Delinquency
A juvenile, someone between the ages of 8 and 18. who is charged with a criminal offense is accused of being delinquent.
Charges and Investigation
Charges come to the attention of the court through various avenues. The police officer may write the youth a citation or ticket and tell them when and where to appear in court. The police officer may arrest an individual for committing a crime and bring the youth to the detention center, where they will have their advisory hearing before a judge within 24 hours.
Determination of Crime
The officers may investigate a crime and upon completing the investigation, send the police report to the County Attorney's Office. A County Attorney will read over the police report and determine whether a crime has been committed. If the County Attorney believes a crime has been committed, the County Attorney will file a petition, a charging document, with the court.
Scheduling Advisory Hearing
The court will schedule the matter for an advisory hearing and court administration will send a letter to the youth and his parent’s informing them of the impending court hearing.
Since a juvenile’s freedom is at stake the court will appoint an attorney to represent the youth. The attorney will meet with their client before the first court hearing. The attorney will sit down with the juvenile and verify the biological information is current and correct, and inform the juvenile of:
- The charge
- Their constitutional rights
- Options for handling the charge
- Dispositional (sentencing) alternatives
Client/Attorney Privilege
The attorney and the client will discuss the facts surrounding the allegation. The attorney will speak to their client, the juvenile, alone. Client/attorney privilege prevents the attorney from telling anyone what was discussed in the client meeting. If a parent were present at the meeting they can be called by the county attorney at trial to testify about an admission the youth made to his/her attorney.
Plea Offers
During the client/attorney consultation the attorney will ask about possible witnesses, for and against the client, and discuss possible defenses. The attorney will also tell the client if the county attorney has made a “plea offer”. A plea offer is where the county attorney offers to reduce the seriousness of a crime or dismiss counts in exchange for an admission to an offense. The client and attorney will discuss the pros and cons of a plea offer.
The client will decide how they wish to handle their case, accepting a plea offer, setting the matter for adjudication or admitting the offense.
After the consultation the client, family and attorney will attend the Advisory Hearing before the judge.
Two decisions will be made at the Advisory Hearing:
- How the juvenile wishes to proceed
- If the juvenile will be released or detained pending the next court hearing.
Steps of the advisory hearing
- At the beginning of the hearing the court will have all parties state their name.
- The judge will then ask if the biological information is correct and if the juvenile waives a formal reading of; the charges, summary of constitutional rights, and dispositional (sentencing) alternatives by the judge. (The attorney will answer questions for the juvenile)
- The attorney will then tell the judge if the juvenile is denying and setting the matter for adjudication (trial) or admitting.
- If the juvenile admits to some or all of the charges the judge will go over all the juvenile’s constitutional rights and sentencing options
- If after hearing their rights and sentencing options the juvenile wishes to admit, the juvenile will have to tell the judge what he/she did to be guilty of that charge.
- Next, the judge will make decisions on whether to release the juvenile to live with his parents or detain him/her until the next court hearing.
- The court will consider the juvenile’s recent behavior when deciding whether to detain him/her or release them to their parent.
- If the juvenile has been following curfew, attending school, not using drugs or alcohol and being law abiding, the youth is more likely to be released to his/her parents.
- However, if the youth is not coming home, using drugs, not attending school and committing crimes in the community or home, the child will likely be detained.
- The judge will listen to what the county attorney, parents and juvenile’s attorney have to say before deciding whether to detain the child. The judge will then set the next hearing, either adjudication (trial) or disposition (sentencing).
If the next hearing is an adjudication hearing, the client needs to remain with their attorney so they can discuss the case. The client needs to help the attorney gather witness information and be available to discuss any issues that may come up during trial preparation.
Proving guilt
At the adjudication (trial), it will be the job of the county attorney to prove to the judge beyond a reasonable doubt (almost certain) that the juvenile committed the crime he/she is accused of.
