In re J.F.

902 N.E.2d 19, 121 Ohio St. 3d 76
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 4, 2009
DocketNo. 2007-2239
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 902 N.E.2d 19 (In re J.F.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re J.F., 902 N.E.2d 19, 121 Ohio St. 3d 76 (Ohio 2009).

Opinions

Moyer, C.J.

I

{¶ 1} At issue in this case is the authority of a juvenile court to order a juvenile to serve a previously suspended commitment when the juvenile violates the terms of community control after the period of probation supervision has been terminated but while other elements of community control remain in effect. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the decision of the court of appeals and hold that a juvenile court retains jurisdiction to order a juvenile to serve a previously suspended commitment when the juvenile violates an unexpired condition of community control.

II

{¶ 2} The appellant in this case is a child, referred to as J.F. In 2004, J.F. was adjudged delinquent following his admission to seven charged offenses, six of which would have been felonies if perpetrated by an adult. The juvenile court committed J.F. to the Department of Youth Services (“Youth Services”), but suspended that commitment based on several conditions.

{¶ 3} According to the trial court’s entry of March 24, 2004, the conditions of the suspended commitment included compliance with monitored time1 until age 18, completion of community control, and payment of fines, court costs, and restitution. After reviewing the March 2004 entry of the juvenile court, we conclude that the court used the term “community control” in place of “probation supervision.” The court of appeals came to this same conclusion. In re J.F., Greene App. No. 06-CA-123, 2007-Ohio-5652, 2007 WL 3071879, ¶ 51. The [78]*78transcripts of the dispositional hearing show that the trial court intended to impose probation supervision; while explaining the conditions of suspended commitment, the court stated that J.F. would have to “successfully complete probation with Ms. Lyons.” Accordingly, when the court’s entry directed that J.F. would be “placed on community control under the guidance of Linda Lyons,” the juvenile court actually imposed probation supervision under the guidance of Linda Lyons.

{¶ 4} In March 2006, the juvenile court held a probation-termination hearing regarding J.F., in which the conflation of the terms “community control” and “probation” persisted. Although the purpose of the hearing was to terminate J.F.’s intensive probation supervision, the resulting entry declared that J.F.’s “status on Intensive Community Control” was terminated. That same entry provided that J.F. would be responsible for court fines and costs and the completion of community service.

{¶ 5} Later in 2006, J.F. was charged with two new offenses that would have been misdemeanors if committed by an adult. J.F. admitted to having committed these offenses. At the dispositional hearing for these new offenses, the juvenile court ordered J.F. to serve the previously suspended commitment to Youth Services for one of the 2004 offenses.

{¶ 6} J.F. appealed, raising four assignments of error. The Second District Court of Appeals rejected his first assignment of error, which is the issue he raises in this appeal, but it reversed and remanded the case on J.F.’s second assignment of error, holding that J.F.’s rights to due process had been violated, because the juvenile court had failed to provide J.F. with prior notice that he could be subject to commitment for violating community control if found to have committed the two new 2006 offenses, and because J.F. was not given notice of which conditions of community control he had allegedly violated. Having sustained J.F.’s second assignment of error, the court of appeals declined to address assignments of error three and four. We accepted J.F.’s discretionary appeal. In re J.F., 117 Ohio St.3d 1423, 2008-Ohio-969, 882 N.E.2d 444.

Ill

{¶ 7} The sole issue in this appeal is whether the juvenile court had the statutory authority to order J.F. to serve the previously suspended commitment to Youth Services. We hold that it did.

{¶ 8} The syllabus in In re Cross, 96 Ohio St.3d 328, 2002-Ohio-4183, 774 N.E.2d 258, states: “A juvenile court does not have the jurisdiction to reimpose a suspended commitment to a Department of Youth Services facility after a juvenile has been released from probation.” According to J.F., In re Cross requires us to reverse the court of appeals decision, because the juvenile court in [79]*79its March 2006 entry had terminated J.F.’s period of community control before his suspended commitment was imposed, thereby precluding the juvenile court from exercising jurisdiction. We disagree with J.F.’s premise that the juvenile court terminated community control in March 2006.

{¶ 9} In January 2002, the General Assembly replaced the rubric “probation” in juvenile dispositions and adopted new dispositional options under the heading “community control.”

{¶ 10} “Community control,” as described in R.C. 2152.19, replaced “probation,” as described in former R.C. 2151.355, Am.Sub.H.B. No. 215, 147 Ohio Laws, Part I, 1125, and 148 Ohio Laws, Part IV, 9447, which was the subject of our decision in In re Cross. In re Cross, 96 Ohio St.3d 328, 2002-0hio-4183, 774 N.E.2d 258, at ¶ 11. An order of “probation” under former R.C. 2151.355, encompassed the court’s broad, discretionary power to craft appropriate controls for delinquent juveniles, enforced through ongoing judicial oversight. Under former R.C. 2151.355, it was the dispositional order of probation itself that enabled a court to impose and monitor the juvenile’s compliance with the conditions of probation.

{¶ 11} In contrast, R.C. 2152.19 uses the term “community control” to describe discretionary court-ordered and court-supervised requirements on the behavior of delinquent children. R.C. 2152.19. Under R.C. 2152.19, a dispositional order of community control may include one or several conditions — such as “intensive probation supervision,” “basic probation supervision,” and “community service”— all of which are subject to ongoing supervision by the court. Probation, no longer a stand-alone disposition, has become a subcategory or optional element of community control. It follows that the expiration of probation supervision — as one component of an order of community control — does not automatically trigger the loss of the juvenile court’s jurisdiction; as long as other community-control sanctions remain in effect, the juvenile remains subject to the court’s supervision.

{¶ 12} This conclusion is consistent with In re Cross, 96 Ohio St.3d 328, 2002-Ohio-4183, 774 N.E.2d 258. The broad authority granted to juvenile courts in former R.C. 2151.355 to place a juvenile on probation subject to “ ‘any conditions that the court prescribes,’ ” survives in R.C. 2152.19, but the term “probation” is replaced by “community control.” (Emphasis deleted.) Id. at ¶ 26, quoting former R.C. 2151.355(A)(2). R.C. 2152.19 allows a court to impose “any sanctions, services, and conditions that the court prescribes.” Once imposed, such conditions provide “the tether that allows a court to maintain some connection with a juvenile delinquent.” In re Cross at ¶ 27. This jurisdiction over a delinquent juvenile, which was attendant to an order of probation under former R.C. 2151.355, now accompanies an order of community control under R.C. 2152.19.

[80]*80{¶ 13} When a court issues an order of community control, the jurisdiction of the court exists only so long as the order itself remains in effect. In re Cross,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
902 N.E.2d 19, 121 Ohio St. 3d 76, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-jf-ohio-2009.