Honorable R. L. Lattlmore 

Criminal District Attorney 

Bid8lgo county 

Mainburg, Texas 

Dear Mr. Lattimore: 

opluion lo. ww-733 

Re: Length of time which a 

police officer may hold a 

. child in custody or in 

jail before taking said 

child before a juvenile 

judge under the provisions 

of Sec. 11, Art. 2338-1, 

V.C.S. 

This office 16 in receipt of your recent letter in which you have 

St8t8d in 'part a8 fOflOVs: 

“We would like to have the opinion of your 

office ns to the length of time which a police officer 

8ay~h~M~:a child in cuetody or in jail before taking 

mid child before 8 juvenile judge, under the followI in(( provisions of Section 11, Article 2338-l R;C.S. 

“Any peace officer or probation of&er 

shall have the right to take into custidy’ 

any child who 18 found violating any law or 

ordinance or who isreasonably believed to 

be a fugitive from his parents or from justice, or whose surroundings are such as to 

endanger his health, welfare, or morals 

The child shall forthwith be brou@at to the 

judge, who shall order the child's release, 

or his temporary detention either in the 

compartment provided for the custody of juveniles, or by a suitable person or agency 

a8 in the judgment of the court may 6eem ' 

proper." 

“Specfflcnlly, we wish to know if, in your opinion, 

a police officer would be authorized to take ‘into custody 

a child found violating tht law during the uight and ho&d 

said child In custody ~ln a local jail until the following 

morning when a judge la available, and then t&e such 

child before eueh judge." 

The immediate question for consideration ie the meaning the Legislature intended to attach to the word "forthwith" - a quesfioa not a rarity 

, :i 
Honorable R. L. Lattimore, Page 2. (W-733) 

in the Law. The absence of decisionsinterpretating "forthwith" as used 

in the Juvenile ACt dictates that we look elsewhere for an authoritative 

definition of th? Word. 

This logically leads to an examination of th? decisions construing the statute pertaining to adult arrest - it being analogous to 

the one presently under consideration, even though we are cognizant of 

the fact that the Juvenile Act is designed to alter the policy of the 

State with respect to the nature of the proceedings in child delinquency 

cases to something different than the policy concerning adults. See In Re 

%F 

175 S.W.2d.297'(Civ. App.), affirmed in 142 Tex. 460, 179 S W.2d 

Article 233, V.C.C P. , provides, with respect to adults, a8 follows: 

"The officer, 'or person ,executing a warrant 

of arrest, shall take the person whom he is directed to arrest forthwith before the magistrate who 

issues the warrant, or before the magistrate named 

in the warrant". 

One of the principle cases interpreting the word "forthwith" as 

used in that statute is Gilbert v. State, 2&4 S.W.2d 906, wherein the Court 

of Criminal Appeals held that the term was not synonymous with "immediately" 

or "instantaneously", but that it only prohi,bits an unreasonable delay and 

that it was not unreasonable to detain a person overnight, in jail, where 

such peraonis arrested during hours when magi&rates are not to:'be found 

in their office, i.e. at night. The Court takes judicial notice of the 

fact that magistrates do not keep their offices open at night. 

If the law were otherwise, the efforts of peace officers in attempting to maintain the peace at night would be thwarted unless they aroused a magistrate. This would be particularly true in cases involving juveniles, for they must be brought before the Judge of the Juvenile Court 

(as has been held by this office in Attorney General Opinion No. O-7227) 

and there being only one such Judge in each, county, the problems of peace 

officers would he comp1icated.to.a degree of inpracticability if not impossibility. There is no evidence of a Legislative intent that peace officers 

must seek out and arouse the Juvenile Judge in late hours of the night in 

order to present juvenile offenders whom they hare just apprehended. Neither 

is such a procedure neqessary to fulfill and comply with the. Legislative 

intent in promulgating the policy of the State in dealing with juveniles 

by the enactment of'the Juvenile Act. 

Although juveniles may not be punished for their misdeeds by incarceration, this office has held that juveniles may be taken to' jail pending their making bond in those instances where certain traffic regulations 

enumerated in Article 602e, V.P.C., have been violated. See Attorney General Opinion WW-547.. If juveniles may be held in jail in those instances, 

it follows that the detention of juveniles overnight under either the pro- 

., , 
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Honorable It. L. Lattlmore, Page 3. (WW-733) 

visions of Article 802e, V.P C., or Article 2338-1, V.C.S., would not be 

contra to any Legislative intent. 

It is, therefore, the opinion of this office that the term 

"forthwith" as used in Article 2338-1, V.C.S., does not preclude the overnight detention of juveniles In the proper place pending their being 

brought before the Juvenile Judge, where they are arrested after the hours 

that such Judge is no longer to be found in his office. 

SUMMARY 

Juvenile offenders who are arrested 

after the hare that the Juvenile Judge Is 

to be found in his offic?, may be detained 

in the proper place pending the return of 

such Ju&ge to his office the next morning 

and their appearance before him at that tie. 

Yours very truly, 

WILL WILSOR 

Attorney,gneq%l of Texas 

APPROVED: 

OPINIOS COMMITTEE: 

Riley Eugene Fletcher, Chairman 

Marvin Brown 

Charles D. Cabaniss 

Iola Wilcox 

Robert Walls 

REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

BY: 

W. V. Geppert 

Assistant Attorney General