Standards Relating to Dispositional Procedures

• NCJ Number: 83568
• Author(s): F Cohen
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 72 pages
• Grant Number(s): 76-JN-99-0018; 78-JN-AX-0002; 74-NI-99-0043; 75-NI-99-0101; 71-NI-99-0014; 72-NI-99-0032
• Agencies: OJJDP-Sponsored; American Bar Association

Annotation

These standards for juvenile dispositional procedures focus on dispositional authority, dispositional information, parties present, custody awaiting disposition, predisposition conference and disposition agreements, the formal disposition hearing, and the imposition and correction of disposition.

Abstract

The fundamental assumption of the standards is that a dispositional decision involves the vital interests of both the juvenile and the state and that those interests can best be evaluated and served through procedures that are more orderly than is presently the case; however, no effort has been made to emulate fully the more formal requisites of the adjudicatory phase of a delinquency proceeding. The judge, in contrast to a referee or panel, is designated the preferred dispositional authority. The standards also deal with obtaining, using, and sharing of dispositional information; suggested techniques for regularizing dispositions arrived at informally; and the procedural format for formal dispositional hearings and the imposition and correction of a disposition. The general objectives of the standards are (1) to maximize the opportunity for a disposition consonant with the stated objectives of the juvenile justice process and the particular objectives for dispositional alternatives and (2) to provide limits on the manner in which overall and dispositional objectives are to be achieved. Fifty-six footnotes and a bibliography of 56 listings are provided.