State Ex Rel. Londerholm v. Owens

416 P.2d 259, 197 Kan. 212, 1966 Kan. LEXIS 374
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJune 28, 1966
Docket44,620
StatusPublished
Cited by46 cases

This text of 416 P.2d 259 (State Ex Rel. Londerholm v. Owens) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Ex Rel. Londerholm v. Owens, 416 P.2d 259, 197 Kan. 212, 1966 Kan. LEXIS 374 (kan 1966).

Opinions

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Schroeder, J.:

This is an appeal by the judge of the juvenile court of Sedgwick County, Kansas, (defendant-appellant) from an order of mandamus issued by the district court compelling him to accept jurisdiction over 16 and 17-year-old boys who appear to [213]*213be delinquent, miscreant or wayward under Chapter 278, Laws of 1965, which amended certain sections of the Kansas juvenile code (K. S. A. 38-801, et seq.). The order of mandamus was secured by the state, on the relation of the attorney general of Kansas and the county attorney of Sedgwick County, after the defendant had refused to accept jurisdiction in all such cases on the ground that the act conferring jurisdiction was unconstitutional in its entirety. The district court upheld the constitutionality of the act in all respects.

The underlying question on appeal is whether Chapter 278, Laws of 1965, is in whole or in part unconstitutional.

The state in its petition, filed January 17, 1966, alleged under Section 2 of the act (Senate Bill No. 31 — L. 1965, ch. 278) the juvenile court of Sedgwick County has exclusive original jurisdiction in proceedings concerning a child living or found within Sedgwick County, had a duty under this act to assume jurisdiction in such proceedings; that the judge of said court has refused and continues to refuse to assume jurisdiction in all proceedings concerning a child who appears to be delinquent, miscreant or wayward, and who was 16 or 17 years of age, as required by the act.

The defendant in his answer, filed January 26, 1966, alleged that he:

“. . . did take jurisdiction, as Juvenile Judge of Sedgwick County, Kansas, of Case No. 16537 in the Juvenile Court of Sedgwick County, Kansas, in a matter entitled ‘In the Interest of [name omitted], a male minor under the age of 18 years, to-wit: 16 years’, in which said matter the said alleged child was charged with the offense of ‘glue sniffing’ and was charged as a wayward child by reason thereof. That said child had several previous adjudications as a wayward or miscreant child, and by reason of the provisions of L. 1965, Ch. 278, Sec. 6 (a) (5), would have subjected said child to a possible sentence in the Kansas Industrial Reformatory at Hutchinson, Kansas. That the acts upon which said child was charged are neither a misdemeanor nor a felony under the laws of the State of Kansas. That in said proceedings, this defendant did, as Juvenile Judge of the Juvenile Court of Sedgwick County, Kansas, pass upon the constitutionality of the provisions of L. 1965, Ch. 278, Secs. 1 through 9, and in said action did determine [on January 11, 1966] that said L. 1965, Ch. 278, Secs. 1 through 9 generally known as Senate Bill No. 31 was unconstitutional in its entirety. . . .”

The answer further stated the defendant’s reasons for declaring the act unconstitutional.

The mandamus action was tried in the district court on February 15, 1966, and after taking the matter under advisement, the trial court on March 3, 1966, made its findings and conclusions. [214]*214On March 7, 1966, the trial court granted the writ of mandamus commanding the defendant to forthwith assume jurisdiction in all proceedings concerning the person of a child 16 or 17 years of age who appears to be delinquent, miscreant or wayward as defined in the act, but stayed the force and effect of the judgment until the matter could be determined on appeal by the Supreme Court. This stay was later modified on March 9, 1966, to grant a stay of 30 days from March 3, 1966, to allow time for appeal to the Supreme Court and for any further application for additional stay to the Supreme Court. The appellant filed a motion in the Supreme Court to stay the order of the district court on the 21st day of March, 1966, and on the same day the parties were granted an oral hearing, following which the motion for stay was denied and the case was advanced to the May session for hearing.

In general the act in question amended the Kansas juvenile code to extend jurisdiction of the juvenile court to include boys 16 and 17 years of age who appear to be delinquent, miscreant or wayward as defined in the act. Prior to the amendment it included girls less than 18 years of age and boys less than 16 years of age falling within the provisions of the Kansas juvenile code.

This feature of the act, extending the jurisdiction of the juvenile court to include 16 and 17-year-old boys, is not in controversy. If this was the only change made in the Kansas juvenile code by the act in question, it must be conceded to be entirely within the prerogative of the legislature to extend such jurisdiction to the juvenile court.

It is the other amendments made by the act in question that give rise to this controversy. Generally they empower the judge to determine whether 16 and 17-year-old boys who commit an act of delinquency are amenable to juvenile court treatment, and if not, to dismiss the juvenile proceedings and direct the county attorney to prosecute in the criminal courts. In addition, they authorize the court to commit certain boys in this age group to the state industrial reformatory, as well as to those institutions previously authorized for younger boys.

A brief consideration of the significant sections of the act in question will serve as a basis for further discussion of the basic issue in the case.

Section 1 of the act defines the terms used. Among these provisions it defines a “Delinquent child” as:

[215]*215. a child less than eighteen (18) years of age:
“(1) Who does an act other than one defined in subsection (e) of this section, which, if done by a person eighteen (18) years of age or over, would make him liable to be arrested and prosecuted for the commission of a felony as defined by K. S. A. 62-104; or
“(2) who has been adjudged a miscreant child under this act three (3) or more times.”

It defines a “Miscreant child” as:

"... a child less than eighteen (18) years of age:
“(1) Who does an act, other than one defined in subsection (e) of this section, which if dpne by a person eighteen (18) years of age or over, would make him liable to be arrested and prosecuted for the commission of a misdemeanor as defined by K. S. A. 62-105;
"(2) who does an act, other than one defined in subsection (e) of this section, which, if done by a person eighteen (18) years of age or over, would make him liable to be arrested and prosecuted for the violation of any ordinance, police regulation, order, rule or regulation adopted by any authority, city, county, township, or other political subdivision of this state; or
"(3) who has been adjudged a wayward child under this act three (3) or more times.”

It defines a “Wayward child” as:

"... a child less than eighteen (18) years of age:
"(1) Whose behavior is injurious to his welfare;
“(2) who has deserted his home without good or sufficient cause; or
“(3) who is habitually disobedient to the reasonable and lawful commands of his parent, guardian, or other lawful custodian.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
416 P.2d 259, 197 Kan. 212, 1966 Kan. LEXIS 374, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-londerholm-v-owens-kan-1966.