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The Juvenile Legal Assistance
Division was
created in 1993 in cooperation with the Department of Youth
Services. That contract has since ended, and the Juvenile
Division was in the process of being phased out of the Ohio
Public Defender due to budget cuts. However, a recent study led
to funding and the Juvenile Division will continue.
In 2002, the Ohio Public Defender won
reversals for over 50 juvenile cases due to improper procedures
at trial, and won a major victory in the Ohio Supreme Court on a
question of the jurisdiction of the juvenile courts. Jill Beeler,
Brooke Burns, Amanda Powell,
Elizabeth Miller and Angela Wilson-Miller are the attorneys
for this division
Our continued presence in the juvenile area of criminal law
is important to the overall integrity of the juvenile system.
Juveniles, after all, are children, most of whom are capable or
and present hope and promise given a good education and a second
chance.
Standards
of Representation of
Clients in Juvenile Delinquency Cases
Click
here for more information.
Ohio’s Fifth District Court of Appeals recently ruled that unless a juvenile is either placed on community control or adjudicated delinquent for an offense enumerated in ORC §2151.19(B), a court cannot suspend the juvenile’s future right to obtain a driver’s
license.
The case is
In
re Spears, 2006-Ohio-1920.
In this case, the 13-year-old juvenile was charged initially with two counts of theft, and subsequently with violating a court order. In addition to other dispositions, the court suspended the juvenile’s right to apply for a driver’s license until his 21st
birthday.
The Office of the Ohio Public Defender represented the juvenile on appeal and argued that “R.C. 2152.19(A)(4)(1) provides for the suspension of a youth’s currently-held driving privileges as an available disposition, not for the suspension of the future right to obtain one. The only provisions that allow for the suspension of the right to obtain future driving privileges are R.C. 2152.19(B)(1) & (2), which apply only to youth adjudicated for the enumerated
offenses…”
The Fifth District agreed: “[T]he legislature granted the juvenile courts the right to suspend a driver license or ability to obtain a driver license in specific situations and for the specified periods of time. Appellant was not granted community control sanctions nor was he convicted of an enumerated offense. Accordingly, the trial court was without authority to prospectively suspend appellant’s ability to obtain a driver license…This court vacates the trial court’s restriction on appellant’s future right to obtain a driver license.”
Click
here to see the relevant section of the merit brief from this
appeal.
Click
here to see the relevant section of the reply brief from this
appeal.
Groups
Urge Ohio Supreme Court to
Ensure Lawyers for Children
Too Many Minors Waive Right to Counsel
COLUMBUS
–
The American Civil
Liberties Union, the Children’s Law Center, the ACLU of Ohio,
and the Office of the Ohio Public Defender today filed a
petition with the Supreme Court of Ohio, calling for the Court
to better protect the right to counsel for children accused of a
crime.
more...
Juvenile
Rights in the Criminal
Justice System
A
summary of the Constitutional Rights of
juveniles, and a brief description on how to
exercise those rights. more...
Credit
for Detention Time
Juveniles
committed to the Department of Youth Services
are entitled to credit for time spent in
detention. more...
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