What position do you all take on handling contempt of court cases particularly for truancy from JP courts? Also how do you all handle class C referrals from JP or municipal court? I'm try to get an idea of how other counties handle these cases.

We used to file a delinquent conduct case based on the contempt referral from the JP court. That was when the JP (and the rest of us) thought she had the power to send kids who were screwing up on truancy probation to JJAEP. Then the State audited our JJAEP and told us that the referral had to come through juvenile probation.

So, now when the JP revokes probation and holds them in contempt, we generall just put them on deferred probation and send them to JJAEP. We do not file a case unless they refuse to do the deferred. So far, it seems to be working, and it keeps us from having a lot of cases filed on contempt.

We file a delinquency charge for contempt and then, when they come to court place them on deferred prosecution or, after adjudication, place them on probation, as appropriate. We have a fairly rigorous screening procedure with one prosecutor (me) assigned to these cases, so that the JP can't just make the referral and have the case filed without working with the DA prior to the referral. I actually get about 50-60 of these cases a year - and usually the juveniles involved have fairly serious problems. Our protocol calls for them to be placed into detention when the referral is made and often the pre-court detention is enought to get them to straighten out and correct their truant behavior (remember, they were working with the prosecutor BEFORE the referral so we know when they are coming and they are "prebooked" into detention). On disposition there have been a very few that were removed from the home - but only to non-secure settings, because the law does not allow a child adjudicated for contempt to be placed into a secure setting.