Safe Havens

(E)  Federal Adult Convictions of Offenses That Would Not Have Permitted Transfer from Juvenile to Adult Court.  The Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act creates a possible defense for certain noncitizens who committed an offense while under 18 years of age, who may argue that the disposition is a delinquency adjudication — and therefore not a conviction of a crime for immigration purposes — even if they pleaded guilty to an offense as an adult: “Whenever a juvenile transferred to district court under this section is not convicted of the crime upon which the transfer was based or another crime which would have warranted transfer had the juvenile been initially charged with that crime, further proceedings concerning the juvenile shall be conducted pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.”[42]  Criminal defense counsel assisting minor clients with pending charges in the federal criminal justice system that the Attorney General transferred from juvenile proceedings to adult court, should try to get a plea that would not have warranted a transfer in the first instance.  If they succeed, the resulting plea is a juvenile disposition under 18 U.S.C. § 5032 by operation of law.[43]

[42]  18 U.S.C. § 5032.

[43] Thanks to Dan Kesselbrenner and the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild for this argument.