When a child is brought into the system does the district attorney have the right to immediate access of the information under 411.082 or any other statute?

If the DA's office is the office for juvenile prosecution in the county and if the offense is a felony, yes. Otherwise, the juvenile office has the authority to deal with the child and office without consulting or sharing with the prosecutor.

In counties where the CA prosecutes juvies, not the DA, there would be a serious question about sharing the info. The safest route for the county is to allow individuals access to juvie info on a "need to know" basis; not want to know or it would help to know!

Lisa L. Peterson
Nolan County Attorney

as well as the felony cases, misdemeanor cases involving violence to a person or the use of a weapon and intoxication offenses under section 49 of the penal code must be referred to the prosecutor that handles juvenile cases in your county.

Thanks - we had an assault case pending over a juvenile since October but we did not know about it until just a few days ago. Is that how long it takes for other counties to get information from juvenile on pending assault or felony cases?

Sometimes but its usually the police agency that takes its time filing non arrest cases and not our probation department hanging on to them for long periods of time.

I tell the PD's that there are 2 ways to get their cases on the fast track 1) bring the child to detention with the case or 2) send me a copy of the report when they send one to probation.