What happens after the court decides an offender is a delinquent child in an SYO case?
In certain very serious cases, Ohio law requires the court to order an SYO sentence. In others, the court may or may not issue the SYO sentence after considering the length of time, level of security, and types of programming available in the juvenile system. In either case, when the court issues an SYO sentence, the court issues the juvenile portion of the sentence along with the “adult” portion of the sentence just as if the juvenile were an adult, except that the court cannot order a sentence of death or life imprisonment without parole. The adult portion of the sentence is “stayed,” meaning that the child does not serve the adult sentence at that time. The “adult” sentence may not have to be served at all if the child successfully completes the juvenile portion of the sentence.
