Safe Havens

(C)  Argument that Adult Conviction of Juvenile Constitutes Conviction for Immigration Purposes Only If Juvenile Could Have Been Transferred to Adult Court Under the Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act.  Prior to 1984, the FJDA provided that an act committed by someone between the ages of 16 and 18 could warrant discretionary transfer to adult court only if the offense would be a felony punishable by a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment or more, life imprisonment, or death.[31]  This earlier version did not specify which offenses gave rise to discretionary transfer but instead focused on the maximum authorized punishment.

Effective October 1, 1984, however, Congress altered the scheme, lowered the age to 15, and identified the specific offenses for which discretionary transfer to adult court is allowed.[32]  New legislation in 1988 added various specific narcotics and firearms offenses to the list of predicate offenses for which transfer is possible.

Because the FJDA requires an offense to be a felony before transfer to adult court is possible, any misdemeanor conviction of a crime of violence or any of the other listed offenses cannot trigger transfer to adult court, and therefore cannot be considered a conviction for immigration purposes.

[31] See Matter of De La Nues, supra.

[32] Act of October 12, 1984, § 1209(b) (which appears as 18 U.S.C. § 3521 note).