Policy Text
SACRAMENTO POLICE DEPARTMENT
GENERAL ORDERS
GO 540.05
Page 1 of 5
540.05
ARRESTING / BOOKING / RELEASING JUVENILES
7-03-2024
PURPOSE
The purpose of this order is to establish procedures for arresting, booking, and releasing juveniles.
POLICY
It shall be the policy of the Sacramento Police Department (SPD) to extend recognized protections that
balance the needs of the community and the rights of juvenile offenders with officer safety when a juvenile is
remanded, cited, arrested, released, placed into temporary custody, or delivered to a probation officer.
During any contacts with j uveniles, the primary concern is balancing the best interest of the child, with
community and officer safety. Therefore, in cases involving juveniles being detained or taken into custody,
officers shall consider the disposition which least restricts the juvenile ’s freedom of movement while ensuring
the best interest of the community , the safety of the juvenile, and officers .
When a person who is contacted appears to be under the age of 18, they should be treated as a juvenile
until their age is otherwise known. Likewise, a person whose age is not yet known but appears to be under
the age of 12 should be treated as a juvenile under the age of 12 with respect to handcuffing until their age is
otherwise known.
Officers should be aware that juveniles are much more impressionable than adults and that officers’ behavior
and actions, whether directly or indirectly with a juvenile , can have significant positive or negative effects on
a juvenile and affect how they perceive and react to law enforcement in the future.
PROCEDURE
A. DEFINITIONS
1. ACCELERATED CITATION – A means of releasing a juvenile on a citation for a felony offense that
ensures the scheduling of a juvenile hearing within 72 hours.
2. DEPENDENTS – Juveniles at risk of physical or emotional abuse or neglect , or who are in need of
immediate medical care or shelter.
3. JUVENILE – Any person under the age of 18 years. Juvenile and minor may be used interchangeably.
4. STATUS OFFENDERS – Juveniles deemed to be runaways, curfew violators, or incorrigibles.
5. TEMPORARY CUSTODY – Legal equivalent of an arrest.
6. WARDS – A minor who has guardian appointed by the court to care for and take responsibility for that
person.
7. WRITTEN PROMISE TO APPEAR – Citation .
B. GENERAL
1. Pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code § 602(a) any juvenile who is between 12 years of age and 17
years of age, inclusive, when they violate any law of this state or of the United States or any ordinance
of any city or county of this state defining crime other than an ordinance establishing a curfew based
solely on age, is within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge the juvenile to be a
ward of the court.
a. Pursuant to Penal Code § 26, children under the age of 14, cannot commit crimes in the absence of
clear proof that at the time of committing the act charged against them they knew its wrongfulness.
2. Pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code § 602(b), j uveniles under 12 years of age can be prosecuted
in juvenile court, if they commit one or more of the following crimes:
a. Murder .
b. Rape by force, violence, duress, menace, or fear .
c. Sodomy by force, violence, duress, menace, or fear .
d. Oral copulation by force, violence, duress, menace, or fear .
e. Sexual penetration by force, violence, duress, menace, or fear .
3. Because a juvenile under 12 years of age cannot be prosecuted, unless they commit one of the above
SACRAMENTO POLICE DEPARTMENT
GENERAL ORDERS
GO 540.05
Page 2 of 5
crimes, it also means they:
a. Cannot be taken into temporary custody under Welfare and Institutions Code § 625.
b. Cannot be cited with a notice to appear before a probation officer under Welfare and Institutions
Code § 626.
4. When determining which disposition to make of a juvenile taken into temporary custody, the officer shall consider the least restrictive alternative for the juvenile while providing for the safety of the community
and the juvenile. Options for release are:
a. Releasing the juvenile.
b. Releasing the juvenile to a parent or legal guardian.
c. Delivering the juvenile to a public or private agency including school, youth service or community center.
d. Preparing a written promise to appear and giving one copy to the juvenile or responsible adult and the other copy to the probation officer.
e. Delivering the juvenile to the juvenile probation department ( Youth Detention Facility [YDF]).
5. Pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code § 627(a), w hen an officer takes a juvenile to YDF or to any
other place of confinement, the officer shall take immediate steps to notify the juvenile’s parent,
guardian, or a responsible relative that such juvenile is in custody and the place where the juvenile is
being held.
6. Pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code § 627(b), i mmediately after being taken to a place of
confinement, except where physically impossible, no later than one hour after the juvenile has been taken into custody, the juvenile shall be advised and has the right to make at least two telephone calls
from the