Michigan Laws 712A.18n – Competency of juvenile; presumption; order to determine competency during proceeding; record
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Terms Used In Michigan Laws 712A.18n
- Competency evaluation: means a court-ordered examination of a juvenile directed to developing information relevant to a determination of his or her competency to proceed at a particular stage of a court proceeding involving a juvenile who is the subject of a delinquency petition. See Michigan Laws 712A.1
- Court: means the family division of circuit court. See Michigan Laws 712A.1
- Incompetent to proceed: means that a juvenile, based on age-appropriate norms, lacks a reasonable degree of rational and factual understanding of the proceeding or is unable to do 1 or more of the following:
(i) Consult with and assist his or her attorney in preparing his or her defense in a meaningful manner. See Michigan Laws 712A.1Jurisdiction: (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. juvenile: means a person who is less than 17 years of age who is the subject of a delinquency petition. See Michigan Laws 712A.1
(1) A juvenile 10 years of age or older is presumed competent to proceed unless the issue of competency is raised by a party. A juvenile less than 10 years of age is presumed incompetent to proceed.
(2) The court may order on its own motion, or at the request of the juvenile, the juvenile’s attorney, or the prosecuting attorney, a competency evaluation to determine whether the juvenile is incompetent to proceed if the juvenile is the subject of a delinquency petition in the court or if the juvenile is under the court’s jurisdiction under section 2(a)(2) to (4) of this chapter. The issue of the juvenile’s competency may be raised by the court before which the proceedings are pending or being held, or by motion of a party, at any time during the proceeding.
(3) At the time an issue of the juvenile’s competency is raised, the delinquency proceeding shall temporarily cease until determination is made on the competence of the juvenile according to this act.
(4) The court shall maintain a record of how many competency evaluations are requested under this section.