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What Parents Should Know About Juvenile Courts

The Juvenile & Domestic Relations (“J&DR”) District Court is a court on a par with the General District Court. It is designed primarily for handling cases involving families, and children (those under 18), but can also have jurisdiction over adults (those 18 and older). For instance, your 16 year old high school junior is caught drinking beer down at the river with his best friend, an 18 year old senior at his school. Both will likely be charged with underage possession of alcohol, but the 18 year old, though an adult, is also likely to be charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The 18 year old will answer his charges in two courts: the alcohol possession charge will be heard in General District Court, but he will also have to appear in the J&DR court on the contributing charge because a juvenile is involved.

While it doesn’t happen to everyone, occasionally a child gets into trouble and finds himself coming to you and saying, “Mom, Dad, I have to go to court because …”

Unless you have been through this before with another child, you probably will have a bunch of questions going through your head, and one of them should be, “Do we need to get a lawyer?” Well, that depends on what follows the word “because” in your child’s statement. Although matters coming before the J&DR court are usually not open to the public to protect the child’s privacy interests, in virtually all cases (except very minor traffic offenses, but not reckless driving!) an attorney should be present to represent the child’s present and future interests. These are two different considerations. Though they are inter-related, they may have adverse consequences both immediately, and in the future. Let me explain.

The present interests are of course, the pending charge(s). If the charge is a misdemeanor (maximum punishment is not more than a year in jail), it is going to be handled entirely in the J&DR court, with a judge hearing the evidence, determining whether the charge is justified or should be dismissed, and if the charges are determined to be “founded,” imposing the punishment.

If the charge is a felony if it were committed by an adult, then only the preliminary hearing may be held in the J&DR court, because under certain conditions, the Commonwealth’s Attorney can seek to have the case transferred to the Circuit Court where the range of punishment is greater. Whenever possible, it is desirable to have the case retained in the J&DR court, if for no other reason than to be able to appeal an unsatisfactory result to the Circuit court.

Additionally, an attorney is a desirable ally in J&DR cases for the same reasons an adult would want one in a criminal case in General District or Circuit court. The possibility for an acquittal or dismissal of the charges exists in the J&DR court, just as in any other court.

The rules of evidence applicable to the General District and Circuit courts also apply in J&DR court. Just because the defendant is a child does not mean that he or she is stripped of legal rights. Except for a jury trial – not available in J&DR courts – the child is entitled to all the rights throughout the judicial process as though he were an adult, including these: the right to confront and cross-examine the witnesses called against him; the right to call witnesses in his own behalf; the right to contest the admissibility of evidence; and the right to put on evidence of his own that goes to his own innocence, or to reduce punishment. He has the right to conduct limited pre-trial discovery of the Commonwealth’s case against him, file motions to exclude evidence, or demand more information to assist in the defense of the case.

An experienced, alert attorney will (or should) know not only how to find weaknesses in the Commonwealth’s case, but may be able to present evidence to disprove the Commonwealth’s case.

While most people assume that juvenile court records are “sealed,” and cannot be accessed, that is incorrect. Although the proceedings themselves are confidential in most cases, certain persons are permitted, by statute, to examine juvenile court records at any time. Among them are the Commonwealth’s Attorney, and federal and state probation officers. The reasons for this are appropriate for review here, briefly.

In prosecuting the case, the Commonwealth’s Attorney will, as a matter of course, search the court’s files to determine whether the child has a prior record, and will review the circumstances of the incident and the outcome. Most of the time, there is nothing disclosed in this search, but occasionally, the child will have had one or more contacts with the juvenile justice system. In assessing how to handle the present case, the Commonwealth’s Attorney will take into account any prior record he finds. However, that examination only goes to the present case; a juvenile conviction may have more dire consequences if the juvenile is later convicted of a felony while an adult.

Both Virginia and the federal government have adopted Sentencing Guidelines that apply in most felony cases. These are intended to accomplish uniformity in sentencing those convicted as adults for a similar felony offense, so that one person convicted of say, grand larceny, will face a similar punishment as any other person convicted of this crime. But in arriving at a range of sentencing the Guidelines also take into account the person’s prior criminal history, including juvenile court records. Under both the Virginia and federal Sentencing Guidelines, juvenile “convictions” may enhance the punishment one can receive if found guilty of an offense when an adult. Under the Virginia guidelines, a prior juvenile record will add a minimum of 1 point to the scoring total, but in the federal system, the result is usually more severe.

For example, a person being sentenced under the federal guidelines will first have his Criminal History Category (CHC) established. If the person has no prior qualifying juvenile record or adult criminal record, he will be placed in CHC I. Hypothetically, assume the severity of the crime for which he is being punished has an Offense Level of 14. The recommended base sentence in that case would be a range of incarceration of “15 to 21” months. However, if the person’s prior criminal history places him in CHC II (having prior qualifying convictions totaling 2 or 3 points), the range of incarceration at Level 14 increases to “18 to 24” months. Similar increases occur as the CHC levels rise.

It is clear to see that as the CHC is enhanced by the number of “prior sentencing event points,” the sentencing range increases significantly, too. Therefore, a J&DR court “conviction” is not a one-time event to be forgotten or taken lightly because it can be harmful later. While most parents are not aware of this, attorneys regularly practicing in the federal courts, and in the Commonwealth’s J&DR courts are – or should answer any questions other than your name, your parents’ name and telephone number, UNTIL YOUR PARENTS ARE PRESENT!

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