California · Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC

WIC §627: (a) When an officer takes a minor before a probation officer at a juvenile hall or to any other place of confinement pursuant to this article, the officer shall take immediate steps to notify the mino

Misdemeanor

What this law says, in plain English

Officers must notify a minor's parent/guardian when the minor is taken into custody and must allow the minor to make two phone calls within one hour. Willfully denying these rights is a misdemeanor.

Read the full statutory text
(a) When an officer takes a minor before a probation officer at a juvenile hall or to any other place of confinement pursuant to this article, the officer shall take immediate steps to notify the minor’s parent, guardian, or a responsible relative that such minor is in custody and the place where the minor is being held. (b) Immediately after being taken to a place of confinement pursuant to this article and, except where physically impossible, no later than one hour after the minor has been taken into custody, the minor shall be advised and has the right to make at least two telephone calls from the place where the minor is being held, one call completed to the minor’s parent or guardian, a responsible relative, or their employer, and another call completed to an attorney. The calls shall be at public expense, if the calls are completed to telephone numbers within the local calling area, and in the presence of a public officer or employee. Any public officer or employee who willfully deprives a minor taken into custody of their right to make such telephone calls is guilty of a misdemeanor. (c) Immediately after being taken to a place of confinement pursuant to this article, and no later than two hours after a minor has been taken into custody, the probation officer shall immediately notify the public defender or if there is no public defender, the indigent defense provider for the county, that the minor has been taken into custody.

Verify at the official source: California legislative text

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This page is legal information, not legal advice. Code text is sourced from official publications and may lag amendments — always confirm at the official source linked above. Plain-English summaries and relationship data are AI-derived and reviewed on an ongoing basis; verify with a licensed attorney before acting.