Can a person be charged for a crime they committed when they were a juvenile?

My brother was 15 when he stole and wrecked a car. He did two years probation. Now he is in trouble with the law and they are telling him they want to charge him for this crime he commited when he was fifteen. My brother is now thirty years old. Is this possible?

I believe it depends on the crime. Murder doesn't have a statute of limitations, so he could be charged for that no matter when it happened. Most other things, I think, do have a statute of limitations and most expire long before 15 years. Perhaps if someone had taken care of him when he was first in trouble with the law, he wouldn't be in trouble with it again.

You MIGHT have been given erroneous information...

The court CAN use "priors" to show a "history" of a defendant however, I believe someone is giving you some bad information about charging your brother, when as a juvenile, completed probation, as this is an "adjudicated" offense!

If your brother has gone out and stolen ANOTHER car...the first offense as a juvenile can be brought to the courts attention!

But, with over 30 years in law enforcement, I've never seen an "adjudicated" offense tried. That would be a type of "double jeopardy."

DOUBLE JEOPARDY - Being tried twice for the same offense; prohibited by the 5th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. '[T]he Double Jeopardy Clause protects against three distinct abuses: [1] a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal; [2] a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction; and [3] multiple punishments for the same offense.' U.S. v. Halper, 490 U.S. 435, 440 (1989).


Best wishes!

Well first of all, statute of limitations is probably up. And second of all if you live in the U.S. they cannot charge you for the same crime twice. In other words, if your brother already did two years probation for wrecking the car, that case is done with and cannot even be mentioned at a jury trial. So I'd say NO. The only thing is that if he committed a more recent crime as you have implied, he could be charged with that if he hasn't already and the statute of limitations did not run out. Hope this helps.

No. In most states, the statute of limitations is seen years.

No, they cannot charge with with the crime now. The statute of limitations has probably passed, but you'd have to check the law of your own state to know that definitely. Perhaps what they meant is that they can use the juvenile conviction to enhance the sentence for the current crime. That is possible, although a 15 year old offense by a juvenile will not carry much weight with the Court unless he has had a series of other offenses that he has been charged with and convicted of in those intervening 15 years. I'm an attorney who does some misdemeanor prosecutions, although nothing of this type. And-I never threaten a defendant with enhancement or further prosecutions unless it is warranted under the circumstances and I seriously intend to do so. The prosecutors will try to scare your brother with threats to avoid a trial or to try to get him to testify against another defendant. I assume your brother has an atty. If so, this is a question best posed to your brother's atty. If you want a good example of unethical and illegal tactics used by some prosecutors, you need look no further than the Duke University lacrosse players case.

If he did "two years probation" he was already charged and sentenced; the sentence being probation. They cannot charge him again.