1 / 29

Juvenile and Adult Probation and Case Planning: Principles and Practice

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. Georgia’s Middle Judicial Circuit. Five “Persistent Poverty” Counties in East Central Georgia

Download Presentation

Juvenile and Adult Probation and Case Planning: Principles and Practice

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  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

More Related