SB Juvenile Delinquency
Court Guide

The Juvenile Delinquency Court occupies Building 2 at 900 East Gilbert Street in San Bernardino, on the county's juvenile campus east of the downtown civic center. The court lists (909) 269-8840 for juvenile matters. Note the address carefully: this building is frequently confused with the Juvenile Dependency Court at 860 East Gilbert Street, a few hundred feet away, which handles an entirely different kind of case.

Delinquency is where a minor is alleged to have committed an offense. The petition is filed under the juvenile framework rather than as an adult criminal complaint, and the vocabulary changes with it — petition instead of complaint, jurisdiction instead of trial, disposition instead of sentencing, detention instead of bail.

That last substitution is the one families run into hardest. There is no bail schedule figure for a minor, no bond to write, and no premium to pay. A judge decides at a detention hearing whether the minor stays in juvenile hall or goes home to a parent or guardian, weighing supervision, school, prior contacts, and the allegations themselves. Nobody — including us — can shortcut that with money. The adult framework described on the San Bernardino County bail page, including Penal Code §1275's factors on the source and adequacy of bail, governs adult defendants only.

Where we are actually useful is the adult case running alongside. Parents routinely have a matter at the San Bernardino Justice Center while their child's delinquency case is calendared here, and a parent in custody cannot walk into a hearing on Gilbert Street. Getting the adult released is the honest limit of what a bail bond company contributes to a juvenile case, and we would rather say that than imply otherwise.

Official court information: Superior Court of San Bernardino County — Juvenile Delinquency