Juvenile and Adult Probation and Case Planning: Principles and Practice

1. Juvenile and Adult Probation and Case Planning: Principles and Practice Judge Tom C. Rawlings Juvenile Courts, Middle Judicial Circuit State of Georgia tom@sandersville.net www.tomrawlings.com

2. Georgia’s Middle Judicial Circuit • Five “Persistent Poverty” Counties in East Central Georgia • Poverty rates > 20% over a 40-year period • Not within any Metropolitan Statistical Area • 2,300 square miles with 100,000 residents

3. Children under 17 accused of a crime. Children under 18 alleged to be deprived (neglected or abused) and who need state protection. Children under 18 accused of a status offense Children accused of a crime but who are incompetent to stand trial The Juvenile Court’s Jurisdiction

4. 50 40 30 20 10 0 Juvenile Crime by Type, Georgia1996-2000 Percent Person Property Drugs Pers Comm. Mary Mathis, MPH, Mercer University School of Medicine, Sept 2004

5. Role of the Juvenile Court in Criminal Cases • To Treat and Rehabilitate the Child • To Ensure Community Safety • To Hold the Child Accountable

6. Role of the Juvenile Court in Foster Care • Primary responsibility of the Court and State to foster children: reunification of the family • To accomplish the goal of stable families requires fit parents • For parents with mental illness and substance abuse, effective mental health services are needed

7. Methodology: The Treatment Plan • Case Plan or Probation Plan • Probation: After Adjudication of Juvenile Delinquency • Case Plan: After neglected child placed in foster care.

8. Formal or Informal? • DIVERT WHEN POSSIBLE! • Most youth who are referred to juvenile court never return on a subsequent offense. • Properly-designed informal response systems are faster than the formal adversarial system and can be more effective. • Don’t waste valuable resources on less serious offenders!

9. Initiating the Court Process • Is this a diversion case or a formal delinquency case? • Reasons for diverting: • Most kids never return to court, so why waste valuable resources on them? • Properly-designed informal response systems are faster • Consider diversion for every status offender, first-time misdemeanant

10. Informal Process • Separate definite formals from others • Review remaining for possible informals • Discuss possibility of informal treatment with victim • See if youth and family are willing • Schedule meeting • If youth accepts responsibility, determine appropriate sanction

11. Diversion Options • Properly done, they offer: • Accountability • Timeliness • Cost Savings • Community Cohesion • What’s available?

12. Risk/Needs Assessments • Key attributes • They employ an objective scoring process • They use items that can be easily and reliably measured, meaning that results are consistent both across staff and over time. • They are statistically associated with future criminal behavior so the system can accurately identify offenders with different risk levels

13. Timeliness • Why is it important? • “A youth with delayed cognitive development who must wait a significant period of time between offense and consequence may not be able to sufficiently connect the two events.” • Uncertainty increases anxiety and impacts the sense of fairness and predictability of the juvenile process

14. Timeliness • All hearings should be held as close to the offense date as possible • If youth is adjudicated, the response (disposition) must be swift and services readily available • Must respect and wisely use everyone’s time

15. Disposition • Timing of the hearing? • Pre-disposition investigation? • Juvenile’s record, both delinquent and deprived. • Interview of youth, custodians, etc. • Living and work situations of custodians • Identification of significant individuals who influence youth • School history, talents

16. Plea Bargaining • Approximately 95% of cases are disposed of through plea bargaining. • May involve probation with certain conditions, or a suspended sentence

17. Disposition • Pre-disposition hearing? • Why family and youth believe child broke the law. • Information from victim regarding his or her relationship to the offender. • Information from service providers. • Protection of community issues • Attitude of youth and family toward the offense.

18. The Probation Option • When a Court sentences an offender, it retains in most cases the right to “probate” or suspend a portion of, or all of, prison time based on the offender’s willingness to comply with restrictions and treatment plan.

19. Probation Plan • For Juvenile Delinquent, May Last up to Two Years • Intensive Probation • Day Treatment • Evening Reporting • Monitoring • Drug testing • Remaining away from certain places • For Adults, may last as long as the prison sentence could last.

20. Post-Disposition Review • ALWAYS REVIEW IF: • Child remains in community and child: • Has committed a serious offense and is receiving court-ordered services; • Youth is on a waiting list for court-ordered treatment; or • The Court has questions about the follow-through of the parent, youth, or service provider and believes further monitoring is needed.

21. Post-Disposition Review • Questions to ask: • Are youth, parent, and custodian following through? • Are probation and services providers doing what they’ve been asked to do? • Is child compliant? • Are changes to treatment plan needed? • What sort of reinforcement, positive or negative, is needed?

22. Post-Disposition Review • How to Review? • Progress reports, progress conferences • Case staffings • Actual court hearings • Mediation • Family Conferencing? • When to Review? • Within first 60 days and every 90 days thereafter.

23. Post-Disposition Review • Re-Entry for youth placed out of the home. • Questions: • Progress • Compliance • Reentry Planning • Educational Situation • Funding for Placement

24. Post-Disposition Review • Final Reentry Plan • Assessment of Risk to Reoffend • Where’s youth going to live? • What aftercare steps should be taken? • What about school? • What about protecting community and victim? • Behavioral Contract with Youth spelling out consequences • How long will youth be monitored?

25. Probation Violations • Questions: • How has youth complied as well as not complied? • Have parents/custodians complied? • What’s youth’s family and educational situation? • What change in possible sanctions, incentives, or restrictions is indicated by the evidence?

26. Probation Violations • Court’s Power: • The Court always has the power to modify its sentence of probation if evidence proves the offender has not complied. • The Court may revoke all or part of the offender’s probation or add sanctions, including temporary detention.

27. Foster Care Case Plan • Functions much like a probation plan, but applies to the parents of a child. • If the Parents want to keep their child or have their child returned to them, they must comply • Failure to comply can result in both termination of parental rights and fines/incarceration.

28. The Future • Therapeutic Justice • Drug Courts • Mental Health Courts

29. Q & A WWW.TOMRAWLINGS.COM