(1) The circuit court has exclusive original jurisdiction of proceedings in which a child is alleged to have committed:
(a) A delinquent act or violation of law.
(b) A noncriminal violation that has been assigned to juvenile court by law.
(2) The jurisdiction of the court shall attach to the child and the case when the summons is served upon the child and a parent or legal or actual custodian or guardian of the child, or when the child is taken into custody with or without service of summons and before or after the filing of a petition, whichever first occurs, and thereafter the court may control the child and the case in accordance with this chapter.
(3) During the prosecution of any violation of law against any person who has been presumed to be an adult, if it is shown that the person was a child at the time the offense was committed and that the person does not meet the criteria for prosecution and sentencing as an adult, the court shall immediately transfer the case, together with the physical custody of the person and all physical evidence, papers, documents, and testimony, original and duplicate, connected therewith, to the appropriate court for proceedings under this chapter. The circuit court is exclusively authorized to assume jurisdiction over any juvenile offender who is arrested and charged with violating a federal law or a law of the District of Columbia, who is found or is living or domiciled in a county in which the circuit court is established, and who is surrendered to the circuit court as provided in 18 U.S.C. s. 5001.
(4)(a) Petitions alleging delinquency shall be filed in the county where the delinquent act or violation of law occurred. The circuit court for that county may transfer the case to the circuit court of the circuit in which the child resides or will reside at the time of detention or placement for dispositional purposes. A child who has been detained may be transferred to the detention center or facility in the circuit in which the child resides or will reside at the time of detention.
(b) The jurisdiction to be exercised by the court when a child is taken into custody before the filing of a petition under subsection (2) shall be exercised by the circuit court for the county in which the child is taken into custody, which court shall have personal jurisdiction of the child and the child’s parent or legal guardian. Upon the filing of a petition in the appropriate circuit court, the court that is exercising initial jurisdiction of the person of the child shall, if the child has been detained, immediately order the child to be transferred to the detention center or facility or other placement as ordered by the court having subject matter jurisdiction of the case.
(5)(a) Notwithstanding s. 743.07, and except as provided in paragraph (b), when the jurisdiction of any child who is alleged to have committed a delinquent act or violation of law is obtained, the court shall retain jurisdiction to dispose of a case, unless relinquished by its order, until the child reaches 19 years of age, with the same power over the child which the court had before the child became an adult.
(b) The court shall retain jurisdiction, unless relinquished by its own order:
1. Over a child on probation until the child reaches 19 years of age.
2. Over a child committed to the department until the child reaches 21 years of age, specifically for the purpose of allowing the child to complete the commitment program, including conditional release supervision.
(c) The court shall retain jurisdiction over a juvenile sexual offender, as defined in s. 985.475, who has been placed on community-based treatment alternative with supervision or who has been placed in a program or facility for juvenile sexual offenders, pursuant to s. 985.48, until the juvenile sexual offender reaches 21 years of age, specifically for the purpose of allowing the juvenile to complete the program.
(d) The court may retain jurisdiction over a child and the child’s parent or legal guardian whom the court has ordered to pay restitution until the restitution order is satisfied. To retain jurisdiction, the court shall enter a restitution order, which is separate from any disposition or order of commitment, on or prior to the date that the court’s jurisdiction would cease under this section. The contents of the restitution order shall be limited to the child’s name and address, the name and address of the parent or legal guardian, the name and address of the payee, the case number, the date and amount of restitution ordered, any amount of restitution paid, the amount of restitution due and owing, and a notation that costs, interest, penalties, and attorney fees may also be due and owing. The terms of the restitution order are subject to s. 775.089(5).
(e) This subsection does not prevent the exercise of jurisdiction by any court having jurisdiction of the child if the child, after becoming an adult, commits a violation of law.
(6) The court may at any time enter an order ending its jurisdiction over any child.
History.—s. 5, ch. 90-208; s. 12, ch. 92-287; s. 2, ch. 93-37; ss. 19, 39, ch. 94-209; s. 21, ch. 94-342; s. 2, ch. 95-160; ss. 9, 27, ch. 97-238; s. 33, ch. 99-284; ss. 5, 11, ch. 2000-134; s. 36, ch. 2001-64; s. 65, ch. 2005-236; s. 19, ch. 2005-263; s. 5, ch. 2006-120; s. 2, ch. 2011-54; s. 10, ch. 2011-70; s. 3, ch. 2011-236; s. 90, ch. 2012-5; s. 6, ch. 2012-56; s. 4, ch. 2014-162; s. 104, ch. 2015-2; s. 4, ch. 2015-133.
Note.—Subsections (1), (3)-(5) former s. 39.022; s. 985.201. Subsection (2) former s. 39.049(7); s. 985.219(8).
