Chester Cnty. C.P. Court of Common Pleas Juvenile Rules

CHESTER COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS JUVENILE RULES

Rule L.101. Citing the Rules.

These rules shall be known as the Chester County Court of Common Pleas Juvenile Rules, and

shall be cited as “C.C.Juv.Rule ____.”

Rule L.140. Hearing Officers Authorized to Hear Juvenile Bench Warrant

Hearings.

All lawyers employed by the County of Chester to preside as Hearing Officers in juvenile cases

are hereby designated to preside over and hear juvenile bench warrant hearings.

Rule L.151. Assignment of Counsel to Juveniles in Juvenile Court.

The Chester County Public Defender's office or, in the event of a conflict, assigned conflict

counsel shall represent all juveniles against whom a petition has been filed in juvenile court and

who have not retained private counsel.

Rule L.210.A. Arrest Warrant Procedures in Juvenile Delinquency Court.

All magisterial district judges of Chester County (Fifteenth Judicial District) are hereby

designated as issuing authorities for arrest warrants for juveniles in delinquency cases.

Applications for Chester County juvenile arrest warrants made pursuant to Pa.R.J.C.P. 210.A,

with approval of an attorney for the Commonwealth pursuant to Pa.R.J.C.P. 210.B and 231.B

when required, shall be submitted to the local magisterial district judge during business hours

and to the "on-call" magisterial district judge after business hours.

Rule L.220.A(2)(b). Juvenile Support Bench Warrants.

Any juvenile (a person who is less than eighteen (18) years of age) taken into custody pursuant

to a bench warrant issued for failure to pay support shall be transported to the Chester County

Youth Center (Youth Center) for detention until the bench warrant is quashed or a court of

common pleas judge holds a seventy-two (72) hour hearing for the juvenile. In the event that the

judge determines that further detention is warranted, the juvenile shall remain in the Youth

Center. Under no circumstances shall such a juvenile be incarcerated in the Chester County

Prison. The Youth Center shall immediately notify the appropriate supervisor of the Chester

County Domestic Relations Office (DRO) to apprise the DRO of the juvenile’s detention. Upon

such notice, the DRO shall promptly perform all functions that it normally performs for

incarcerated support defendants, including the scheduling of a seventy-two (72) hour hearing for

the juvenile before a judge.

RULE L.310.A. Pre-Adjudication Conditions.

The Chester County juvenile probation office ("probation office") is hereby authorized to impose

reasonable pre-adjudication conditions on all juveniles against whom Petitions have been filed or

are pending under the Juvenile Act, including a requirement that the juvenile submit to a

urinalysis to determine controlled substance use. Such conditions shall be from among those

previously approved by the court to protect the public, maintain the competencies of the juvenile

and/or assist the probation office in recommending an appropriate disposition in the event of an

adjudication of delinquency. Any juvenile, or attorney representing a juvenile, may seek

emergency relief from the juvenile court supervising judge if any pre-adjudication condition

imposed by the juvenile probation office is deemed to be unreasonable. Any juvenile who

refuses, explicitly or implicitly, to comply with any pre-adjudication condition, including the

refusal to submit to a urinalysis, without providing an adequate medical or other extraordinary

reason to justify that refusal, shall be presumed by the court to have failed to successfully

comply with that condition. In no event shall the court consider a juvenile’s compliance or

failure to comply with a pre-adjudication condition when it determines whether the juvenile

committed any charged delinquent act.

Rule L.404.B. Prompt Adjudication Hearing for Non-Detained Juveniles.

All juvenile adjudication hearings scheduled for non-detained juveniles shall be held within five

(5) months from the filing of a delinquency petition initiated pursuant to Pa.R.J.C.P. 330, unless

the supervising judge of the Chester County juvenile court grants an extension. This five month

period shall not include time during which the juvenile is sought to be arrested pursuant to a

bench warrant.

This regulation is intended to better assure that non-detained juveniles receive an adjudicatory

hearing within a reasonable time, pursuant to Pa.R.J.C.P. 404(B), and that Pa.R.J.C.P. 404(B) is

construed to eliminate unjustifiable delay, in accordance with Pa.R.J.C.P. 101(B).

The Chester County Juvenile Probation Department, the attorneys for juvenile defendants and

the Commonwealth shall make a good faith effort to schedule formal adjudication hearings

within the five month period required by this regulation. If an extension of this five month period

is sought, the attorneys for the subject juvenile and the Commonwealth shall schedule a

conference with the supervising juvenile judge and the assigned probation officer to explain the

reason(s) for the anticipated delay. Any such reason(s) must constitute good cause for an

extension to be granted. Except for unusual circumstances, any extension granted shall be

provided within an order scheduling the adjudicatory hearing to begin on a date certain.

Dismissal of the petition shall not result from the failure of the adjudication hearing to be held

within the above described five month period or any extension of it.

All future juvenile probation court reports shall provide, in the upper right hand comer of the

first page, the filing date of the juvenile delinquency petition and the date when the five month

period to hold the adjudication hearing ends. (The five month period shall be recalculated to

eliminate any time a bench warrant remains unexecuted.)

Rule L.512. Creation of a Juvenile Court Restitution Fund.

A juvenile court restitution fund is created as follows:

Authority

The authority for the creation of a juvenile court restitution fund ("JCR Fund") with

contributions paid by juveniles supervised by the Chester County Juvenile Probation Office

("JPO") may be found in the Juvenile Act at 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 6304.l(b), 6323(f), 6340(c.l) and

6352(a)(5), and in the Pennsylvania Code at 37 Pa. Code § 200.501 et seq. These statutory

sections and rules permit a court of common pleas president judge to establish a restitution fund

for victims of juvenile delinquent acts with monies provided by children supervised by a juvenile

probation office.

