.

Akron Juvenile Defense Attorney

If a juvenile offender is convicted of the charges against them or violates the requirements of a juvenile diversion program, they will be sentenced at the dispositional hearing. The juvenile offender may be subject to:

· Placement on community control

· Performance of community service

· Suspension of their driver’s license

· Confinement in temporary or permanent custody

· Placement in a detention facility

· Participation in drug or alcohol treatment or counseling

· Participation in medical or psychological treatment or counseling

· Imprisonment if charged as an adult

· Placement on probation

· Placement on house arrest

· Requirement to obtain a high school diploma

· Payment of fines and costs of court

· Placement on curfew

· Drug and alcohol use monitoring

· Community service

Attorney Walter J. Benson will devise a defense strategy suited to the offense with which your child has been charged.

If your child has a juvenile conviction, there are opportunities to keep it from leaving a permanent mark on the child’s life.

Many juvenile records can be sealed if the juvenile’s case was resolved before the filing of a complaint, they have completed a diversion program, or their case was dismissed. A juvenile’s record may also be sealed if they apply for a sealing two years after the final disposition of the case. However, some juvenile violations are not permitted to be sealed.

Additionally, Juvenile records will be expunged five years after the court issues an order sealing the records or on the juvenile offender’s 23rd birthday. Additionally, a juvenile may apply to have their record expunged. In some cases, a juvenile may not be entitled to have their record expunged.