Although I do not practice criminal law, I have some knowledge of the issue. This is not the procedure in 100% of the cases because some states have mandatory guidelines, but I think this is the general scenario: In most states the cut-off age is 16 or 18. However, when the crime is of a particularly heinous nature, both the judge and the prosecutor may have the opportunity to transfer the case to adult court. There is usually a review or court-imposed standard that the case has to meet before transfer. Murder cases are almost always transfered unless the accused is too young to understand what death is and that it is a permanent situation.
For example, several years ago two young brothers (somewhere between 7 and 9)in the midwest basically kidnapped their 6 year-old schoolmate, took him to the 5th floor of an abandoned building and pushed him out. Their lawyer claimed that they didn't know that the 6 year-old would die. The court found otherwise and reasoned that most kids know at four or five that the Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote situation is a cartoon and that real people don't come back after falling off of a cliff or being bull-dozed. Kids that are of an age to understand the cause and effect of their own pain, are surely able to understand when they cause pain to others.
Sorry so long I hope that this clarifies how the courts go about deciding between juvenile and adult cases. The rehabilitation v. incarceration argument is another situation all together.
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