McCourtney Juvenile Justice Center
Court Guide

The Alfred J. McCourtney Juvenile Justice Center sits at 1040 West Avenue J in Lancaster. It handles juvenile delinquency matters for the Antelope Valley — cases in which a minor is alleged to have committed an offense.

Lancaster has two Superior Court locations, and confusing them costs families a morning. The Michael D. Antonovich Antelope Valley Courthouse at 42011 4th Street West is the general-jurisdiction adult court, carrying criminal, traffic, and civil calendars for the high desert. McCourtney is juvenile-only. A notice that says "Lancaster" tells you almost nothing; the courthouse name on the paperwork tells you everything.

The separation is not cosmetic. Juvenile delinquency proceedings run on their own statutory framework, oriented toward supervision and rehabilitation rather than adult sentencing. The vocabulary is different, the hearings are generally closed rather than public, and minors are kept entirely out of adult criminal facilities and corridors. A dedicated juvenile justice center exists so that framework has somewhere to operate.

We should be plain about what we can and cannot do here. There is no bail bond in a juvenile delinquency case — detention is a decision the juvenile court makes, not an amount a family posts. Where we are useful is the very common overlap: a juvenile matter at McCourtney and an adult criminal case at the Antonovich Courthouse involving a parent or older sibling. That adult release is a bail problem, and it is one we handle at any hour, anywhere in the county.

Official court information: Superior Court of Los Angeles County — Juvenile Division