Purpose of Fund

The purpose of the JCR Fund is to provide a means for children under the supervision of the JPO

to earn money, through community service work, to reimburse crime victims for financial loss

resulting from delinquent acts. In this manner, juvenile offenders are held accountable to their

victims, required to benefit the community they harmed and provided opportunities to develop

occupational competencies. Consequently, the JCR Fund purpose is consistent with the

overarching goals of the Pennsylvania juvenile justice system to provide victim restoration and

competency development.

Guidelines

The JPO shall establish and administer the JCR Fund in accordance with these guidelines, as

supplemented by any revisions or additional procedures approved by the president judge.1

Juvenile Payor - A juvenile payor utilizing the JCR Fund is any child under the jurisdiction of

the JPO whose conditions of supervision require the child to pay restitution to a victim of a

delinquent act.

Victim Recipient - A victim recipient of the JCR Fund includes all victims of juvenile delinquent

acts, including any natural person, corporation, business or other organization that has submitted

a restitution claim, approved by the JPO, which requests restitution for damages caused by a

juvenile payor. Should the JCR Fund eventually have sufficient monies to routinely reimburse

corporations, businesses and other organizations, the president judge may authorize those entities

to be included as victim recipients.

JCR Fund Revenue

The JCR Fund will be provided funds in the following manner:

Any future changes authorized to be made by the president judge pursuant to these guidelines will not

necessitate the promulgation of a new administrative regulation.

A. All monies previously collected by the JPO which remain in an existing restitution

account shall be utilized as the initial JCR Fund.

B. The JPO shall collect a mandatory restitution fund contribution in the amount of

$60.00 payable to the JCR Fund from every child subject to delinquency proceedings whose case

results in an Informal Adjustment.

C. The JPO shall collect a mandatory restitution fund contribution in the amount of

$40.00 payable to the JCR Fund from every child whose case results in a consent decree and

$30.00 payable to the JCR Fund from every child whose case results in an adjudication.

D. Monies collected from a child whose case has been referred to the JPO by a magisterial

district court due to the child's failure to pay summary offense fines and costs shall be deposited

in the JCR Fund.

E. The president judge may approve other sources of revenue payable to the JCR Fund as

the same become available, provided there is a statutory or other legal basis for doing so. The

president judge may also revise the mandatory restitution fund contribution amount described

above as deemed prudent to achieve the purpose of the JCR Fund.

JCR Fund Management

Any and all JCR Fund monies will be deposited into a Chester County government account

maintained by the county treasurer's office and administered by the JPO. The purpose of this

account will be to receive and disburse funds associated with the JCR Fund. Pursuant to the

discretion of the president judge, the JCR Fund shall only be used to reimburse crime victims for

financial losses resulting from delinquent acts. Disbursements from the JCR Fund shall require

the review and signature approval of the chief juvenile probation officer ("Chief JPO") and a

deputy chief juvenile probation officer.

Review Committee

A committee to review the restitution reimbursement requests of a juvenile payor from the JCR

Fund will be comprised of a deputy chief probation officer or a supervising probation officer

designated by the Chief JPO and the probation officer assigned to the juvenile payor.

JCR Fund Expenditures

Juvenile payors will be able to request that they earn restitution and that victim recipients be

reimbursed from the JCR Fund in the following manner:

A. The JPO will use an application form for juvenile payors. The application form will

require the following information:

1. Descriptive information about the juvenile payor including name, date of birth,

type and length of supervision, and ability to pay. Older juvenile payors who have the

apparent ability to obtain employment will be required to explain why they are not

employed and their efforts to gain employment.

2. A summary by the probation officer assigned to the juvenile payor regarding

his/her overall performance while under supervision, including school, home and

community behavior, community service hours ordered and completed and the amount of

restitution ordered and paid to date.

B. The review committee will authorize the amount of eligible JCR Fund disbursements to

be made on behalf of the juvenile payor.

C. The JPO will then arrange for the juvenile payor to perform community service and

disburse restitution payments to all appropriate victim recipients in a proportionate share of the

amount earned by the juvenile payor, calculated by the amount of community service hours

worked multiplied by $10.00/hour, the Pennsylvania minimum wage or the federal minimum

wage, whichever is higher.

D. The JPO may create incentives, as approved by the supervising judge of the juvenile

court, for juvenile payors to avoid utilizing the JCR Fund and pay restitution directly to victim

recipients, e.g. (1) if at least 50% of owed restitution is paid in cash, the wages earned by the

juvenile payors shall be 20% higher than minimum wage; (2) if a juvenile payor pays all

restitution within the first thirty days of supervision, any community service usually required by

JPO as a condition of supervision (not community service necessary to earn JCR Fund monies)

will be reduced or eliminated.

Maximum Disbursement

The initial maximum amount that may be disbursed from the JCR Fund on behalf of any juvenile

payor shall be an unlimited amount. A maximum amount may be approved in the future by the

president judge, provided any such amount will allow the JCR Fund to maintain sustainability.

Suspension of Activity

The president judge shall have the authority to suspend any and all activities associated with the

JCR Fund.

Audit

All payments to and disbursements from the JCR Fund shall be monitored monthly by the

Chester County controller's office and shall be reviewed annually by that office in conjunction

with the annual internal audit of the clerk of courts office, the adult probation office and the JPO.

Annual Report

The Chief JPO, or his/her designee, shall be responsible for the preparation of an annual report

detailing the aggregate and individual data regarding payments to and disbursements from the

JCR Fund. The annual report shall be provided to the president judge and supervising judge of

the juvenile court.