In December 1996, as a result of an agreement the Wayne County Probate Court, the 35th District Court became the first District Court  in the state to process juvenile ordinance/misdemeanor violations (those violations committed by persons under the age of seventeen at the time of the offense).  As a result of the joint effort between the 35th District Court, the 3rd Judicial District (formerly Wayne County Probate Court) and the State Court Administrative Office, District Courts in Wayne and Oakland Counties now have this program available to them as well.

Currently the Juvenile Court in the 35th District Court (JCDC-35) has its own probation staff that consists one full-time juvenile probation officer.

The Probation Officer interviews the individual youth and his family in order to apply the most appropriate intervention for the youth.  If the probation officer has reason to believe that substance abuse is present, the youth will undergo testing. Once assessed the youth is then referred to a program to address his needs.   The goal of the intervention is to teach the youth that his actions were unacceptable and to assist the youth in refraining from future delinquent acts.

Under the Juvenile Code, there are three levels of supervisions, after a youth admits responsibility:

·        Level I: Diversion

·        Level II: Deferment (Consent Calendar)

·        Level III: Probation

Level I is designed for low-risk youth offenders that have a high probability of complying with voluntary conditions in lieu of formal prosecution in the court system.  In Level I: Diversion youth are diverted away from the formal court process and referred to alternative services.  Provided they comply with the terms of their diversion agreement, they will not be formally prosecuted on the charged offense.  These records are non-public and are destroyed within twenty-eight days after the youth’s seventeenth birth date, or at end of the diversion agreement, whichever is later.

In Level II the offense is formally processed in court and the record is public until the matter is officially closed.  Here, the juvenile needs to enter a plea of responsible, and the plea would be deferred from the youth’s criminal record awaiting the completion of a set of conditions established by the court.  Once the supervision period expires and the conditions are complete, the case would be dismissed and the records destroyed within twenty-eight days of the youth’s seventeenth birth date or end of the deferred period, whichever is the latter.

Level III provides for the youth’s offense to be formally processed. If he is found responsible or pleads responsible, the plea is entered on the youth’s criminal record.  This offense would be public information and part of the court’s record until the youth reaches his thirtieth birth date.

In all three levels of supervision, the probation officer determines the most appropriate and helpful means of intervention for that youth based on the needs and risks for the youth and his family. If removal from the community is necessary as a higher level of intervention, his case is transferred to the 3rd Judicial Circuit Court for further action.