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Welf. & Inst. Code, § 731 · Article 18. Wards—Judgments and Orders

Welf. & Inst. Code, § 731

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

(a) If a minor is adjudged a ward of the court on the grounds that the minor is a person described by Section 602, the court may commit the ward to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Justice if the ward has committed an offense described in subdivision (b) of Section 707 or subdivision (c) of Section 290.008 of the Penal Code, and has been the subject of a motion filed to transfer the ward to the jurisdiction of the criminal court as provided in subdivision (c) of Section 736.5 and is not otherwise ineligible for commitment to the division under Section 733.

(b) A ward committed to the Division of Juvenile Justice shall not be confined in excess of the term of confinement set by the committing court. The court shall set a maximum term based upon the facts and circumstances of the matter or matters that brought or continued the ward under the jurisdiction of the court and as deemed appropriate to achieve rehabilitation. The court shall not commit a ward to the Division of Juvenile Justice for a period that exceeds the middle term of imprisonment that could be imposed upon an adult convicted of the same offense. This subdivision does not limit the power of the Board of Juvenile Hearings to discharge a ward committed to the Division of Juvenile Justice pursuant to Sections 1719 and 1769. Upon discharge, the committing court may retain jurisdiction of the ward pursuant to Section 607.1 and establish the conditions of supervision pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 1766.

(c) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2021, and shall remain in effect until the final closure of the Division of Juvenile Justice.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Added by Stats. 2021, Ch. 18, Sec. 8. (SB 92) Effective May 14, 2021. Section operative July 1, 2021, by its own provisions. Inoperative on date prescribed by its own provisions. Note: The version of Section 731 operative preceding the operation of this added Section 731 is as amended by Stats. 2020, Ch. 337, Sec. 28.

Source of truth

Edition
As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Official file
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=WIC&sectionNum=731.
Text hash
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compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section

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