Opinion ID: 2364229
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Automatic Waiver Statute Provides Disparate Treatment of an Identifiable Class

Text: ¶ 23 Disparate treatment exists when the statutory scheme work[s] a discriminatory hardship on an identifiable group of persons who were singled out for treatment different from that to which other identifiable groups were made subject. Drej, 2010 UT 35, ¶ 36, 233 P.3d 476 (alteration in original) (internal quotation marks omitted). The groups must also be similarly situated. Id. It cannot be disputed that the potential consequences for the same alleged actions can be much more severe in adult courts than in juvenile courtsespecially in the case of murder, as is at issue here. And while sixteen-year-olds charged with murder may not be similarly situated to sixteen-year-olds charged with lesser crimes, see id. ¶¶ 36-39, we are not prepared to hold that fifteen-year-olds charged with murder are not similarly situated to sixteen-year-olds charged with the same crime. The two might be days apart in age, yet treated very differently under the law. The statutorily created classification thus does create disparate treatment.