Juvenile Division

The Juvenile Division prosecutes felonies and misdemeanors committed in San Diego County by those who are under the age of 18 at the time of the crime, who are referred to as minors. In 2013, Division Chief Michele Linley and Assistant Chief Lisa Weinreb supervised the Juvenile 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.

 In 2013, the number of felonies filed by the Juvenile Division decreased by 249 and the number of misdemeanor cases filed increased by 120. There were 20 juvenile cases that were direct filed into adult court. In addition, the Juvenile Court found one minor unfit for juvenile court and sent their cases to adult court for prosecution in the adult system.

2013 Juvenile Cases Reviewed
Criminal Cases Submitted For Review 4,498
Felony Petitions Filed 1,943
Misdemeanor Petitions Filed 1,354
WI 707 File Petitions 18
Direct Filed Cases 20
Truancy Petitions Filed 39

The Juvenile Division office is broken down into six teams:

Issuing deputies review reports submitted by police agencies to determine whether a crime has occurred. They then decide which charges should be filed against the minor and included on the charging document that is called a petition.

There are four delinquency departments in San Diego Juvenile Court. Each court is assigned a Deputy District Attorney who appears on the cases in court on behalf of the People of the State of California. The Deputy District Attorney reviews police reports, probation reports and other documents when making arguments to the court on how a minor's case should be resolved.

The motions team consists of a team leader and three interns and at times is assisted by a graduate law clerk or specially assigned Deputy DA. The motions team handles the majority of pre-trial motions filed with the Court, the bulk of the motions being filed under Welfare and Institutions Code Section 654 (informal supervision). However, there is a wide variety of other motions filed, including evidence suppression, requests for probation modification, plea withdrawal, speedy trial, and sealing. The motions team also assists the division with appellate issues as needed.

The trial team handles all disputed matters, including but not limited to trials, evidentiary hearings and prima facia hearings. Trial team deputies review police reports, determine which witnesses should be subpoenaed, prepare the case for hearing, conduct the hearing and appear at the disposition hearing (sentencing) in cases where the minor is found to have committed a crime.

The sexual assault - domestic violence team handles cases related to sexual assault, pornography, sex trafficking, child exploitation, sexting, child abuse and domestic violence between teens. The team issues cases after review of police reports and victim interviews, they handle detention hearings, readiness hearings, settlement conferences, trials, probation violations, motions to seal records and disposition (sentencing) hearings. The team works closely with the victim/witness advocate assigned to the Juvenile Division and advises law enforcement agencies throughout the County on juvenile law as it relates to this type of case.

There are four specialized calendars in Juvenile Court; dual calendar, J-Fast, Truancy and Drug Court. The dual calendar consists of minors who have an active dependency case and a new delinquency case. In some situations a minor can be supervised by both probation and Health and Human Services Agency with one court addressing their needs from both jurisdictions at the same time.

J-Fast, in addition to being a juvenile team is also behavioral health court, which handles cases where a minor has a delinquency case and mental health issues are hindering them from being successful on probation. In addition to the usual criminal justice partners of a judge, defense attorney, probation officer and District Attorney, minors and their families are provided with wrap services. These services include a parent partner and youth partner to help both the family and minor address issues within the family and obtain needed services in the community.

Truancy cases are handled by the truancy team during a specialized calendar once a week at the juvenile courthouse and once a month at the Vista courthouse. Truancy partners include school districts, San Diego County Office of Education, all 42 school districts in San Diego County, Probation, Public Defender, law enforcement agencies, drug treatment facilities, Vista Hill, community based organizations, mentors, a judge, and the Children's Initiative. The truancy team leader works closely with school districts by attending attendance review hearings, providing mediation services for elementary school districts, and assisting the schools and families in working out programming and support to keep students from being referred to truancy court. Mediation services have expanded greatly during 2013 with the truancy team leader meeting with school representatives, truant children at the elementary grade level and the truant's parents to help resolve issues that have become barriers to school attendance. The mediation services will continue to expand to additional districts in 2014.

Drug Court provides comprehensive drug treatment within a probationary setting. The Drug Court calendar is held twice a week at the Juvenile Court and one day a week at Vista Courthouse. The Drug Court team is made up of judges, a public defender, a District Attorney, probation officers, two therapists from SAY San Diego and substance abuse professionals. The goal is to identify minors whose criminal conduct is primarily motivated by drug or alcohol abuse issues, and rehabilitate them with an emphasis on intensive substance abuse therapy.

Additionally, 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 2013, the Juvenile Division handled a wide variety of crimes such as simple misdemeanors, robbery, drug smuggling, sexual assaults and murder.

The Juvenile Division continues to work closely with juvenile justice partners throughout the county to ensure the highest level of services are available to the youth in order to provide appropriate rehabilitative services and reduce recidivism.

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