A. The juvenile court has original jurisdiction over all delinquency proceedings brought under the authority of this title.

Ask a criminal law question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a criminal defense lawyer and protect your rights.

B. The juvenile court has exclusive original jurisdiction over all proceedings brought under the authority of this title except for delinquency proceedings.

C. The juvenile court may consolidate any matter, except that the juvenile court shall not consolidate any of the following:

1. A criminal proceeding that is filed in another division of superior court and that involves a child who is subject to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court.

2. A delinquency proceeding with any other proceeding that does not involve delinquency, unless the juvenile delinquency adjudication proceeding is not heard at the same time or in the same hearing as a nondelinquency proceeding.

D. The juvenile court has jurisdiction of proceedings to:

1. Obtain judicial consent to the marriage, employment or enlistment in the armed services of a child, if consent is required by law.

2. In an action in which parental rights are terminated pursuant to chapter 4, article 5 or 11 of this title, change the name of a minor child who is the subject of the action. If the minor child who is the subject of the action is twelve years of age or older, the court shall consider the wishes of the child with respect to the name change.

E. The juvenile court has jurisdiction over civil traffic violations, civil marijuana violations and offenses listed in section 8-323, subsection B that are committed within the county by persons who are under eighteen years of age unless the presiding judge of the county declines jurisdiction of these cases. The presiding judge of the county may decline jurisdiction of civil traffic violations and civil marijuana violations committed within the county by juveniles if the presiding judge finds that the declination would promote the more efficient use of limited judicial and law enforcement resources located within the county. If the presiding judge declines jurisdiction, juvenile civil traffic violations and civil marijuana violations shall be processed, heard and disposed of in the same manner and with the same penalties as adult civil traffic violations.

F. The orders of the juvenile court under the authority of this chapter or chapter 3 or 4 of this title take precedence over any order of any other court of this state except for the following:

1. An order entered in the criminal court concerning an ongoing case that governs a criminal defendant‘s ability to contact the victim, the family of the victim or other minor children if the criminal court makes a finding that contact with other minor children would pose a risk of harm to those children.

2. An order by the court of appeals and the supreme court to the extent they are inconsistent with orders of other courts.

G. Except as provided in subsection H of this section, jurisdiction of a child that is obtained by the juvenile court in a proceeding under this chapter or chapter 3 or 4 of this title shall be retained by it, for the purposes of implementing the orders made and filed in that proceeding, until the child becomes eighteen years of age, unless terminated by order of the court before the child’s eighteenth birthday.

H. At any time before an adjudication hearing or a proceeding in which a juvenile is admitting to an allegation in a petition that alleges the juvenile is delinquent, the state may file a notice of intent to retain jurisdiction over a juvenile who is seventeen years of age. If the state files a notice of intent to retain jurisdiction, the juvenile court’s jurisdiction over a juvenile is retained on the filing of the notice and the court shall retain jurisdiction over the juvenile until the juvenile reaches nineteen years of age, unless before the juvenile’s nineteenth birthday either:

1. Jurisdiction is terminated by order of the court.

2. The juvenile is discharged from the jurisdiction of the department of juvenile corrections pursuant to section 41-2820.

I. Persons who are under eighteen years of age shall be prosecuted in the same manner as adults if either:

1. The juvenile court transfers jurisdiction pursuant to section 8-327.

2. The juvenile is charged as an adult with an offense listed in section 13-501.

J. The juvenile court shall retain jurisdiction after a juvenile’s eighteenth birthday for the purpose of:

1. Designating an undesignated felony offense as a misdemeanor or felony, including after an adjudication is set aside pursuant to section 8-348.

2. Modifying an outstanding monetary obligation imposed by the court except for victim restitution.

3. Implementing section 36-2862.

K. The juvenile court has jurisdiction to make the initial determination prescribed in section 8-829 whether the voluntary participation of a qualified young adult in an extended foster care program pursuant to Section 8-521.02 is in the young adult’s best interests.