Witness testimony
The county attorney attempts to prove guilt by calling witnesses, usually the victim (person the crime happened to) the police who investigated the crime and anyone else who saw or heard anything. The juvenile’s attorney will get to question each of the state’s witnesses once the county attorney is done asking questions.
Once all of the state’s witnesses have testified, the juvenile will call his witnesses to testify. However, the juvenile does not have to call any witnesses. It is the state’s job to prove he is guilty, not the juvenile’s job to prove he is innocent.
After all the witnesses have testified, the juvenile will decide whether he/she want to take the witness stand and answer questions. The juvenile will be first questions by their attorney and then by the state’s attorney. The juvenile does not have to testify and the judge cannot use the fact that the juvenile did not testify as a sign of guilt.
Judgment
Once all the testimony is taken, the judge will decide whether he believes the state has proven their case. If the judge believes the state did not prove the juvenile committed the offense, the judge dismisses the case and it is like it never happened.
However, if the judge finds that the state proved the juvenile committed some or all of the crimes the judge will set the matter for a disposition (sentencing) hearing. The court will once again review the issue of release or detention.
At the dispositional hearing the judge will determine what consequence the juvenile should receive for his crime. The judge will receive a report from the probation officer who was asked to gather information about the juvenile and his family.
Recommendations for Punishment
The probation officer will make a recommendation for punishment. During the hearing the judge will give the county attorney, parents, juvenile and juvenile’s attorney an opportunity to argue for a specific punishment.
Direct Consequence
The court could order the juvenile a direct consequence such as:
- being detained
- community service work hours
- educational class
- a fine
- an essay of other punishment
Probation Options
- The court could place the juvenile on summary probation wherein the juvenile is on probation until he/she completes one of the consequences previously mentioned.
- The court could place the juvenile on standard probation, a probation officer would check up on the juvenile monthly for a year or longer. The juvenile would be ordered to attend school or work, undergo drug screenings, perform direct consequences, and could be detained as well.
- The court could order juvenile intensive probation wherein the juvenile is on house arrest for six months followed by six months of standard probation.
- Some youth are sent to live in a residential treatment center.
Once the juvenile is sentenced the case is completed. If the juvenile believes that a legal error has been made, he/she can request an appeal.
An appeal is a process whereby the court of appeals checks over what the juvenile court did. The court of appeals has more power than the juvenile court. The court of appeals will not change the outcome of a case unless the juvenile court made a substantial legal mistake.
Appeals generally take at least six months. It is very unlikely that the court of appeals will change anything until the appeal ends, and only then if the person wins. If a person is incarcerated and then appeals, he will stay incarcerated during the appeals process.
If you want an appeal, you only have 15 days from the end of your court case to start the appeal. Your lawyer cannot start an appeal until you talk to them about it after the juvenile court makes its final order.
How an appeal works
The appeals court checks over what happened in delinquency court to see if the judge made a significant legal mistake. To do this, the appeals court looks at the legal papers and transcripts. Transcripts are written “scripts” of everything that was said in court. The appeals court will not look at anything new.
When checking for legal mistakes, the appeals court asks:
- Did the court do something that the law does not allow?
- Did the court use the wrong law?
- Did the court misunderstand the law?
- Did the court make a decision without any evidence to support it?
The appeals court views evidence in the light most favorable to upholding the ruling of the court. The appellate court will not reweigh the evidence; instead it will see if there is evidence to support the finding of the judge. If there was a legal mistake, the appeals court checks to see if the mistake was significant. If the case would have turned out the same even without the mistake, then the mistake is small or harmless, and nothing will change.
If the mistake was large enough to change the whole case; the appeals court might vacate (undo or cancel) what the juvenile court did, or the appeals court might let the person re-do the case.
Juvenile proceedings and records are open to the public. Juvenile records and many related documents are subject to public inspection. Moreover, juvenile records are never automatically set aside or destroyed. Rather, destruction and set asides are granted only upon application. Anyone can request to have their juvenile record destroyed but not everyone can have it set aside. However, having your record destroyed is preferable to having it set aside.
