In most states persons accused of violating the law before they are 18 years of age are under the jurisdiction of the juvenile courts, and persons accused of violating the law when they are 18 years of age or older are under the jurisdiction of the criminal courts. Some states begin prosecuting persons as adults in the criminal court system when they are 17 years of age, and some states begin prosecuting persons as adults in the criminal court system when they are 16 years of age.

But all states have transfer laws that permit or require criminal prosecution of some young offenders—even though they are still of juvenile age, as defined by the state’s laws. Transfer laws vary from state to state, but generally fall within three categories: (1) judicial waiver laws that allow juvenile courts to waive jurisdiction on a case-by-case basis; (2) prosecutorial discretion or concurrent jurisdiction laws that define a class of cases that may be brought in juvenile court or in criminal court—usually at the discretion of the prosecutor; and (3) statutory exclusion laws that grant criminal courts exclusive jurisdiction over certain classes of cases involving juvenile-age offenders.

The laws that govern when a person of juvenile age may be prosecuted as an adult in the criminal court system are generally located in a state’s statutes.

In Colorado, individuals who are accused of violating the law are typically under the jurisdiction of the juvenile courts if they are under 18 years of age. However, Colorado does have transfer laws that allow for the prosecution of juveniles as adults under certain circumstances. These transfer laws include judicial waiver, prosecutorial discretion, and statutory exclusion. Judicial waiver allows juvenile courts to waive their jurisdiction and transfer a case to adult criminal court based on factors such as the severity of the offense and the juvenile's age, criminal history, and maturity. Prosecutorial discretion laws permit prosecutors to decide whether to file charges in juvenile or adult court for certain offenses. Statutory exclusion laws automatically exclude certain serious offenses from juvenile court jurisdiction, meaning those cases are directly filed in adult criminal court. The specific criteria and procedures for transferring juvenile cases to adult court are detailed in Colorado's statutes, which reflect a balance between the rehabilitative focus of the juvenile justice system and the need to hold certain juvenile offenders accountable in the adult criminal justice system.