On September 30, 2018, Governor Brown signed Senate Bill 1391, amending Prop 57 to prohibit 14 and 15-year-olds from being tried as adults in criminal court and subsequently sent to adult prison.
Senate Bill 1391 is part of the #EquityAndJustice package of bills jointly authored by Senators Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) and Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) that Governor Brown has signed over the past two years.
Prop 57, which was passed back in November 2016, changed the rule that allowed prosecutors to prosecute minors for specified violent offenses as adults, in adult court. Under Prop 57, prosecutors have to file cases against minors in juvenile court, and then request a “transfer hearing” to prosecute the minor as a adult, with a judge making the determination of whether the minor should be tried as a adult.
With the signing of Senate Bill 1391, now a juvenile who was 14 or 15 years old at the time of the alleged crime can no longer be tried as a adult, and must be prosecuted in juvenile court—unless the minor was not apprehended until he or she is an adult.