In Re Jovan B.

Section 12022.1 of the Penal Code increases the period of imprisonment for a felony if the offender committed it while free on bail or his own recognizance (O.R.) pending resolution of earlier felony charges of which he is ultimately found guilty. We granted review to decide whether this “bail/O.R.” enhancement applies in juvenile court proceedings under section 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code so as to extend the maximum period of “physical confinement” of a juvenile ward. (See Welf. & Inst. Code, §§ 726, 731, 1766, subd. (b).) Unlike the Court of Appeal, we conclude that section 12022.1 is applicable in the juvenile context. We will therefore reverse in part the judgment of the Court of Appeal.

Facts

On July 1, 1991, the Madera County District Attorney filed a juvenile court petition alleging that Jovan B., a minor then four weeks shy of his fifteenth birthday (hereafter the minor), came within the provisions of Welfare and Institutions Code section 602 because he had committed a felony, residential burglary. (Pen. Code, §§ 459, 460, subd. (a).) At a detention hearing on July 2, the court ordered the minor released pending trial under “[hjouse…