19 Guam Code Ann. § 5114
Terms Used In 19 Guam Code Ann. § 5114
- Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
(a) Place the child on probation or under supervision in his own home or in the custody of a suitable person elsewhere, upon such conditions as the court shall determine. Probation shall mean casework services during a continuance of the case. Probation shall not be ordered or administered as a punishment, but as a measure for the protection, guidance and well-being of the child and his family.
(b) Commit the child to the custody or to the guardianship of a public or private institution or agency authorized to care for children, including the Department of Youth Affairs, or to place them in family homes, or under the guardianship of a suitable person. Such commitment shall be for a definite period, which may be extended, after motion and hearing, for compelling cause shown, but in no event shall continue beyond the child’s twenty-first birthday. In committing a child to a private institution or agency, the court shall select one that is approved by the Governor of Guam.
(c) The court may cause any child concerning whom a petition has been filed to be examined or treated by a physician, psychiatrist or psychologist, and for that purpose may place a child in a hospital or other suitable facility.
(d) Order such care and treatment as the court may deem best, except as herein otherwise provided. In support of any order or decree the court may require the parents or other persons having the custody of the child, or any other person who has been found by the court to be encouraging, causing or contributing to the acts or conditions which bring the child within the purview of this Chapter, to do or omit to do any acts required or forbidden by law, when the judge deems such requirements necessary for the welfare of the child. In case of failure to comply with such requirement, the court may proceed against such person for contempt.
(e) The court may dismiss the petition or otherwise terminate its jurisdiction at any time.
No adjudication by the court of the status of any child shall be deemed a conviction, nor shall such adjudication operate to impose any of the civil disabilities ordinarily resulting from conviction, nor shall any child be charged with crime or convicted in any court except as provided in § 5105 of this Chapter. The disposition made of a child, or any evidence given in the court, shall not operate to disqualify the child in any civil service or military application or appointment.
Whenever the court shall commit a child to any institution or agency, including the Department of Youth Affairs, it shall transmit with the order or commitment a summary of its information concerning the child and such institution or agency or the Department of Youth Affairs shall give to the court such information concerning such child as the court at any time requires.
SOURCE: CCP § 263 as amended by P.L. 14-110 (Department of Youth
Affairs), and modified and enacted as 19 Guam Code Ann. § 5114 by P.L. 17-012:2.
COMMENT: The modifications made to Subsection (b) do not eliminate the continuing jurisdiction of the Family Division of the Superior Court over persons defined in § 5102, but rather require that commitments of juveniles be for a specific period of time rather than the present Aindefinite@ period until the age of 18 or 21. Thus, a juvenile commitment is more like a sentence imposed in an adult crime. This may or may not be a good idea and, as a policy matter, should be left to the Legislature to decide.
It is not intended that, in case of need, the definite period of commitment cannot be extended if a compelling, continuing need is shown.