If a juvenile is found guilty in Pennsylvania, if we're speaking about the juvenile justice system, which would be most often the case, there has to be a distinction between the juvenile being found guilty versus say being adjudicated delinquent. The term that's most generally used in the juvenile justice system is being adjudicated delinquent. If a juvenile is being adjudicated delinquent, it would mean that the court deems it necessary to provide certain services to the juvenile.
The focus of the juvenile justice system is the treatment, rehabilitation, and supervision of the juvenile offender rather than say the punishment of the defendant, as is the case in large part in the adult criminal justice system. A juvenile would be supervised in most instances by a juvenile probation officer. There would be conditions of the supervision. In all instances, a student would be required to attend school, do, as well as possible in school, stay out of further trouble both at school, and otherwise not having any, say, further arrests.
They would have to listen to their parents at home. They may have to do community service. There may be additional resources that would be provided for the juvenile to allow them to move forward as best as possible, resources to keep them out of further trouble. At the end of the case, it would depend if the juvenile was adjudicated delinquent or not, these services can still be provided.
Sometimes a court would provide what's called- or allow what's called a deferred adjudication or a consent decree, where the juvenile would in fact not be adjudicated delinquent but these services still could be provided along with the expectation that this juvenile continues to do well, and in doing so the case would be withdrawn at that later time. Having an experienced Pennsylvania juvenile defense attorney will help you best understand and navigate the juvenile system.
