Rule 3.943.Dispositional Hearing

MCR 3.943 covers the hearing that decides what happens to a juvenile after the court has found, by plea or after trial, that the juvenile committed an offense. Subrule (A) frames the purpose in one line: the court determines what measures it will take with respect to the juvenile and, when applicable, any other person. Adjudication answers what happened. Disposition answers what follows.

Timing

Subrule (B) leaves the gap between plea or trial and disposition to the court's discretion, with one hard limit. When the juvenile is detained, the interval may not be more than 35 days, except for good cause. Liberty, not convenience, is what puts a clock on the hearing.

Evidence

Subrule (C) opens the record. The Michigan Rules of Evidence, other than those with respect to privileges, do not apply, and the court may receive and rely on all relevant and material evidence, including oral and written reports, to the extent of its probative value. Two protections balance that:

• Under subrule (C)(2), the juvenile or the juvenile's attorney and the petitioner may examine and controvert written reports, and the court may allow cross-examination of the individuals who made them when those individuals are reasonably available.
• Under subrule (C)(3), no evidentiary privilege other than attorney and client blocks the use of materials prepared under a court-ordered examination, interview, or course of treatment.

Who is in the room

Subrule (D) lets the court excuse the juvenile from part of the hearing for good cause, but the juvenile must be present when the disposition is announced. The victim has the right to be present and to make an impact statement under the Crime Victim's Rights Act, MCL 780.751 et seq.

Dispositions

Subrule (E) sets the conditions on the order itself. The court may enter a disposition under MCL 712A.18 once it has considered the results of a risk and needs assessment under MCR 3.907. For second and subsequent dispositions in delinquency cases, subrule (E)(2) requires the court to consider increasingly severe sanctions — added probation conditions, a longer probation term, out-of-home or more restrictive placement, state wardship, or other conditions the court finds appropriate. Waiver to adult criminal court is not a sanction for that purpose.

Three further limits sit in the same subrule. Placement in an institution outside Michigan requires findings that institutional care is in the juvenile's best interests, that equivalent facilities are not available in Michigan, and that the placement will not cause undue hardship. No disposition order may enter until the court verifies that biometric data has been collected, with MCR 3.936 supplying the fallback. Only one Crime Victim's Rights Act assessment may be ordered at any dispositional hearing, regardless of the number of offenses.

Firearms and appellate rights

Subrule (E)(7) adds a commitment under MCL 712A.18(1)(e) to a detention facility for a specified period, in addition to any other disposition, when three conditions all hold: the juvenile is under the court's jurisdiction under MCL 712A.2(a)(1), was found to have violated a law of this state or of the United States or a criminal municipal ordinance, and was found to have used a firearm during the offense. One juvenile is carved out: a juvenile sentenced in the same manner as an adult under MCL 712A.18(1)(o). The commitment may not exceed the length of the sentence that could have been imposed had the juvenile been sentenced as an adult. Subrule (F) closes the hearing with advice of appellate rights under MCR 3.937.