Juvenile offenders of federal criminal law are primarily the responsibility of state juvenile court authorities. The Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act permits federal delinquency proceedings when state courts cannot or will not accept jurisdiction or in the case of a limited number of crimes when there is a substantial federal interest. In the more serious of these cases, the juvenile offender may be transferred for trial as an adult. The rise in serious juvenile crime, the contraction of state juvenile court jurisdiction, and the expansion of federal criminal law have all contributed to the increased prevalence of the federal delinquency proceedings described here. In early America, the law held that a child, until the age of 7, lacked the maturity necessary to be held criminally responsible. Thereafter, the law rebuttably presumed incapacity until the child reached the age of 14, by which time acquisition of the intellectual capability to entertain criminal intent was assumed. As an early nineteenth century commentator explained, Under the age of seven years, indeed, it seems that no circumstances of mischievous discretion can be admitted to overthrow the strong presumption of innocence which is raised by an age so tender. During the interval between seven and fourteen, the infant is prima facie supposed to be destitute of criminal design; but this presumption diminishes as the age increases, and even during this interval of youth, may be repelled by positive evidence of vicious intention. For a tenderness of years will not excuse a maturity in crime; . . . since the power of contracting guilt is measured rather by the strength of the delinquent's understanding, than by days and years. Thus, children of thirteen, eight, and ten years of age, have been executed for capital offenses, because they respectively manifested a consciousness of guilt, and a mischievous discretion or cunning. After the age of fourteen, an infant is on the same footing with those of the mature years. A child found capable of the requisite intent was subject to trial and punishment as an adult; other children were set free. In the early twentieth century, the states established juvenile court systems so that children accused of conduct that would be criminal in an adult might be processed apart from the criminal justice system in an environment more closely attuned to their rehabilitative needs. By 1930, the Wickersham Commission reported that only the federal government continued to uniformly treat children, charged with a crime, as adults. The states had instead adopted various juvenile court systems in which the "child offender [was] generally dealt with on a noncriminal basis and . . . protected from prosecution and conviction for crime . . . [They undertook] to safeguard, train, and educate rather than to punish him. [They] substituted social for penal methods; the concept of juvenile delinquency for that of crime." Attorney General Wickersham also pointed out that (1) most of the cases involved interstate joyriding, an offense for which juvenile court treatment was thought particularly appropriate; (2) "[t]here [were] not enough juveniles brought into the Federal courts to justify the establishment of juvenile courts by act of Congress"; and (3) "federal penal institutions are not adequately equipped to deal with this class of juvenile delinquency." He recommended, and Congress agreed, that the disparity should be adjusted by authorizing the Department of Justice to return juveniles charged with violating federal law to the juvenile authorities of their home state. This solution suffered two unfortunate limitations. It did not account for juveniles charged with capital crimes. State law ordinarily excluded capital offenses from the jurisdiction of its juvenile courts. Second, state juvenile courts had no jurisdiction over juveniles who lived, and whose misconduct occurred upon, Indian reservations or military installations over which the state had no legislative jurisdiction. Congress addressed these shortcomings with the Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act of 1938. State juvenile proceedings remained the preferred alternative, but the Attorney General might instead elect to proceed against a juvenile as an adult, and federal juvenile proceedings became possible should both parties agree. Although supplemented in 1950 by the Federal Youth Corrections Act, which afforded federal juvenile offenders tried as adults the prospect of special rehabilitative opportunities, the Act remained essentially unchanged for over thirty-five years. In 1974, Congress substantially revised the Act in order "to provide basic procedural rights to juveniles who come under federal jurisdiction and to bring federal procedures up to the standards set by various model acts, many state codes and court decisions." Crimes punishable by death or life imprisonment (primarily murder, kidnapping, and rape) were made subject to the federal juvenile treatment for the first time. At the time, the Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia had recently declared unconstitutional the procedure under which the vast majority of state and federal capital punishment statutes operated. It was not until two years thereafter that Woodson v. North Carolina and Gregg v. Georgia gave some clue as to what procedures would pass constitutional muster. When Congress established the requisite procedures to restore capital punishment as a federal sentencing option, it exempted juveniles. In the 1974 revision of federal juvenile law, the Attorney General lost the unbridled discretion to