There’s two terms: “Jugendlicher” and “Jugend-”. “Jugend-” can be used as a prefix for all sorts of things with all sorts of age limits (for example the SPÖ Jugendorganisation goes up to age 45 for some crazy reason). “Jugendlicher” on the other hand is really just used as a term for people until they reach the age of legal adulthood.
(Also, terms are not always used correctly in all circumstances. For example, I local all-you-can-eat restaurant that we often go to has two price tiers for children, one from age 4-7 and another from 8-12. To differentiate both of them by name, they call the older group “Kinder” (children) and the younger group “Kleinkinder” (toddler), even though in any other context a “Kleinkind” is maybe up to age 3-4. So it’s not really an evidence of the meaning of a word that it is misused in some contexts.
Being “tried as a youth” doesn’t make you any more of a youth than being “tried as an adult” turns a child into an adult.)
There’s two terms: “Jugendlicher” and “Jugend-”. “Jugend-” can be used as a prefix for all sorts of things with all sorts of age limits (for example the SPÖ Jugendorganisation goes up to age 45 for some crazy reason). “Jugendlicher” on the other hand is really just used as a term for people until they reach the age of legal adulthood.
(Also, terms are not always used correctly in all circumstances. For example, I local all-you-can-eat restaurant that we often go to has two price tiers for children, one from age 4-7 and another from 8-12. To differentiate both of them by name, they call the older group “Kinder” (children) and the younger group “Kleinkinder” (toddler), even though in any other context a “Kleinkind” is maybe up to age 3-4. So it’s not really an evidence of the meaning of a word that it is misused in some contexts.
Being “tried as a youth” doesn’t make you any more of a youth than being “tried as an adult” turns a child into an adult.)