Incompetent youth in California juvenile justice.

AuthorBurrell, Sue

INTRODUCTION

With increasing frequency, juvenile justice professionals express concern over the difficulties of serving youth who "do not belong" in the juvenile justice system. They lament the influx of youth who properly should be served in the mental health, child welfare, or education systems. They offer troubling accounts of what happens to these young people, who often wind up incarcerated in secure facilities that are not designed for and are ill-equipped to provide appropriate care for them--resulting in further deterioration of mental and physical conditions, over-reliance on isolation and control measures, and severe stress on staff and resources in the facilities.

Among these young people are some with cognitive impairments so severe that they are unable to fully participate in their court cases. Competence to stand trial requires that they be able to understand the nature of the proceedings against them, and to assist their lawyers. And while the presence of a mental disorder, developmental disability, and/or immaturity does not automatically render a juvenile incompetent, the presence of these factors triggers the need for further inquiry. At the very least, these youth present serious challenges for the system in case processing and provision of services; at the most, the system must recognize their incompetence and prevent their cases from going forward.

Despite this, there has been little analysis of the extent of juvenile incompetence in California, or of the ability of the system to meet the needs of incompetent youth. Nor has there been any comprehensive effort to determine what could be done to improve state law or practice with respect to this population.

This Article offers a vehicle for discussion of California juvenile incompetence to stand trial. It begins with an overview of the California juvenile justice system and a profile of youth in juvenile justice, briefly reviews the incompetency laws applying to adults, and then describes existing legal provisions to address juvenile incompetence. It also describes the context in which this work was undertaken. The Article then presents the findings of the first-ever statewide survey (1) of California probation departments on youth who are incompetent or potentially incompetent to stand trial in juvenile delinquency proceedings. (2) It includes the information we set out to collect--responses on incidence of incompetence, what happens on the way to a determination of incompetence, and what happens to youth who are judicially adjudged incompetent. The Article also presents what county probation officers said about issues they face in serving youth who are not judicially adjudged incompetent but who have developmental disabilities or serious mental health issues. Finally, the Article closes with suggested policy actions to address the issues encountered in serving this population, with examples of currently existing "best practices."

I. BACKGROUND ON JUVENILE COURT PROCEEDINGS AND DISPOSITIONAL PLACEMENTS

Juvenile competence must be considered in the context of a complex system for handling juvenile crime. A brief overview of the California juvenile justice system and a profile of the young people in the system may be helpful.

  1. California Juvenile Court Process (3)

    "Juvenile justice" refers to juvenile court proceedings in which a minor is alleged or found to have committed an act that would be a crime if committed by an adult. In California, juvenile justice proceedings are also referred to as "delinquency" cases, or "602" cases, in reference to the jurisdictional statutes beginning at California Welfare and Institutions Code section 602.

    A California juvenile justice case begins with an arrest based on alleged commission of a crime, after which the youth may be released, delivered to a shelter or diversion program and cited to appear before the probation officer, or held and transported to the probation officer. (4) The probation officer, in turn, may release the youth on a promise to appear, release the youth on home supervision, place the youth in a non-secure facility, or order detention in the juvenile hall. (5) In California, juvenile halls are county-operated, locked facilities. (6) For detained youth, a formal juvenile court petition must be filed within forty-eight hours of being taken into custody, and the youth taken before the juvenile court before the expiration of the next judicial day after the petition is filed. (7)

    At the juvenile court detention hearing, counsel may be appointed if the minor is unable to afford a lawyer, the petition is read, and the minor admits or denies the allegations. (8) The judge may order the youth released, placed on home supervision, placed in a non-secure facility, or detained in the juvenile hall pending adjudication of the case at a jurisdictional hearing (court trial). (9) Where there is a concern about the minor's competence, it would typically be raised at this point, though if the case is one where the parties agree to "divert" the case out of the system, it might be handled at an even earlier point in the process. (10)

    For youth detained in juvenile hall, the jurisdictional hearing must take place within fifteen judicial days of the court's initial detention order. (11) At the hearing, the court hears the evidence and decides whether or not the minor comes within the jurisdiction of the court based on proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the minor committed a crime. (12) The rules of evidence applicable in adult criminal court are used, (13) and the minor's lawyer may file motions to suppress evidence, to exclude admissions or confessions, or to dismiss the case. (14) In many cases, before or at the time of the jurisdictional hearing the minor admits some or all of the allegations in the petition, in a process roughly equivalent to a guilty plea in adult court. (15) In cases where the youth is detained, the court may then set the case for disposition up to ten judicial days after the jurisdictional hearing, and if the youth is not detained, for up to thirty days from the date the petition was filed. (16)

    At the disposition hearing, the court decides whether the youth will be released on probation or placed in some form of institutional custody. (17) State law permits the detention of youth pending execution of the disposition order, subject to court approval at periodic reviews to be held every fifteen days. (18)

    The statutory timelines for detained juvenile justice cases envision that the adjudication and disposition of the case will occur in five to six weeks, depending on holidays and the day of the week the arrest occurred. (19) In practice, it may take much longer for cases to reach disposition because of continuances (20) or post-disposition delays in placement. (21) This is particularly so in cases where competence issues are involved.

  2. Dispositional Options (California) (22)

    The court's dispositional choices are very broad. It may declare the minor a ward of the court and place the minor on probation, subject to specified conditions. (23) Or, it may place the minor in a non-secure out-of-home placement. Youth placed through the juvenile justice system may be placed in foster care, licensed group homes, or community treatment facilities, just like children in the child welfare system. (24) The court may order that youth be incarcerated in juvenile hall for a specific amount of time, or send them to a county-operated juvenile home, ranch, camp, or forestry camp. (25) And finally, the court may commit youth to the Division of Juvenile Justice (formerly called the California Youth Authority), (26) a state-operated system of institutions and camps. All of the Division of Juvenile Justice institutions are secure.

    California law also provides two kinds of facilities specifically for delinquency wards with serious emotional disturbance. First, state law allows for the establishment of secure regional facilities for "seriously emotionally disturbed" wards. (27) And second, state law establishes community treatment facilities to serve "seriously emotionally disturbed" youth. (28) Juvenile courts may not directly commit youth to involuntary treatment in the mental health system, (29) though it may refer them for evaluation under the authority of statutes that will be discussed in greater detail with respect to juvenile competence.

    Throughout the case, the court has the power to dismiss the petition in the interest of justice. (30) At the dispositional phase, the court also has the power to join other agencies to the proceedings who have not met their legal obligation to provide services to the youth. (31)

    Juvenile court jurisdiction extends to twenty-one years of age, but goes up to twenty-five years for Division of Juvenile Justice wards. (32) Youth may be held in secure physical confinement for up to the maximum amount of time that could be imposed on an adult for the same offense. (33)

  3. Other Agencies Relevant to Juvenile Incompetence Issues

    While the processing of juvenile incompetence occurs in the juvenile court process outlined above, several other agencies can come into play depending on the case. The county department of mental health sometimes becomes involved if the minor suffers from a mental disorder. (34) The local regional center may become involved if the minor has a developmental disability or other qualifying condition. (35) The local education agency might become involved either through joinder motions seeking to enforce legal obligations to the youth, or as part of case planning. The role of these agencies and relevant legal authorities are discussed at pertinent points in the Article.

    II. PROFILE OF YOUTH IN THE CALIFORNIA JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM

    In 2005, there were 222,512 juvenile arrests in California, resulting in 178,767 referrals to probation and 98,919 formal juvenile court petitions being filed. (36) Of the petitions filed, fully 62,824 youth...

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