This guide follows a juvenile case from the first referral through the sealing petition years later, and follows the parallel school discipline case that so often runs beside it. Part 1 sets out the constitutional architecture built by Gault, Winship, McKeiver, and Breed, and what each case did and did not establish. Parts 2 through 7 walk the delinquency process stage by stage, with the practical leverage points identified at each. Part 8 covers transfer to adult court, which is the most consequential decision in the field. Parts 9 through 12 cover the school side: due process under Goss, searches under T.L.O., the IDEA and Section 504 disability framework, and FERPA. Parts 13 through 16 cover status offenses, competency, collateral consequences, and the records that outlast the case.