determine whether children, accused of federal crimes, should be tried as adults in federal criminal proceedings. The Attorney General was authorized, however, to petition the federal juvenile court to transfer, for trial as an adult, any 16- or 17-year-old accused of a crime which carried a maximum penalty of death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment for ten years or more. Congress made the final major adjustments ten years later with changes that emphasized that at least some of the juveniles who commit serious crimes merited punishment as adults. The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 repealed the Federal Youth Corrections Act and eliminated juvenile parole provisions. The Sentencing Reform Act also lowered the age at which a juvenile may be transferred for trial as an adult and expanded the list of crimes that justify such a transfer. Thus far at least, the courts have declined to read into this history a congressional intent to repudiate rehabilitation as a sentencing consideration in federal juvenile proceedings. The continuing basic premise of federal juvenile law is that juvenile matters, even those arising under federal law, should be handled by state authorities whenever possible. The remote second preference of federal law is treatment of the juvenile under the federal delinquency provisions. Because a majority of the federal cases have historically arisen in areas beyond state jurisdiction, i.e. , primarily Indian country, the majority of federal delinquency proceedings have historically involved Native Americans. In a limited, but growing, number of instances involving drugs or violence, federal law permits the trial of juveniles as adults in federal court. For purposes of the Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act in its present form, a juvenile is an individual, under 21 years of age when the information is filed, alleged to have violated federal criminal law before reaching the age of 18. The Act reaches neither individuals after they turn 21 nor conduct committed after they turn 18. Federal authorities, however, may prosecute as an adult any individual whose active participation in a conspiracy or racketeering enterprise bridges his or her eighteenth birthday. Once the federal courts have found a juvenile delinquent, however, a court that revokes a juvenile's delinquent supervised release may order the juvenile held until age 26. Criminal investigation and prosecution is first and foremost the domain of state and local officials, and conduct which violates federal criminal law is usually contrary to state law as well. For example, the federal Controlled Substances Act has a state equivalent in every jurisdiction, and robbery of a federal insured bank, or murder of a federal employee or law enforcement officer, will almost always be contrary to the state robbery and murder statutes in the state in which the offenses occur. Moreover, while state crimes are the most common basis for state juvenile court jurisdiction, many state juvenile courts enjoy delinquency jurisdiction based upon a violation of federal law. Thus, an individual under 18 who violates federal criminal law can move through the state juvenile delinquency system without ever coming into contact with federal authorities. Contractions in state juvenile court jurisdiction, however, make this less likely than was once the case. Many states now define juvenile court jurisdiction more narrowly than federal law either in terms of age or crime or both. Some also permit the adult criminal trial of a juvenile either through the exercise of concurrent jurisdiction or a waiver or transfer of jurisdiction under circumstances the federal courts could not. A juvenile taken into federal custody for violation of federal law must be advised of his or her legal rights immediately and the juvenile's parents or guardian must be notified immediately. The courts have held that since federal custody activates the statute's requirements, the obligations only begin after a juvenile, initially detained by state, local, or tribal officials, is turned over to federal authorities, and may be excused when the juvenile frustrates reasonable but unsuccessful notification efforts. Much of the case law relating to the federal advice and notification provisions comes from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which has held that the word "immediate" means the same for both advice and notifications purposes; advice given 4 hours after arrest and notification given 3½ hours after arrest has not been given "immediately"; notice given within close to an hour after arrests had been given immediately; parental notification must include advice as to the juvenile's rights; parental notification may be accomplished through the good offices of the surrogate or appropriate foreign consulate when the juvenile's parents reside outside of the United States; convictions or delinquency determinations must be overturned if they are tainted by violations of section 5033 so egregious as to violate due process; and less egregious but prejudicial violations of section 5033 may require that any resulting incriminating statements be suppressed. The juvenile must also be brought before a magistrate for arraignment "forthwith." At night, on weekends, or at other times when a magistrate is not immediately available, arraignment may be within a time reasonable under the circumstances. On the other hand, when a magistrate is available, arraignment may not be delayed simply because the government is proceeding with an abundance of caution or because the associated paperwork is tedious.