Greg Woods, a senior lecturer in justice studies, explained that California’s juvenile justice system is predicated on the idea that juveniles are “inherently salvageable,” with a focus on providing services such as counseling and preventing the juvenile from becoming a repeat offender. Many juvenile cases, he added, are tried under the health and welfare code as opposed to the criminal code, a move that comes with a separate selection of punishments.

“It’s almost like a completely different way of interpreting (the) same set of factors,” he said. “When we talk ourselves out of even concluding that it’s a crime to begin with but an expression of delinquency that then requires our assistance so that we might correct the juvenile so that they will never replicate the behavior again, then that shifts the responsibility to the county or the state.”

Five arrested, including 13-year-old, in fatal stabbing of 15-year-old at Santana Row in San Jose