Juvenile Cases under Jordanian Law: The Juvenile Court, Measures and Penalties by the Juvenile's Age
The pretrial detention of a son under eighteen puts his family before the Juvenile Court, a judiciary separate from the adult courts in its procedures and its penalties, and the same act may end in a reprimand from the court or in years in a juvenile rehabilitation home. These cases are governed by Juveniles Law No. 32 of 2014, which repealed Juveniles Law No. 24 of 1968 and made the juvenile's best interests, protection, reform and rehabilitation the standard for applying its provisions (Article 4(a)). The difference between the two outcomes is decided by the juvenile's age on the day of the act, by the legal description of the facts, and by what is put before the Public Prosecution and the court from the first stage, matters that a criminal lawyer who specializes in juvenile cases assesses before they settle into the file.
1. Who Is a Juvenile, and Why Age Decides the Course of the Case
Article 2 of the Juveniles Law defines a juvenile as anyone who has not completed eighteen years of age, and divides juveniles into two groups treated differently: an adolescent is one who has completed twelve and not completed fifteen years of age, and a youth is one who has completed fifteen and not completed eighteen. A person who has not completed twelve is not criminally prosecuted, notwithstanding anything in any other legislation (Article 4(b)). That does not close the file, since Article 33(j) treats such a child as in need of protection or care if he commits a misdemeanor or a felony, so the case moves from punishment to protection measures.
The group is determined by the juvenile's age at the time of the act (Article 6(b)), so a juvenile who turns eighteen during the investigation or the trial remains subject to the law according to his age on the day of the facts. Civil registry records are evidence of his date of birth unless shown to be forged (Article 6(a)), and if he is not registered and it is claimed that he is still a juvenile or younger than he appears, the court refers him to the medical committee to assess his age before the trial begins (Article 6(c)).
A few months may separate two age groups in which the extent of the measure or the penalty differs widely. That is why the lawyer begins examining the file by checking the date of the facts and the juvenile's age at that date precisely, before any discussion of the evidence.
2. Measures and Penalties by the Juvenile's Age and the Type of Offense
Article 4(c) provides that neither the death penalty nor hard labor may be imposed on a juvenile, and Articles 25 and 26 put placement in a juvenile rehabilitation home, or non-custodial measures, in place of adult penalties. The following table summarizes what the law provides for each age group, according to the penalty the act carries for an adult and in the wording of the Juveniles Law:
| Offense charged | Under twelve | Adolescent (12 to under 15) | Youth (15 to under 18) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contravention | No criminal prosecution (Article 4(b)) | A reprimand (Article 26(e)) | A reprimand (Article 25(f)) |
| Misdemeanor | No criminal prosecution, and treated as in need of protection or care (Article 33(j)) | The case is decided with one of the non-custodial measures in Article 24 (Article 26(d)) | If it carries imprisonment: placement in a juvenile rehabilitation home for a period not exceeding one third of the term of the penalty provided in the Penal Code, and where discretionary mitigating circumstances exist the court may replace it with one of the Article 24 measures (Article 25(d) and (e)) |
| Felony carrying temporary hard labor or detention (i'tiqal) | No criminal prosecution, and treated as in need of protection or care (Article 33(j)) | A juvenile rehabilitation home for not less than one year and not more than three years, and if the court finds discretionary mitigating circumstances it may replace it with one of the Article 24 measures (Article 26(c)) | A juvenile rehabilitation home for not less than three years and not more than five years (Article 25(c)) |
| Felony carrying life hard labor | The same rule | A juvenile rehabilitation home for not less than three years and not more than eight years (Article 26(b)) | A juvenile rehabilitation home for not less than five years and not more than ten years (Article 25(b)) |
| Felony carrying the death penalty | The same rule | A juvenile rehabilitation home for not less than six years and not more than ten years (Article 26(a)) | A juvenile rehabilitation home for not less than eight years and not more than twelve years (Article 25(a)) |
The same misdemeanor may end in a non-custodial measure if an adolescent committed it, and in placement if a youth did. The legal description of the facts is what decides which row the file falls in, so whether the facts are described as a misdemeanor or a felony may be what separates judicial supervision in the family home from years in the home. In a fight between students, the provision that governs the facts varies with the period of incapacity recorded in the medical report, and the facts may reach the description of a felony if a permanent disability results, as set out in the article assault causing bodily harm under the Jordanian Penal Code. Choosing the most accurate description of the facts, and challenging a harsher description that the evidence does not support, depend on the reports and statements in the file, and they are themselves a legal point that merits consultation from the investigation stage.
