Miami Juvenile Criminal Defense Attorney

When Your Child Is Arrested

We built this practice around a simple idea: we don’t just defend cases — we fight for futures. For a teenager, that isn’t a slogan. It’s the whole point. A single arrest can shape college applications, job prospects, and the way a young person sees themselves for years to come. We defend minors facing charges throughout Miami-Dade, and we start from the position that your child is a person with a future worth protecting — not a file to process. Whether the call came from North Miami, Aventura, or a school in Miami Gardens, the first thing we want you to know is that you don’t have to figure out the next move on your own.

How Florida’s Juvenile System Differs

Juvenile court is not adult court with smaller stakes. In Florida, delinquency cases run on a separate track, and much of that track is managed by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, or DJJ. Instead of the adult path of arraignment and sentencing, a juvenile case often involves a detention hearing early on — where a judge decides whether your child stays home or is held — followed by proceedings that end in what the system calls a disposition rather than a sentence. The goal, at least in theory, leans more toward rehabilitation than punishment. That framing matters, because the arguments that move a juvenile judge are different from the ones that work in an adult courtroom. Knowing how DJJ evaluates a young person, and how a detention decision gets made, changes how we prepare from the very first hearing. It’s a system with its own language and its own leverage points, and understanding both is where a real defense begins.

Charges Minors Face in Miami-Dade

Kids get accused of the same kinds of offenses adults do, and we defend minors across that range. Theft and shoplifting cases are common — a bad decision at a store in Bal Harbour or a mall in the greater Miami area can suddenly turn into a court date. We also handle drug offenses, assault and battery charges, DUI cases involving young drivers, and the far more serious matter of sex offense allegations against a minor. Each of these plays out differently when the accused is a teenager, because a juvenile record carries consequences that follow a person into adulthood in ways they rarely understand in the moment. The charge on the paper is only part of the story. What that charge could mean five or ten years from now is the part we keep our eyes on.

If your child is facing any of these charges, the sooner we’re involved, the more we can do. Call us at (305) 315-5147 and talk it through with an attorney who handles these cases.

When a Minor Faces Adult Charges

One of the hardest realities for parents to hear is that a teenager doesn’t automatically stay in juvenile court. In certain serious cases, Florida prosecutors have the power to move a minor’s case into the adult system — and once that happens, the protective, rehabilitation-minded structure of juvenile court gives way to adult penalties and an adult record. This is the single highest-stakes fork in the road, and it often gets decided early, sometimes before a family even realizes it’s on the table. That’s exactly why getting a defense attorney involved from the start matters so much. Fighting to keep a case in juvenile court, where it belongs, is one of the most important things we can do for your child.

Diversion, Probation, and Records

There is often more than one way a juvenile case can end, and not all of them involve detention or a permanent mark. Depending on the charge and the circumstances, outcomes can include diversion programs designed to keep a first-time or lower-level case from becoming a lasting record, or probation with conditions the court expects a young person to meet. Those paths can be a real second chance — but they come with strings. A probation violation, for example, can reopen the whole matter and put a child right back in jeopardy. Part of our job is pursuing the least damaging resolution available and making sure you understand what any agreement actually requires, so a program meant to help doesn’t quietly become a new problem. And because juvenile records don’t simply erase themselves the day a child turns eighteen, protecting that record is something we think about from the beginning, not as an afterthought.

Why Parents Choose Reynoso Erickson

You want to know who will actually stand next to your child. So here’s who we are. Attorney Robert Erickson didn’t come to criminal defense late — he clerked for local public defender’s offices and a prominent Chicago criminal defense firm while he was still in college at Lake Forest College and later during law school at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law. Standing on the defense side has been his path from the start. And when you hire us, your child’s case isn’t handed off down a hallway. Our core trial team is the two named partners, Luis Reynoso and Robert Erickson, working out of our North Miami office at 1801 NE 123rd St, Suite 314. We put our reputation on the line for every client, and for a young person, that reputation is tied directly to the future we’re fighting to protect.