Home > Research Legal Advice > Juvenile > Deferred Adjudication v. Juvenile Delinquency Are they the same?
Asked about 1 year ago - East Brunswick, NJ
FlagMy son is applying to be a State Trooper. In 2007 he worked for Target and stupidly was marking down items for friends as they went thru his register. Target signed a complaint against him. He was never arrested. Anyhow, when we went to Court the judge gave him a deferred adjudication in which he had to pay $250 and stay out of trouble for 6 months. After 6 months, the mater was dismissed. On the trooper application there is an automatic disqualification stated as follows: "If you were adjudicated to have committed an act of juvenile delinquency. "Juvenile delinquency" here means the commission of an act which, if committed by an adult, would constitute an indictable offense." He is not quite sure if the answer is yes or no-the Court has no idea and neither does the prosec. office
A deferred adjudication or deferred disposition is akin to a diversionary program but does not count as one. Juveniles are not "convicted" of offenses, they are adjudicated delinquent. In the normal course in Middlesex County a deferred disposition puts the juvenile on a type of "probation" and any adjudication, conviction for an adult, is not entered, but deferred to a later date. The case is dismissed and no adjudication is entered if the conditions are completed. Then this is sealed at 18.Your son was charged with what would be a felony if an adult. The break between disorderly persons and a felony is $200. So the juvenile case may have been downgraded below $200 and been a disorderly anyway. Either way he was not adjudicated delinquent based on the information you provide. Call the attorney that represented him to make sure.
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