Definition of Terms – Juvenile Probation and Court Processing
Referral
Citation issued to youth to appear before a Probation Officer or youth admitted to Juvenile Hall
for allegedly committing a criminal act. Other law enforcement agencies and the courts also make
referrals. Referrals go through a process of INTAKE which determines how the case is to be
handled.
Offense Types
Most juvenile offenses are described in broad terms in the State of California Welfare &
Institutions: 300 – Dependency, 602- Law Violations, and 601 Status offenders. The Department
of Social Services has responsibility for Dependants and Probation handles Law Violations and
Status Offenders. Law violations may be further described by actual law violations in codes such
as Vehicle, Business and Professions, Traffic, Health and Safety and Penal Code. Status
offenses involve youthful behavior such as running away, beyond parental control and
truancy which would not be a crime if engaged in by an adult. Code Violations are used for
referral reasons, petition reasons and petition sustained reasons.
Counts Law violations may involve “counts” which describe the number of instances of a
particular crime. For example four different burglaries could be filed as four counts of burglary.
Levels of Offense
The level means felony, misdemeanor or infraction. The length of time one could
conceivably spend in jail is defined by the level, felony being the most serious and misdemeanor
the least. Infractions do not involve jail time.
707 of the Welfare and Institutions Code
is a specific offense category. This involves a court process where youth are “waived”,
“remanded” to the adult court as “unfit” for the services of the Juvenile Court. Proposition 21
refers to specified crimes in 707(b) which must be handled in a particular way. These crimes are
very serious such as rape, murder or kidnapping. Proposition 21 provides for the District Attorney
to prosecute these crimes without the Juvenile Court Judge’s determination using what is termed
a direct filing. Youth who are in Juvenile Hall will remain there even when they have been
remanded until they reach age 18 years, because in California the jail must comply with the law
which forbids keeping youth ”in sight and sound” of adult prisoners.
Contact
This is a term is the same as referral and used within the Probation department to describe the
number of referrals. Events on the computer are referred to as “contacts”. Each contact
represents a “unit of work” for the Department. The collection of contacts on a report is referred
to as the “rap sheet”.
Detention
Youth are delivered to Juvenile Probation by a law enforcement agency for further processing. A
decision must be made within hours (72) about the continued detention of the minor. The
majority of youth will be released within the first three days. If the youth is to stay in custody,
then a petition must be filed and presented to the Court with the youth present.
Alternatives to Detention
Most youth will be released to parents/guardians, often within hours of delivery to Juvenile Hall or
the Crisis Assessment and Receiving Center (CARC). Often they are required to return at
another time so their release is considered “conditional”, depending upon their return to the
Department for further processing, sanctions. The SFJPD has a program of Home detention.
The department also contracts out shelter care for youth pending disposition and placement
youth in an attempt to keep secure detention to a minimum.
Admission to Juvenile Hall
The process of admitting a juvenile to Juvenile Hall is referred to as a ‘booking’ or a ‘book-in’,
depending upon the county of jurisdiction.
Police Citation
A common method of referral is the police citation. Police give a “ticket” or citation to the youth
directing him or her to report to the Probation Department. Most Probation referrals come by this
method. The assigned Probation officer will make an appointment with the juvenile to review and
discuss the case.
Transfer in
The case of a youth whose parents reside in San Francisco and who commits an offense in
another county, will be returned to San Francisco for disposition of the offense. Cases are
transferred from other jurisdictions either in custody or out of custody because we are the court of
jurisdiction and will further adjudicate the case.
Transfer out
The adjudicated case of a youth whose legal residence is outside of San Francisco will be
transferred to the jurisdiction of the residence of the youths’ parent or guardian for disposition.
Referral reasons, petition reasons and petition sustained reasons,
are all part of the various legal codes in the State of California. San Francisco uses the
Department of Justice tables for entering this data, in part, because reporting to the State is done
through the computerized Juvenile Justice Information System (JJIS) and this ensures
consistency and correct reporting. The referral reason is reason that the case was referred to
Probation. The petition reason is the offense allegedly committed which is placed on the written
petition to the court. It is prepared by the District Attorney’s office; the initial investigation is
conducted by the Probation Officer. The petition reason is the offense the court determined was
“true”. It is termed the ‘sustained” petition or charge. This often evolves out of a process of “plea
bargaining” as lawyers barter to use “lesser included” crimes and to prosecute the case.
Court Disposition
The court has a number of “dispositional” alternatives. They can dismiss the case, transfer to
jurisdiction of residence, make the youth a ward of the court, place him/her on informal probation
or voluntary probation. More stringent alternatives could be a commitment to out of home
placement, Log Cabin Ranch or the California Youth Authority.
Probation
There are three basic types of probation: Probation without wardship: Voluntary (654 W&I),
Informal (725A) W&I) and Formal or Wardship Probation (725b/602 W&I).
Wardship
The Court has a special, legal relationship with the child and may act as the “parent” (parens
patriae). These cases are placed on active supervision either at home, with a relative, or the
youth is removed from the home.
Out of Home Placement
The Court establishes wardship and determines the youth should be placed “out of home”. This
is more serious than informal probation or probation at home with parents, but less restrictive
than Log Cabin Ranch or the California Youth Authority. Placement it is with a state licensed
group home or institution. Placement may be local, in another jurisdiction or rarely out of State.
Combined Dispositions
On occasion, a youth may have a number of probation “events” involving a petition filing within a
short period of time. When this happens, the events may be “bundled” into a single disposition or
outcome.
‘725 W & I’ Probation
is Informal or ‘non-wardship’ probation. Jurisdiction is terminated in six (6) months. The youth
will be supervised by a Probation Officer.
‘654’ W&I
is termed Voluntary Probation. It may be ordered by the court as ‘dismissed in favor of voluntary
probation’ or by the Probation Officer as a result of his case management. Probation Officer
initiated voluntary probations are not reflected on the flow chart.
Courtesy Supervision
On occasion youth who are on probation in another jurisdiction may move to San Francisco. The
origination jurisdiction may request SFJPD to supervise the juvenile in their stead. Reciprocally,
SFJPD may request courtesy supervision from another jurisdiction if the juvenile moves into their
area.
California Youth Authority
The State of California has a number of facilities throughout the State that house juvenile
offenders up to the age of 25. Thus, commitments to the California Youth Authority (CYA) may
originate in either the juvenile or adult court. CYA will also receive youth who have been
remanded under 707 W & I.
Other
This category will include dispositions such as California Youth Authority psychiatric evaluations.
Youth may also undergo a 90 day evaluation period on occasion to determine their suitability for
placement at CYA.
Dismissed
These are petitions which may be dismissed for reasons such as ‘lack of prosecution’, ‘lack of
evidence’ , ‘lack of prosecution’ or in favor of some other category as in favor of 654 or 707. In
some instances charges are dismissed entirely. A prior finding may keep the juvenile on active
status.
Remand
This term refers to the W & I Code 707. It covers both specific offenses and the court
processing. The Court may elect to hold a “fitness” hearing to determine whether the case
should be handled by the Adult Court. Remanded means the case was referred to the Adult
Court for processing. Some jurisdictions refer to this as a “waiver”.