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 Georgia, individuals who are accused of violating the law are typically under the jurisdiction of the juvenile courts if they are under the age of 17. However, Georgia is one of the states where individuals who are 17 years of age are automatically prosecuted as adults in the criminal court system. Despite this, Georgia does have transfer laws in place 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 laws permit juvenile courts to waive their jurisdiction and transfer a juvenile case to adult criminal court based on factors such as the severity of the offense and the juvenile's past record. Prosecutorial discretion laws allow prosecutors to choose whether to file charges in juvenile or criminal court for certain offenses. Statutory exclusion laws mandate that certain serious offenses committed by juveniles are automatically excluded from juvenile court jurisdiction and must be tried in adult criminal court. The specific regulations and procedures for transferring juvenile cases to adult court are detailed in Georgia's state statutes.