Juvenile Law Bulletin #2026/02
Delinquency Law: Original Juvenile Jurisdiction and Juvenile Jurisdiction Over Parents, Guardians, and Custodians
From the original founding of North Carolina’s juvenile court in 1919 until the implementation of the Raise the Age law in 2019, the law related to original juvenile jurisdiction was stagnant and simple. There was original juvenile jurisdiction over all offenses and acts of indirect contempt alleged to have been committed at ages 6 through 15. All offenses committed at ages 16 and 17 were under the original jurisdiction of the criminal court. Since 2019 this law has changed three times, both expanding and contracting original juvenile jurisdiction. The law related to juvenile jurisdiction over parents, guardians, and custodians of juvenile respondents in delinquency proceedings has remained constant during this evolution. This bulletin (1) describes the current law of original juvenile jurisdiction; (2) provides a guide to the law of original juvenile jurisdiction based on offense dates between 2019 and 2024; and (3) describes juvenile jurisdiction over parents, guardians, and custodians of juvenile respondents in delinquency proceedings.
