NCJ Number
109149
Journal
Children's Legal Rights Journal Volume: 6 Issue: 3 Dated: (Summer 1985) Pages: 9-13
Date Published
1985
Length
5 pages
Annotation
The decision of the South Carolina Supreme Court in In re Darlene C. agrees with decisions in several jurisdictions in holding that family courts may exercise their contempt power to confine a status offender in secure facilities in extreme cases involving chronic runaways.
Abstract
In reaching this decision, the court circumvented explicit language of the Children's Code, which provides that a status offender may not be placed in a detention facility. The decision shows the court's determination to deal with a problem that the legislature did not address. The case involved a 16-year-old ordered by family court to remain in a nonsecure group home and to receive mental health counseling. The court order explicitly stated that if she failed to obey, she would be held in contempt. Two days later, she left the home. At a subsequent hearing, she offered no defense and was found in criminal contempt. The court noted that the contempt power is essential to the preservation of order in judicial proceedings. Other courts have expressed concern about exposing status offenders to hardcore delinquents, however. One legislative approach that would deal with this issue would be to follow a former Indiana law that provides for secure detention of a runaway only if the child's physical and mental condition would be endangered by not being placed there. The law also provides for housing, if available, in a facility that does not house delinquents and for a review of the placement every 3 months. 44 footnotes.