MIDLAND, Texas — In the state of Texas, kids between the ages of 10 and 16 can get arrested and sent to a juvenile detention center if they commit a class B misdemeanor, or worse.
Class B misdemeanors are offenses that can lead to an adult spending time in jail.
"If the kid is known to us, if they're already on probation, those kinds of things, then once the law enforcement agency has completed their paperwork, whatever the charges are, then they call our intake officer back and we either detain the kid, or it's a process and release," Forest Hanna, chief juvenile probation officer at the Barbara Culver Juvenile Justice Center, said.
Minors can be detained, but if they are, law dictates that they go before a judge for a detention hearing within 48 hours of it happening.
"Once the kid is detained, then they have to go in front of a judge within 48 hours," Hanna said. "So we have detention hearings three times a week to accommodate those time frames. Those kids that are processed and released still have charges pending. Those charges go to the district attorney's office for review."
An average stay at the Barbara Culver Juvenile Justice Center typically lasts between 10 and 12 days. However, Hanna said some people have been detained for a lot longer.
"We do have kids, occasionally, that are here for very serious offenses, maybe going through a transfer hearing, transferring their case to adult court," Hanna said. "We’ve had kids here for over 300 days occasionally."
Another common question is whether there are instances in which minors can be tried as adults. Hanna said yes, but there are certain criteria.
"A kid that’s 14 or older that commits one of the more serious offenses: murder, attempted murder, deadly conduct with a weapon, those really serious kind of offenses, there’s a process in Texas for a transfer hearing," Hanna said.