When your minor child (under 18) is arrested in California and held in custody, the first hearing they will have is a detention hearing. The purpose of the hearing is to determine whether or not your child needs to stay in juvenile hall pending the outcome of the case.

Juvenile defendants do not have a right to bail like adults do in criminal court. Therefore, it is crucial for your child to have experienced counsel making a persuasive case for release during your child’s detention hearing.

In this article, our California juvenile defense attorneys address the following:

• 1. What is a detention hearing?
• 2. When does my child have to stay in custody?
• 3. When do detention hearings occur?
• 4. Do I get notified about my child’s detention hearing?
• 5. What happens if my child has to stay in custody?
• Additional reading
• Additional resources

1. What is a detention hearing?

If your minor child is arrested in California and held in custody, the juvenile court will hold a detention hearing to decide whether to keep them in custody pending the outcome of their case. Your child cannot simply “bail out” like an adult can in criminal court.

Even if your child has been released on “home supervision,” they are considered to be “in custody” and are entitled to a detention hearing.¹

Note that in Los Angeles County, prosecutors have been instructed not to seek incarceration unless necessary. The goal is to keep youths out of the juvenile justice system by diverting them to community programs to help them.²

The arraignment

At the detention hearing, your child will also get arraigned. This means the judge will inform your child of the charges being lodged against them in the petition.³

The judge also will inform your child that they have the:

• right to counsel,
• right against self-incrimination,
• right to confront and cross-examine witnesses,
• right to subpoena witnesses, and
• right to present evidence.⁴

Finally, your child will do the following:

• admit the allegation (the juvenile equivalent of pleading guilty)
• deny the allegation (the juvenile equivalent of pleading not guilty)
• not contest the allegation (the juvenile equivalent of pleading no contest)
• deny the allegation by reason of insanity (the juvenile equivalent of pleading “not guilty by reason of insanity”)

Note that if your child was arrested and quickly released (which happens in most minor cases), then there is no “detention” issue. Therefore, their first court hearing is just an arraignment.

2. When does my child have to stay in custody?

At the detention hearing, the juvenile court judge will decide to keep your child in custody if the prosecutor produces sufficient evidence (“makes a prima facie case”) that your child committed a crime, AND either:

• your child violated a juvenile court, or
• your child escaped from the commitment of the juvenile court, or
• your child is a flight risk, or
• it is a matter of immediate and urgent necessity for the protection of your child that they be detained, or
• it is reasonably necessary for the protection of the person or property of another that your child be detained.⁵

In order to help make the decision, the judge will ask for input from:

• the district attorney,
• the probation officer,
• your child,
• us (your child’s counsel),
• and you (parents or guardians).

In some cases, judges may release your child with conditions such as wearing a GPS electronic monitoring anklet. If your child violates any of these conditions, the judge could then remand them into custody during the pendency of the case.

Re-hearings

If your child loses the detention hearing, we can ask for a re-hearing on the grounds the judge considered questionable evidence.

For example, if the judge made a decision based on an incident report – but the police officer who wrote the report did not testify – then the judge could order the officer to come back, testify in person, and submit to our cross-examination.

Detention hearing re-hearings also go by the names:

• Dennis H. hearings,
• contested detention hearings, and
• prima facie hearings.⁶

3. When do detention hearings occur?

If your child is in custody in California for a non-serious and non-violent misdemeanor matter, their detention hearing must take place within 48 hours of them being taken into custody.  This does not include weekends or holidays.

If your child is in custody for a felony or a misdemeanor involving violence, their detention hearing must take place within 72 hours of them being taken into custody.⁷ (However, the district attorney must file the petition within 48 hours of them being taken into custody.)

If your child requests a re-hearing, it must take place within three court days (or if a witness is unavailable, within five court days) of the initial detention hearing.⁸

Note that prior to the detention hearing, your child (or us as their attorney) will receive a copy of the petition and incident report to look over.

4. Do I get notified about my child’s detention hearing?

Yes. You as the parent must be informed of the time and place of your child’s detention hearing in California.

If you do not receive actual notice of the hearing, you can request that another detention hearing be held within 24 hours so you can be present.⁹

5. What happens if my child has to stay in custody?

If the judge determines at the detention hearing to keep your child in custody, they will remain at juvenile hall until their next court date.

Your child is entitled to a jurisdiction hearing (which is the name for “trial” in juvenile court) within 15 days.

Our related articles discuss the various juvenile halls and how to visit your child while detained at:

• Barry Nidorf / Sylmar Juvenile Hall
• Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall & Court in Downey
• San Bernardino Central Juvenile Hall
• Orange County Juvenile Hall
• Ventura County Juvenile Hall Facility & Justice Center

Additional reading

You might also be interested in reading our related California juvenile justice articles:

• Transfer hearings – These hearings determine whether your child will remain in juvenile court or get prosecuted in criminal court.
• Adjudication hearings/jurisdiction hearings – These are the juvenile justice court version of bench trials (there are no jury trials in juvenile court).
• Disposition hearings – These are the juvenile justice court version of sentencing hearings.
• Juvenile court process – A step-by-step guide to what happens once your child gets detained for illegal behavior.
• Sealing juvenile records – The process for getting juvenile records sealed, which can greatly increase your education and employment prospects.
• Juvenile “strike” offenses – An explanation of which serious juvenile crimes qualify as “strike” offenses under California’s Three Strikes Law.

Additional resources

You can find help and guidance at the following:

• Center of Juvenile and Criminal Justice – A nonprofit with the mission of reducing society’s reliance on incarceration as a solution to social problems.
• Ella Baker Center Books Not Bars Campaign – An organization that works to shift resources from punishment and towards rehabilitation.
• Youth Law Center – Advocates working to transform foster care and juvenile justice systems.
• Juvenile Law Center – Nonprofit, public interest law firm working to lessen the harm of the child welfare and justice systems.

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