In re J.G.

J.G. was sixteen years old when he participated in the robbery from which his case originates. Contrary to Texas law, J.G. was transferred to adult court without an individualized judicial determination that the welfare of the community required adult criminal proceedings in his case. His transfer decision was later reversed by the court of appeals. However, once back in juvenile court, J.G. was subjected to a different and more expansive discretionary transfer standard simply because he had turned 18 during the pendency of his appeal. Although, J.G. had successfully argued that he had been wrongfully denied an individualized determination of his amenability to treatment in the juvenile court, he was again denied that determination because the more expansive transfer standard that he had aged into, does not required such a determination.

Juvenile Law Center filed an amicus brief in the Texas Supreme Court in support of J.G. Our brief argued that Texas’s waiver of jurisdiction standard violates: (1) a juvenile’s right to appellate review, (2) due process by denying certain juvenile offenders the right to an individualized determination of amenability to treatment in juvenile court, and (3) equal protection by arbitrarily depriving certain juvenile offenders of the benefits and protections of the juvenile court.

The Texas Supreme Court denied J.G.’s Petition for Review.