Rule 3.945.Dispositional Review

MCR 3.945 keeps a delinquency disposition under supervision after it is entered. It has two engines. One is routine review of out-of-home placements. The other is the hearing that decides whether the court keeps a juvenile past the age at which jurisdiction would otherwise end.

Dispositional review hearings

Subrule (A)(1) requires periodic hearings to review dispositional orders in delinquency cases in which the juvenile has been placed outside the home. The court sets the intervals, and a party, a probation officer, or a caseworker may request a hearing at any time. The victim has a right to make a statement at the hearing, to submit a written statement, or both. At the hearing the court may modify or amend the dispositional order or treatment plan to include any disposition permitted by MCL 712A.18 and MCL 712A.18a or as otherwise permitted by law, and approves or disapproves initial or continued placement in a qualified residential treatment program. The Michigan Rules of Evidence, other than those with respect to privileges, do not apply.

Subrule (A)(2) turns some of that into a schedule and a set of triggers:

• For a juvenile in out-of-home care, review hearings must occur no later than every 182 days after the initial disposition, as provided in MCL 712A.19(2).
• A review hearing is required before a juvenile is moved to a more physically restrictive type of placement, unless the dispositional order already provided for it, or unless the juvenile and a parent consent to the new placement in a writing filed with the court.
• A juvenile ordered placed in a juvenile facility may be released only with the approval of the court.

Extending jurisdiction to age 21

Subrule (B) applies when a juvenile committed under MCL 712A.18(1)(e) for an offense specified in MCL 712A.18d remains under court jurisdiction after turning 18. The court must hold a commitment review hearing, and unless adjourned for good cause it happens as nearly as possible to, but before, the juvenile's 19th birthday. Notice goes at least 14 days ahead to the prosecuting attorney, the agency or institution superintendent, the juvenile, and the parent, guardian, or legal custodian if their whereabouts are known. The notice must say plainly that the court may extend jurisdiction until age 21 and must advise the juvenile and the parent, guardian, or legal custodian of the right to an attorney. Subrule (B)(2) requires the court to appoint an attorney unless one has been retained.

The burden sits on the juvenile. Under subrule (B)(4) the court must extend jurisdiction to age 21 unless the juvenile proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the juvenile has been rehabilitated and does not present a serious risk to public safety. Seven factors guide that call: participation in education, counseling, or work programs; willingness to accept responsibility for prior behavior; behavior in the current placement; prior record, character, and physical and mental maturity; potential for violent conduct as shown by prior behavior; the recommendations of the institution, agency, or facility charged with the juvenile's care; and anything else the prosecuting attorney or the juvenile submits. The institution, agency, or facility must prepare a report containing the information required by MCL 803.225, and the court must consider it.

After extension, and conditional release

Subrule (C) continues oversight. A juvenile placed outside the home gets a dispositional review hearing no later than every 182 days after the hearing to extend jurisdiction, and the committing institution, agency, or facility may petition for a review hearing at any time before the juvenile turns 21 if it believes the juvenile has been rehabilitated and poses no serious risk. Subrule (D) routes alleged violations of conditional release, after a juvenile returns to the community from a public institution, through the procedures in MCR 3.944, with an exception when the agency will hold an administrative hearing and the court has not retained jurisdiction.