Juvenile Division

The Juvenile Division prosecutes felonies and misdemeanors committed in San Diego County by offenders who were under the age of 18 at the time of the crime. During the first half of 2011, Division Chief Michele Linley and Assistant Chief Giacomo Bucci led the Juvenile Division. During the second half of 2011, Division Chief Giacomo Bucci and Assistant Division Chief Sophia Roach supervised the division. Juvenile Deputy District Attorneys review, issue and prosecute the same types of cases that are prosecuted in adult court, except the crimes are committed by juveniles. These cases may involve weapons, injuries, series of crimes, significant property damage and/or drugs.

During 2011, the number of felonies filed by the Juvenile Division decreased by 414 and the number of misdemeanor cases filed decreased by 563. There were 20 juvenile cases that were direct filed into adult court. In addition, the Juvenile Court found six minors unfit for juvenile court and sent their cases to adult court for prosecution in the adult system.

2011 Juvenile Cases Reviewed
Criminal Cases Submitted For Review 5,365
Felony Petitions Filed 2,471
Misdemeanor Petitions Filed 1,365
WI 707 File Petitions 11
Direct Filed Cases 16
Truancy Petitions Filed 244

The Juvenile Division office is broken down into four teams:

Issuing deputies review reports submitted by police agencies, to determine whether charges should be filed. Each calendar team Deputy District Attorney is assigned to a courtroom (there are four delinquency departments and a detention department) to handle all cases assigned to that courtroom. The motion team responds to motions filed by defense attorneys, researches legal issues, and provides coverage for specialized calendars.

One specialized calendar is the dual calendar (a blend of delinquency and dependency court) another is weekly probation violation calendar.

Our new calendar, J-Fast, operated for its first full year in 2011, which was established to assist juveniles struggling with mental health issues. Many partners work together to address issues that come up with the minor and their family members to ensure that probation is completed. They include the public defender, a judge, the probation department, community partners and mental health professionals. This pilot project was created with existing resources and a commitment from all partners.

The trial team handles all disputed matters, including but not limited to trials, evidentiary hearings and prima facia hearings.

Trials in the juvenile justice system are called adjudications and are heard by Superior Court judges assigned to the Juvenile Court Division. The juvenile division handles truancy cases once a week at the Juvenile, South Bay and Vista courthouses. In addition, deputies appear in two courtrooms on two different days at the Meadow Lark Juvenile Court and one day a week at the Vista Courthouse as part of the drug court team.

To ensure that crimes with the highest potential to significantly affect the public are handled in an efficient manner, certain cases are vertically assigned. This means one Deputy District Attorney handles the case from beginning to end These types of cases include:.

In 2011, the Juvenile Division handled crimes that ranged from simple misdemeanors to carjacking cases to vehicular manslaughters. In addition, we handled cases involving drug and/or alcohol use by juvenile drivers that caused injury to their passengers.

next ยป