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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
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    1

    Default Can You be Criminally Charged as an Adult for Something You Did When You Were 16

    My question involves juvenile law in the State of: Missouri. My granddtr is 17 now. She had a child at 16. She comes from bad parents and now her 2 younger sisters have been put in state custody. Granddtr is living with a boyfriend's family, with her child. She receives no support from anywhere. While she was 16, a girl was hitting her youngest sister and granddtr stepped in and hit the girl. When the police arrived, they pulled her off the girl. A year later the PA is filing Class A misdemeanor charges for Assault. They have told her that she will be charged as an adult because she has a child and that automatically made her an adult. She only has an 8th grade education. Is she automatically considered an adult because she had a child?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
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    Default Re: When Can a 17-Year-Old be Criminally Charged as an Adult

    Her having a child did not make her an adult. If she's being charged as an adult for a crime she committed when she was sixteen, it would be based upon her being waived from juvenile court to adult court -- that's something that normally only happens for a very serious crime, or when the juvenile has a lengthy criminal record. Missouri seems to focus on the crime charged. See RSMo Sec. 211.071.1.
    Quote Quoting RSMo Sec. 211.071.1(1)
    If a petition alleges that a child between the ages of twelve and seventeen has committed an offense which would be considered a felony if committed by an adult, the court may, upon its own motion or upon motion by the juvenile officer, the child or the child's custodian, order a hearing and may, in its discretion, dismiss the petition and such child may be transferred to the court of general jurisdiction and prosecuted under the general law; except that if a petition alleges that any child has committed an offense which would be considered first degree murder under section 565.020, second degree murder under section 565.021, first degree assault under section 565.050, forcible rape under section 566.030 as it existed prior to August 28, 2013, rape in the first degree under section 566.030, forcible sodomy under section 566.060 as it existed prior to August 28, 2013, sodomy in the first degree under section 566.060, first degree robbery under section 570.023*, or distribution of drugs under section 579.055*, or has committed two or more prior unrelated offenses which would be felonies if committed by an adult, the court shall order a hearing, and may in its discretion, dismiss the petition and transfer the child to a court of general jurisdiction for prosecution under the general law.
    If this is a felony charge f or first degree assault, that would be the likely reason for the adult charge.

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