Age at Which All Suspects Are Tried as Adults
(Pursuant to the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling in Roper v. Simmons, the death penalty is prohibited in all states for those under the age of 18 when the offense for which they were charged was committed.)
| AGE | STATES |
| SIXTEEN AND ABOVE (1 state) | North Carolina* |
| SEVENTEEN AND ABOVE (8 states) | Georgia, Louisiana,** Michigan, Missouri, New York,** South Carolina,** Texas, Wisconsin |
| EIGHTEEN AND ABOVE (41 states plus the District of Columbia) | Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming, plus the District of Columbia |
*North Carolina has recently enacted legislation that will raise the age of juvenile jurisdiction. In December 2019, North Carolina will stop automatically charging most 16- and 17-year-olds in adult court.
**Several states have recently enacted legislation that will raise the age of juvenile jurisdiction. Louisiana will stop automatically charging most 17-year-olds in adult court on 7/1/20, New York on 10/1/19, and South Carolina on 7/1/19.
(Source: Juvenile Justice Geography, Policy, Practice & Statistics, Jurisdictional Boundaries, JJGPS, http://www.jjgps.org/jurisdictional-boundaries.)
