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 Vermont, the age at which a person is considered an adult for criminal prosecution is 18. This means that individuals who are 18 years or older at the time of the alleged offense are typically prosecuted in the criminal courts. For those under 18, the juvenile court system generally has jurisdiction. However, Vermont does have transfer laws that allow for certain cases involving juveniles to be transferred to the adult criminal court system. These transfer laws include judicial waiver, where a juvenile court judge can decide to transfer a case to criminal court; prosecutorial discretion or concurrent jurisdiction, which allows prosecutors to choose whether to file charges in juvenile or criminal court for certain offenses; and statutory exclusion, where the law mandates that certain serious offenses committed by juveniles are automatically tried in adult court. The specific provisions and criteria for transferring a juvenile case to adult court are detailed in Vermont's statutes, and the decision to transfer is influenced by factors such as the age of the offender, the seriousness of the offense, and the juvenile's prior record.