§ 5101. Purposes

(a) The juvenile judicial proceedings chapters shall be construed in accordance with the following purposes:

(1) to provide for the care, protection, education, and healthy mental, physical, and social development of children coming within the provisions of the juvenile judicial proceedings chapters;

(2) to remove from children committing delinquent acts the taint of criminality and the consequences of criminal behavior and to provide supervision, care, and rehabilitation that ensure:

(A) balanced attention to the protection of the community;

(B) accountability to victims and the community for offenses; and

(C) the development of competencies to enable children to become responsible and productive members of the community;

(3) to preserve the family and to separate a child from his or her parents only when necessary to protect the child from serious harm or in the interests of public safety;

(4) to ensure that safety and timely permanency for children are the paramount concerns in the administration and conduct of proceedings under the juvenile judicial proceedings chapters;

(5) to achieve the foregoing purposes, whenever possible, in a family environment, recognizing the importance of positive parent-child relationships to the well-being and development of children;

(6) to provide judicial proceedings through which the provisions of the juvenile judicial proceedings chapters are executed and enforced and in which the parties are ensured a fair hearing, and that their constitutional and other legal rights are recognized and enforced.

(b) The provisions of the juvenile judicial proceedings chapters shall be construed as superseding the provisions of the criminal law of this State to the extent the same are inconsistent with this chapter. (Added 2007, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 2009.)