Juvenile Offenders.

Title 3 of the Family Code is the Juvenile Justice Code. Section 51.01 tells courts and officers how to read it, by listing the public purposes it serves.

The first purpose is to provide for the protection of the public and public safety. Consistent with that, the code promotes the concept of punishment for criminal acts, removes, where appropriate, the taint of criminality from children committing certain unlawful acts, and provides treatment, training and rehabilitation that emphasizes the accountability and responsibility of both the parent and the child for the child’s conduct.

The code also aims to provide for the care, protection and wholesome development of children, to protect the welfare of the community and control unlawful acts by children, and to do all of this in a family environment whenever possible. A child is separated from the child’s parents only when necessary for the child’s welfare or in the interest of public safety. Finally, it provides a simple judicial procedure in which the parties are assured a fair hearing and their constitutional and other legal rights.

The most important definition in the chapter is “child”. Under Title 3 a child is a person who is ten years of age or older and under 17. A person who is 17 but under 18 is also a child if they are alleged or found to have engaged in delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a need for supervision as a result of acts committed before becoming 17.

Two other definitions carry legal consequences later in the chapter. A status offender is a child accused, adjudicated or convicted for conduct that would not be a crime if an adult did it, such as running away. A nonoffender is a child who is before a court under abuse, dependency or neglect statutes for reasons other than the child’s own prohibited conduct, or who is held solely for deportation. Neither may be treated like a child accused of a crime when it comes to secure detention.

The court process and paperwork are similar to adult investigations, but the words change. A criminal offense becomes delinquent conduct. The Code of Criminal Procedure becomes the Family Code. An arrest warrant becomes a directive to apprehend. An indictment or information becomes a juvenile petition. The defendant is the respondent. A conviction is an adjudication. The sentencing hearing is a disposition hearing. A plea of guilty or not guilty is a plea of true or not true.

The juvenile court deals with two kinds of conduct. Delinquent conduct is the serious kind. It is conduct, other than a traffic offense, that violates a penal law of Texas or of the United States punishable by imprisonment or by confinement in jail. It also covers contempt of a justice, municipal or truancy court order, the intoxication offenses in Penal Code 49.04 through 49.08 (driving, flying and boating while intoxicated, intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter), and a third or subsequent offense of driving under the influence of alcohol by a minor under Alcoholic Beverage Code 106.041.

Conduct indicating a need for supervision, or CINS, is the lesser kind. It includes fine-only misdemeanors and violations of local penal ordinances (other than traffic offenses) once the case has been referred to the juvenile court, running away, inhalant abuse, conduct for which the child was expelled from school, prostitution, and electronic transmission of certain visual material depicting a minor. Running away means the voluntary absence of a child from home without the consent of the parent or guardian for a substantial length of time or without intent to return.

Each county has a juvenile board, and that board designates one or more courts as the juvenile court. The designation can be changed by the authorized boards or judges, but there must be a juvenile court designated for each county at all times. The juvenile court has exclusive original jurisdiction over Title 3 proceedings.

If the juvenile court judge or alternate is not in the county or is otherwise unavailable, any magistrate may make the firearm release determination under Section 53.02(f) or conduct the detention hearing under Section 54.01. The juvenile board may also appoint a referee to do those things. The referee must be an attorney licensed to practice law in Texas.