People v. M.R. CA6

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Juvenile System There are significant differences between the juvenile and adult criminal systems. (See In re Julian R. (2009) 47 Cal.4th 487, 496.) Most fundamentally, “[t]he former seeks to rehabilitate, while the latter seeks to punish.” (Ibid.) Accordingly, a prosecutor charges a minor with an offense by filing a petition to declare a minor a ward of the state rather than a criminal complaint. (Welf. & Ins. Code, §§ 607, subd. (a), 653.7, 655.) (Subsequent undesignated statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code.) Minors admit or deny wardship petitions rather than pleading guilty or not guilty (§ 702.3), and in juvenile court, rather than a trial before a jury, there is a jurisdictional hearing presided over by a judge from the juvenile court. (§ 602, subd. (a).) If the juvenile court finds (beyond a reasonable doubt) that the allegations in the wardship petition are true, the minor is adjudged a ward of the juvenile court. (Ibid.) The juvenile court then conducts a dispositional hearing at which the court may impose a wide variety of rehabilitation alternatives. (People v. Vela (2018) 21 Cal.App.5th 1099, 1105.) In the most serious…