How are juvenile court judges selected?
Judges become judges either by popular election or by appointment. An election may be partisan or nonpartisan. Generally, appointment is by a state governor, as in Colorado, though the state senate in some states, such as Delaware, must confirm an appointment. In a few states appointment may be by a legislature or by the judges of the general trial court. Where appointment is exclusively to a juvenile court, as in Utah, or to a family court, as in Rhode Island, the judges are specialists and hear only this workload throughout the durations of their terms. Appointment or election to a court is normally for a four- or six-year term. Most often, judges are elected or appointed to the general- or limited-jurisdiction trial court and then assigned to a juvenile division, where one exists. New judges often receive this assignment, an assignment that is not always regarded as one of high esteem. Increasingly, juvenile court judges have had extensive experience as lawyers or as magistrates or
