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DIVISION 2. CHILDREN 100-1500›PART 1. DELINQUENTS AND WARDS OF THE JUVENILE COURT 100-1459›CHAPTER 2. Juvenile Court Law 200-987›ARTICLE 14. Wards—Jurisdiction 601-608

§ 602

California Welfare and Institutions Code · 2020-11 edition · updated 2026-10-04 · California

(a) Except as provided in Section 707, any minor who is between 12 years of age and 17 years of age, inclusive, when he or she violates any law of this state or of the United States or any ordinance of any city or county of this state defining crime other than an ordinance establishing a curfew based solely on age, is within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge the minor to be a ward of the court.

(b) Any minor who is under 12 years of age when he or she is alleged to have committed any of the following offenses is within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge the minor to be a ward of the court:

(1) Murder.

(2) Rape by force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury.

(3) Sodomy by force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury.

(4) Oral copulation by force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury.

(5) Sexual penetration by force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury.

(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 1006, Sec. 2. (SB 439) Effective January 1, 2019. Note: This section was amended November 8, 2016, by initiative Proposition 57.)

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