Juvenile

The OPDA’s Juvenile Division performs multiple functions from its base at the New Orleans Juvenile Justice Center at 1100-B Milton Street.

The delinquency division represents the interests of crime victims and the state in criminal proceedings against juvenile offenders aged 17 or younger.

In many cases, youth offenders are accepted into the OPDA’s Juvenile Diversion program, where they are given the tools and opportunity to reform their behavior under supervision before a criminal record is imposed. Others, by virtue of the seriousness of their offenses or their status as a repeat offender, have their cases adjudicated in the Juvenile Court system, where consequences can include detention up to the defendant’s 21^st birthday.

Only in some instances of the most violent offenses – homicides, rapes and armed robberies – does the district attorney’s office seek to transfer, in accordance with state law and judicial approval, a juvenile offender’s case to be prosecuted in the adult system at Criminal District Court. Out of 1,999 juvenile delinquency cases processed in 2015-17, only 47 were transferred to adult court (18 in 2015, 21 in 2016, 8 in 2017).

In 2018, the OPDA reviewed 1,676 juvenile cases, bringing charges in 904 and transferring 35 to adult court. As of February 2019, 434 of those cases resulted in a juvenile conviction or guilty plea, while 299 had been routed to the Diversion Division for alternative outcomes to incarceration and possible dismissal of charges.

More information on the process of criminal prosecutions in juvenile court is available here.

The dependency division represents the interests of juvenile victims of neglect and abuse in child protection proceedings brought before the juvenile court. More information on the process of child protection and dependency proceedings is available here.

The Orleans Parish juvenile court operates weekdays from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m., excluding court holidays.

ORLEANS PARISH JUVENILE COURT
1100-B Milton St.
New Orleans, LA 70122
(504) 658-9500