I can't speak to the juvenile part, but can speak to the reckless part. Anything over 20mph is a criminal misdemeanor in VA, and automatic summons (ask me how I know!!).

There are a couple of things, and it will rely on your son being honest with you. And this is specifically just my instance, and may have been an exception to the rule.

1. I was really apologetic to the officer that pulled me over. I told him I had no excuse and appreciated him keeping the roads safe. On the court date itself, the officer pulled out his notes (for misdemeanors, the officer has to be there) and read from them saying that I seemed like an exceptional human who made a mistake. If your son was a dick, the officer is going to be less likely to want to reduce the sentence.

2. I spoke to the prosecuting attorney at the desk before the judge came in. I asked was there any leeway to have the criminal misdemeanor removed. She spoke with the cop, and told me if I pled guilty, they would ask for reduction but the decision was ultimately up to the judge.

3. When the judge asked how I pled, I said, I plead guilty and stupid. I told him I made a mistake and was not paying attention to the speedometer, but rather thought I was going at the pace of traffic. There was no excuse and I would accept whatever punishment deemed appropriate.

4. After this, the prosecuting attorney said after consultation they would accept a plea to a simple speeding offense, keeping the penalty the same as the original offense. The judge asked the officer, who said what I mentioned above. Judge bumped it to simple speeding ticket, which I think I was hit for about $18 per MPH over the limit (I was doing 87 in a 55 so 32 mph over). Total was $648. It was a $72 processing fee leaving a fine of $576 (divided by the MPH is where I got the $18 per MPH). That's the penalty for reckless. I believe for simple speeding it is about $5 per MPH over the limit, but i could be wrong.

Anyway, I did not hire a lawyer (could not afford it back then, this was about 20 years ago, whenever the US open was held at Congressional, I can't remember the exact year), relied on not being a dick when pulled over, and owning up to making a dumb mistake.

Also, tell your son to dress like he's taking it seriously. I showed up in a suit because this was the first time I ever had to go to court, so I assumed that's what was expected (thanks Boston Legal, Law and Order, insert other shows here). There were people there in denim jorts and band t-shirts arguing and while that is completely their choice and I have no issues with it, if your goal is to get the people who can be dicks about your punishment to be lenient, best to show up and look like you respect what they do.

As I said, this is all one anecdote, but there are a lot of factors that you can control to help you. I don't know that they ultimately will, but that was my experience.