Destruction of Records - A.R.S. §8-349 (B)
If you are at least 18 years old and no longer under the jurisdiction of the court, you may apply for destruction of Juvenile Court and Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections delinquency records IF the records concern a referral or citation that did not result in further action or that resulted in diversion, placement in a community based alternative program OR an adjudication of delinquency as identified below.
In your affidavit and application, you must certify under oath that all of the following are true:
- You are at least 18 years of age.
- You are not under the jurisdiction of Juvenile Court or the Department of Juvenile Corrections.
- You have not been convicted of a felony offense (in an adult court) or adjudicated delinquent (in juvenile court) for an offense listed in A.R.S. §13-501 A or B or Title 28 Chapter 4 (Driving Under the Influence).
- A criminal charge is not pending against you in adult court.
- You have completed all of the conditions of your juvenile-court ordered probation, or received a discharge from the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections pursuant to A.R.S. §41-2820 on successful completion of your individualized treatment plan.
- All restitution has been paid in full.
- You are not currently required to register pursuant to A.R.S. §13-3821.
- You have paid all monetary obligations or you have asked the court to modify the outstanding obligation.
Destruction of Records - A.R.S. §8-349 (D)
If you are 25 years or older and cannot apply for the destruction of records under A.R.S. §8-349(B), you may apply for destruction of Juvenile Court and Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections delinquency records as identified below.
In your affidavit and application you must certify under oath that all of the following are true:
- You are at least 25 years of age.
- You have not been convicted of a felony offense in adult court.
- A criminal charge is not pending against you in adult court.
- All restitution has been paid in full.
- You have paid all monetary obligations or you asked the court to modify the outstanding obligation.
Setting aside Adjudications - A.R.S. §8-348
If you are at least 18 years of age and no longer under the jurisdiction of juvenile court, have been adjudicated delinquent or incorrigible, and have fulfilled the conditions of probation or have been discharged from the department of juvenile corrections pursuant to §41-2820 on successful completion of your individual treatment plan, you may apply to set aside the adjudication.
You are NOT eligible to apply to set aside the adjudication if you were adjudicated delinquent for any of the following offenses:
- A dangerous offense as defined in section 13-105.
- An offense for which there has been a finding of sexual motivation pursuant to section 13-118.
- An offense in violation of Title 13, Chapter 14.
- An offense in violation of section 28-1381, 28-1382, or 28-13839 (Driving Under the Influence) if the offense can be alleged as a prior violation pursuant to Title 28, Chapter 4.
- Or you have failed to pay all restitution.
In the affidavit and application you must certify under oath that all of the following are true:
- You are at least 18 years of age.
- You are not under the jurisdiction of juvenile court.
- The offense was not in violation of the above statutes.
- You have completed all of the conditions of your court ordered probation or received a discharge from the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections upon a successful completion of your individualized treatment plan.
- All restitution has been paid in full.
Restoration of Gun Rights - A.R.S. §13-910
If you were convicted of a dangerous offense under section 13-704 you may NOT file for the restoration of the right to possess a firearm.
You may apply for the restoration of your civil right to carry a gun or firearm as set forth below.
In the affidavit and application you must certify under oath that the following is true:
- You were not convicted of a dangerous offense under section 13-704 (See link above) and,
- If you were convicted of an offense under 13-706, it has been ten years from the date of your absolute discharge or,
- If you were convicted/adjudicated for any other felony offense, it has been two years since your absolute discharge.
NOTE: If you were adjudicated delinquent for a misdemeanor with a date of offense either before July 17, 1994 or on or after September 21, 2006, you did not lose your civil rights to carry a gun or firearm (except perhaps your term of probation or commitment to the Department of Juvenile Corrections). See A.R.S. §§8-341 (R) and 13-904 (H).