All states hold youth accountable for traffic offenses. However, there is not uniformity in how juvenile traffic matters are handled. In some states (e.g., Nevada, Illinois), the municipal court handles all traffic matters, adult and juvenile. In other states (e.g., California, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia), juvenile traffic offenses are handled in the juvenile justice court.

For those juvenile justice courts that have jurisdiction over traffic offenses, extensive resources are required to manage this offense category, and these offenses are often processed and docketed separately from other delinquency offenses. The number of traffic offenses can be a significant portion of all petitions filed in the juvenile justice court.

There is a primary difference between the way juvenile traffic cases are handled in jurisdictions with separate juvenile traffic courts and in jurisdictions with one traffic court that includes both adults and juveniles. In juvenile traffic courts, all violations require a court appearance, as opposed to being able to pay a fine without attending court. The philosophy behind this method of intervention in the juvenile traffic court is to make a strong impact on young drivers who are just beginning to develop their patterns of responsibility or irresponsibility behind the wheel, and on the parents of these young drivers, when they violate traffic laws. By requiring the youth and parents to appear in juvenile justice court, the court ensures that each violation is taken seriously. When youth commit serious traffic offenses, such as operating a vehicle at high speeds, running stop signs or red lights, or otherwise put other persons at significant risk, or when youth show a pattern of repeated traffic violations, a strong and immediate response that includes both sanction, such as license suspension, and education is needed.

The JUVENILE JUSTICE GUIDELINES recommends the following practices with regard to juvenile traffic offenses:

• In jurisdictions where juvenile traffic offenses are handled along with adult traffic offenses in a combined traffic court, serious driving offenses such as driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, substance-related reckless operation, underage driving without a license, reckless driving, and vehicular homicide should be filed in the juvenile justice court as opposed to the traffic court.
• In jurisdictions where juvenile traffic offenses are handled along with adult traffic offenses in a combined traffic court, there should be a mechanism to transfer a case to the juvenile justice court when significant services are needed to change the youth’s behavior, and these services are not available through the combined traffic court.
• When juveniles are involved in alcohol-or-drug-related traffic offenses, they should receive a significant response with a strong education and counseling component.