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 Wyoming, the jurisdiction of juvenile courts typically covers individuals who are accused of violating the law before they reach the age of 18. However, Wyoming law does provide mechanisms for transferring certain juvenile cases to adult criminal court. These mechanisms include judicial waiver, prosecutorial discretion, and statutory exclusion. Judicial waiver allows a juvenile court judge to waive jurisdiction and transfer a case to adult court based on factors such as the seriousness of the offense, the juvenile's age, criminal history, and the likelihood of rehabilitation within the juvenile system. Prosecutorial discretion or concurrent jurisdiction laws permit prosecutors to file charges in either juvenile or adult court for certain offenses, often depending on the age of the offender and the nature of the alleged crime. Statutory exclusion laws in Wyoming mandate that certain serious offenses committed by juveniles of a specific age are automatically excluded from juvenile court jurisdiction and must be tried in adult criminal court. The exact age at which juveniles may be tried as adults and the specific offenses that trigger these provisions can be found in Wyoming's statutes.