AC v. State

888 So. 2d 518, 2004 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 126, 2004 WL 259248
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in AC v. State. Read the opinion of the Court — 888 So. 2d 518
Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama·Decided February 13, 2004·No. 2030106·Published

Opinion

888 So.2d 518 (2004)

A.C.
v.
STATE of Alabama.

2030106.

Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama.

February 13, 2004.

Tobie J. Smith of Legal Aid Society of Birmingham, Birmingham, for appellant.

William H. Pryor, Jr., atty. gen., and Stephanie N. Morman and Jean-Paul M. Chappell, asst. attys. gen., for appellee.

CRAWLEY, Judge.

On April 3, 2003, the attendance supervisor of the Jefferson County Board of Education filed a verified complaint charging that A.C., a 12-year-old sixth-grade girl, was a child in need of supervision ("CHINS") because she had been habitually truant, having accumulated 26 unexcused absences and 9 unexcused tardies from school. A.C. entered a plea of "true" to the complaint, and the juvenile court *519 adjudicated her as a CHINS.[1] This appeal is properly before this court pursuant to Rule 28(A)(2), Ala. R. Juv. P. See S.H. v. State, 868 So.2d 1110 (Ala.Civ.App.2003) (Crawley, J., with one Judge concurring and one Judge concurring in the result).

The juvenile court placed A.C. on probation and ordered her to complete the "High Intensity Training" or "H.I.T." program, a residential boot camp for juveniles administered under the supervision of the Department of Youth Services ("DYS"). The court further directed the "paperwork [for the H.I.T. program] to be held and submitted at the probation officer's discretion."

A.C. appeals, arguing that, based on § 12-15-71(e), Ala.Code 1975, the juvenile court had no authority to order her to attend a juvenile-boot-camp program. Subsection (e) of § 12-15-71 is one of three subsections that govern the disposition of a CHINS. It provides:

"(e) No child found to be in need of supervision, unless also found to be delinquent, shall be committed to or placed in an institution or facility established for the care and rehabilitation of delinquent children unless the court finds upon a further hearing that the child is not amenable to treatment or rehabilitation under any prior disposition or unless the child is again alleged to be a child in need of supervision and the court, after hearing, so finds."

A.C. argues that a juvenile-boot-camp program is a "facility established for the care and rehabilitation of delinquent children." Therefore, she insists, boot camp is not available as a dispositional option for a child who has been adjudicated for the first time as a CHINS and who has not been found, after a hearing, to be "not amenable to treatment or rehabilitation."

Pursuant to Rule 28(A)(1)(b), Ala. R. Juv. P., and § 12-12-72(2), Ala.Code 1975, the parties stipulated that only questions of law were involved in the appeal, and the juvenile court certified the following:

"Certification of Questions
"When attendance and completion of a boot camp program (High Intensity Training) is ordered as a term of probation for a delinquent juvenile or a child in need of supervision, is that a `facility for the care and rehabilitation' under § 12-15-71(e), Code of Alabama?
"Does a juvenile court judge have the authority to order a child found in need of supervision(CHINS) to complete a juvenile boot camp where such child has never been adjudicated delinquent or found unamenable to treatment or rehabilitation?
"In Jefferson County, female juveniles are in programs which are operated by contract between private agencies and the Alabama Department of Youth Services (ALDYS). For male juveniles, the boot camp program is operated by ALDYS *520 separately from the ALDYS campus programs.
"Unlike a commitment of a juvenile to the custody of ALDYS, custody of a child ordered to a boot camp program remains with the parent or guardian.
"Answer to Questions
"This court believes that requiring a juvenile, either delinquent or a child in need of supervision, to complete a boot camp program as a term of probation is not a commitment to a facility described in Section 12-15-71(e), which section envisions facilities operated by state agencies such as the Alabama Department of Youth Services."

(Emphasis in original.)

For a more complete understanding of the dispositional options open to the juvenile court in a CHINS case, we quote a rather lengthy portion of the juvenile-procedure statutes, specifically various subsections of § 12-15-71, Ala.Code 1975, highlighting at the end, the provision at issue in this case:

"(c) If a child is found to be delinquent or in need of supervision, the court may make any of the following orders or dispositions for the child's supervision, care, and rehabilitation:
"(1) Permit the child to remain with the parents, guardian, or other custodian of the child, subject to the conditions and limitations the court may prescribe;
"(2) Place the child on probation under conditions and limitations the court may prescribe;
"(3) Transfer legal custody to any of the following:
"a. The Department of Youth Services, with or without a commitment order to a specific institution.
"b. In the case of a child in need of supervision, the Department of Youth Services, or the Department of Human Resources.
"c. A local, public, or private agency, organization, or facility willing and able to assume the education, care, and maintenance of the child and which is licensed or otherwise authorized by law to receive and provide care for children.
"d. A relative or other individual who, after study by the probation services, is found by the court to be qualified to receive and care for the child.
"(4) Make any other order as the court in its discretion shall deem to be for the welfare and best interests of the child....
"(5) Direct the parent or custodian of the child to perform such reasonable acts as are deemed necessary to promote the best interest of the child.
"....
"(d) No child by virtue of a disposition under this section shall be committed or transferred to a penal institution or other facility used for the execution of sentences of persons convicted of a crime.
"(e) No child found to be in need of supervision, unless also found to be delinquent, shall be committed to or placed in an institution or facility established for the care and rehabilitation of delinquent children unless the court finds upon a further hearing that the child is not amenable to treatment or rehabilitation under any prior disposition or unless the child is again alleged to be a child in need of supervision and the court, after hearing, so finds."

(Emphasis added.)

I.

Initially, the State contends that A.C. does not have standing to raise the issue of *521 the juvenile court's authority to order her to complete the H.I.T. program boot camp because, it argues, A.C. has not yet been — and may never be — required to enter the boot camp. The State points out that A.C.'s entry into the H.I.T. program is at the discretion of her probation officer, and it argues that, because A.C. has not entered the program, she has not suffered an injury in fact.

In State v. Property at 2018 Rainbow Drive, 740 So.2d 1025 (Ala.1999), our supreme court explained the concept of standing:

"Standing ...

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AC v. State, 888 So. 2d 518, 2004 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 126, 2004 WL 259248 (Ala. Ct. App. 2004).

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