What Age Can You Be Sent to Jail in Maine? Age Requirements Explained

A quick Google search will show you that there have always been child criminals.

In most cases, the crimes committed by these kids were minor (no pun intended).  They were caught stealing or vandalizing someone else's property.

In recent years, however, we have seen a spike in serious crimes perpetrated by people under the age of 18.  These days, we frequently see pre-teens being accused of committing drug-related and violent crimes.  Occasionally, these children have even been arrested for manslaughter and homicide.

What happens to children who commit serious crimes?  Do they go to jail?

At What Age Can a Child in Maine be Sent to Jail?

Believe it or not, there is no minimum age at which a child can be hauled away to jail,  but there are some regulations regarding where they can be housed and how long they can normally be incarcerated.

Of course, juveniles are not put in with the general population.  When taken to a holding area at a police station or a county jail, they are kept away from the adult inmates.

If the juvenile ends up being sentenced to a significant amount of time, they are incarcerated at a juvenile detention facility.  In Maine, they will be guests at the Long Creek Youth Development Center on Westbrook Street in South Portland, the state's only youth detention facility.

In 2021, LD 320, An Act To Provide the Right to Counsel for Juveniles and Improve Due Process for Juveniles, made some changes to the rules regarding juvenile offenders.

In part, it said:

Prohibits detaining a child under the age of 12 in a secure detention facility for more than seven days, except by agreement of the parties.

It also set 12 years old as the minimum age that a child can be sent to Long Creek.

Of course, the police are not likely to haul a ten-year-old off to jail if they stole some candy from a store.  A serious or violent crime would need to be committed before the child would be taken to jail.  Instead, in most cases, they would be processed and turned over to the custody of their parents.

What is your opinion on Maine's juvenile detention laws?  Let us know by sending us a message in our app.