3. Non-Custodial Measures and What Decides the Choice
Article 24 lists the measures the court may take without placing the juvenile in a home:
- A reprimand and admonition, without degrading his dignity.
- Handing him over to one of his parents or to whoever has guardianship (wilaya) or tutorship (wisaya) over him, or to someone fit to raise him.
- An obligation to perform community service for a period not exceeding one year.
- Enrollment in vocational training for a period not exceeding one year.
- Performing specific duties or refraining from a specific act for a period not exceeding one year.
- Enrollment in rehabilitation programs.
- Judicial supervision, under which the juvenile stays in his natural environment under the supervision of the behavior monitor for a period not exceeding one year.
The choice of measure is tied to the behavior monitor's report: Article 18 requires the court to consider the juvenile's best interests on the basis of the behavior monitor's report and the evidence presented, and Article 11 requires the behavior monitor to submit a detailed report on the circumstances of the juvenile, his family, his environment and his schooling from the start of the investigation. The juvenile and his lawyer may question the behavior monitor on the report (Article 22(g)). The lawyer therefore follows this report from the beginning, because what it says about the family, the school and the surrounding circumstances feeds into the court's assessment of the measure it ends with.
4. Safeguards in the Trial of a Juvenile
A juvenile is tried only before the juvenile courts (Article 15(a)). The Juvenile Magistrates' Court has jurisdiction over contraventions and misdemeanors whose penalty does not exceed two years and over protection or care measures, and the Juvenile Court of First Instance has jurisdiction over felonies and misdemeanors whose penalty exceeds two years (Article 15(d) and (e)). If juveniles and adults take part in the same offense, they are separated by a decision of the Public Prosecution and a separate file is opened for the juveniles (Article 16).
The trial is held in secret on pain of nullity, and only the behavior monitor, the juvenile's lawyer, his parents, guardian, tutor or custodian, and those the court decides to admit may attend (Article 17). A juvenile's confession alone is not enough to convict him unless the court is convinced by it (Article 22(c)(2)). The law prohibits publishing the juvenile's name and photograph during the proceedings (Article 4(h)), and punishes the violator with imprisonment for not more than one year or a fine of not more than five hundred Jordanian dinars (JOD), or both penalties, without prejudice to any harsher penalty in another law (Article 42(b)).
A juvenile may not be held in pretrial detention or placed in any home except by a decision of the competent judicial authority (Article 8), and he is kept apart from adults held in pretrial detention or convicted at every stage (Article 5(a)). The law treats juvenile cases as urgent cases (Article 4(i)), and it restricts pretrial detention with rules that differ between a misdemeanor and a felony (Article 9). In felony cases it requires the court to appoint a lawyer for the juvenile if he has none (Article 21(a)), and it obliges the retained lawyer to attend every stage of the investigation and the trial (Article 21(b)).
5. Settling the Dispute before Trial
The Juvenile Police settle disputes in contraventions and misdemeanors whose penalty does not exceed two years, where the offense is one that can be heard only on the injured party's complaint and the parties to the dispute agree to the settlement (Article 13(a)). If no settlement is reached, the dispute-settlement judge at the competent court takes it over, either personally or by referring it to a body or a person known for reconciling people (Article 13(b) and (c)). Settlement proceedings are confidential, neither they nor any concessions made in them may be relied on before any court or body, and the juvenile may not be held in pretrial detention while they are under way (Article 14(a) and (b)).
Practical note: Whether the facts fall within the scope of settlement depends on their legal description, on the size of the penalty and on whether the offense is one that requires a complaint, and on all of these the first assessment may differ from where the file settles once the reports arrive. Parents should not sign any undertaking, reconciliation or waiver in the juvenile's name before the lawyer has assessed its effect on the public right (the State's right to prosecute) and on the civil claim. Each set of facts warrants a careful review in light of the provisions in force, or consultation with a specialist lawyer before any step.
