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 Rhode Island, the jurisdiction of juvenile courts typically covers individuals who are accused of violating the law before they reach the age of 18. Those who are 18 and older are prosecuted in the criminal courts. However, Rhode Island, like other states, has transfer laws that allow for certain cases involving juveniles to be moved to the adult criminal court system. These transfer laws include judicial waiver laws, where juvenile courts have the authority to waive their jurisdiction and transfer a juvenile case to adult court on a case-by-case basis; prosecutorial discretion or concurrent jurisdiction laws, which allow prosecutors to choose whether to file certain cases against juveniles in juvenile or criminal court; and statutory exclusion laws, which mandate that certain offenses committed by juveniles are automatically tried in adult court. The specific provisions detailing when and how a juvenile can be prosecuted as an adult are outlined in Rhode Island's state statutes.