In Re Jose C.

Welfare and Institutions Code section 602 purports to give our state courts jurisdiction to declare any juvenile who “violates any law ... of the United States” a ward of the court. (Id., subd. (a).) However, Congress has granted federal courts “original jurisdiction, exclusive of the courts of the States, of all offenses against the laws of the United States.” ( 18 U.S.C. § 3231 .) We consider whether, under the United States Constitution’s supremacy clause, section 3231 or any other provision of federal law preempts Welfare and Institutions Code section 602.

We conclude Welfare and Institutions Code section 602 is not preempted. While Congress has barred state courts from entertaining direct criminal prosecutions of federal violations, close analysis of the federal statutes allocating jurisdiction demonstrates Congress did not intend to preclude state courts from adjudicating whether federal law has been violated in the context of state delinquency proceedings. Such proceedings exist, separate and apart from the adult criminal justice system, out of a recognition that minors who commit criminal offenses pose a special problem and require treatment and rehabilitation…