6. The Private Right and the Claim for Compensation
Article 28 provides that a private-right action (the victim's personal claim) is not admissible before the Juvenile Court, and the injured party may go to the competent courts. This means a juvenile's file may branch into two tracks: a criminal track before the juvenile judiciary, and a civil track in which the injured party claims compensation before the competent court under its own rules. Waiver and reconciliation have different effects on each track, which is explained in detail in the article The Public Right and the Private Right under Jordanian Law.
For the injured party's family, this provision means that the judgment in the juvenile's case includes no compensation, and that it is claimed through a separate action before the competent court. For the juvenile's family, a criminal case that ends with a light measure does not close the door on a civil claim. The lawyer therefore examines both tracks together from the start, because what is admitted in one may be raised in the other.
7. After the Judgment: The Record, Placement and Release
A juvenile's conviction for an offense does not count as a prior record, the recidivism provisions of the Penal Code or any other law do not apply to him, and the competent authorities must erase any entry about him when he completes eighteen years of age, while the judge keeps the right to see these entries for the purpose of imposing appropriate measures (Article 4(g)). This provision has a direct effect on the juvenile's later chances in education and work, which is why the lawyer makes sure the whole file stays within the juvenile judiciary and is not joined to the adults' file.
If the convicted person completes eighteen years of age before his term ends, he is transferred to the correction and rehabilitation center to complete it by a decision of the sentence-enforcement judge, and at the request of the director of the directorate his stay in the juvenile rehabilitation home may be extended until he completes twenty years of age so that he can finish his education or vocational training (Article 30). The sentence-enforcement judge may also release a convicted juvenile before the end of the term under cumulative conditions set by Article 32, including good conduct in the home, that release does not put his life or safety at risk, and that he has not been convicted of an offense whose original penalty is the death penalty or hard labor for fifteen years or more.
8. Frequently Asked Questions
What is the age of a juvenile under Jordanian law?
A juvenile is anyone who has not completed eighteen years of age (Article 2), and a person who has not completed twelve is not criminally prosecuted (Article 4(b)). Those above that age are divided into adolescents, from twelve to under fifteen, and youths, from fifteen to under eighteen.
Can a juvenile be sentenced to death or to hard labor?
No. Article 4(c) prohibits imposing either on a juvenile, and Articles 25 and 26 replace them with placement in a juvenile rehabilitation home for periods that vary with the juvenile's age and the gravity of the offense.
Is a juvenile held with adults?
No. The law prohibits juveniles held in pretrial detention or convicted from mixing with adults at every stage of the investigation, the trial and the enforcement (Article 5(a)), and punishes anyone who holds a juvenile with adults with imprisonment for not less than three months and not more than one year (Article 42(a)).
Does a juvenile case stay on the juvenile's criminal record?
A juvenile's conviction does not count as a prior record, and the competent authorities erase any entry about him when he completes eighteen years of age (Article 4(g)). The judge may still see the entries for the purpose of imposing measures.
What happens if the juvenile turns eighteen during the trial?
The juvenile's age at the time of the act is what counts (Article 6(b)), so his file remains subject to the Juveniles Law. If he turns eighteen while serving the sentence, he is transferred to the correction and rehabilitation center to complete the term, unless his stay in the home is extended so that he can finish his education or training (Article 30).
May the juvenile's name or photograph be published?
No. The law prohibits it during the proceedings notwithstanding anything in any other legislation (Article 4(h)), and punishes the violator with imprisonment for not more than one year or a fine of not more than five hundred dinars, or both penalties (Article 42(b)).
Does the injured party claim compensation before the Juvenile Court?
No. A private-right action is not admissible before the Juvenile Court, and the injured party may go to the competent courts (Article 28).
Legal Consultation
Juvenile cases are among the most delicate and sensitive criminal cases: for the juvenile's family, the son's future in education and work depends on the description the facts receive and on the measure the court ends with, and for the injured party's family, the right to compensation depends on a separate track outside the Juvenile Court. What is said at the first stage, and what undertakings or reconciliations are signed, may be hard to undo once they settle into the file. For specialist legal consultation in criminal and juvenile cases, or to see how this file connects with the rules on the crime of theft under the Jordanian Penal Code and possession of narcotics for personal use, you can contact Alabwini Law Firm & Legal Consultancy.
