[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as In 

re R.B., Slip Opinion No. 2020-Ohio-5476.] 

NOTICE 

This slip opinion is subject to formal revision before it is published in an 

advance sheet of the Ohio Official Reports. Readers are requested to 

promptly notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of Ohio, 65 

South Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, of any typographical or other 

formal errors in the opinion, in order that corrections may be made before 

the opinion is published. 

SLIP OPINION NO. 2020-OHIO-5476

IN RE R.B. 

[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 

may be cited as In re R.B., Slip Opinion No. 2020-Ohio-5476.] 

Juvenile law—Sex-offender-classification hearing—A juvenile court does not lose 

jurisdiction to enter an order pursuant to R.C. 2152.84 once the juvenile 

reaches the age of 21—While a juvenile court’s failure to hold a hearing in 

compliance with R.C. 2152.84 in a timely manner may support other claims 

for relief, the statutory directive that the hearing be held upon a juvenile’s 

completion of his disposition is not a jurisdictional requirement—A hearing 

may take place within a reasonable amount of time after a juvenile 

completes his disposition—Court of appeals’ judgment reversed and cause 

remanded. 

(No. 2019-1325—Submitted August 5, 2020—Decided December 2, 2020.) 

APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Hamilton County, 

Nos. C-170622 and C-170623, 2019-Ohio-3298. 

_______________________ 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO

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DEWINE, J.

{¶ 1} This case involves the procedures by which a juvenile is classified as 

a sex offender. When R.B. was a teenager, he sexually abused his two four-yearold cousins. The juvenile court adjudicated R.B. delinquent, classified him as a sex 

offender, and imposed a disposition that included probation until his 21st birthday. 

In juvenile cases, the court is required to hold a second sex-offender-classification 

hearing upon the juvenile’s completion of the disposition. The court held the 

second hearing and kept R.B.’s classification the same. R.B. challenges the timing 

of that hearing. 

{¶ 2} R.B. first contends that the juvenile court was required to hold the 

review hearing and issue its decision on the exact day his disposition ended (in 

other words, the day that his term of probation expired). He says that once he 

completed his disposition, the court lost jurisdiction to continue his classification, 

and he may no longer be classified as a sex offender. We disagree. The language 

“upon completion of the disposition,” R.C. 2152.84(A)(1), does not require a 

hearing and order on the exact day the disposition ends. Rather, the court’s review 

may take place within a reasonable time of the juvenile’s completion of his 

disposition. 

{¶ 3} Second, R.B. argues that the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction

because its order continuing his classification was not issued until after his 21st 

birthday. Here, too, we disagree. By statute, the juvenile court maintains 

jurisdiction to review a juvenile’s sex-offender classification after the juvenile 

reaches the age of 21. See R.C. 2151.23(A)(15). Because the court of appeals 

concluded that the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction, we reverse its judgment and 

remand the case for further proceedings. 

I. The juvenile sex-offender-classification process 

{¶ 4} When a juvenile commits a sex offense, the juvenile court has the 

ability to classify the juvenile as a sex offender. See generally R.C. 2152.82 
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3

through 2152.86; 2007 Am.Sub.S.B. No. 10 (Ohio’s Adam Walsh Act). A juvenile 

who has been classified as a sex offender has certain legal obligations, such as 

registering and periodically verifying his address in person with the sheriff. See 

R.C. 2950.07. The frequency with which the juvenile must report and the duration 

of his reporting requirements depend on the level of the classification imposed. Id. 

{¶ 5} Unlike adult offenders, whose classification levels are based solely on 

the underlying offense, see R.C. 2950.01, the juvenile court has discretion to 

determine the appropriate classification for a juvenile offender, see R.C. 

2152.83(A)(2) and (B)(2). Additionally, while adult classifications flow directly 

from the conviction and are not subject to modification, the juvenile court retains 

jurisdiction to review a juvenile offender’s classification. The classification 

process is set forth in a series of statutes (the “classification statutes”). The juvenile 

court conducts a hearing at the time of the juvenile’s disposition, see R.C. 2152.83, 

and at the time the juvenile completes the disposition, see R.C. 2152.84. After that, 

the juvenile may petition the juvenile court for review every three or five years. 

See R.C. 2152.85. 

{¶ 6} R.B.’s disposition ended on his 21st birthday. A Hamilton County 

juvenile-court magistrate held R.B.’s completion-of-disposition hearing two 

months before his birthday and issued orders continuing his sex-offender 

classification the week before he turned 21. The juvenile court adopted the 

magistrate’s decision to maintain R.B.’s sex-offender classification, but it did not 

do so until after R.B.’s disposition had ended and he had turned 21. R.B. therefore 

contends that the classification order is invalid and that he does not have a duty to 

register as a sex offender. 

{¶ 7} In order to better understand R.B.’s challenge, it is helpful to lay out 

the relevant portions of the statutes outlining the sex-offender-classification process 

for juveniles before we delve further into the facts of this case.
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{¶ 8} R.C. 2152.83 addresses what we will refer to as the “initial 

classification hearing.” With respect to juveniles who, like R.B., committed their 

offenses at the age of 14 or 15, the court has discretion whether to hold a 

classification hearing or impose a classification at all. R.C. 2152.83(B)(1) and (2). 

If the court decides to conduct a hearing, the statute provides for it to be held “at 

the time of disposition of the child or, if the court commits the child for the 

delinquent act to the custody of a secure facility, * * * at the time of the child’s 

release from the secure facility.” R.C. 2152.83(B)(1). Then “upon completion of 

the hearing,” the court may classify the juvenile as a sex offender or may decline 

to do so. R.C. 2152.83(B)(2). If the court imposes a classification, the court must 

notify the juvenile of his registration and reporting requirements. R.C. 

2152.83(C)(3). The court is also required to tell the juvenile that a second hearing 

will be held at the end of his disposition pursuant to R.C. 2152.84 and that his 

classification may be modified or terminated at that time. R.C. 2152.83(C)(3). 

{¶ 9} R.C. 2152.83(E) provides that the initial classification order “shall 

remain in effect for the period of time specified in section 2950.07 of the Revised 

Code, subject to a modification or termination of the order under section 2152.84 

of the Revised Code.” R.C. 2950.07 outlines the duration of a juvenile offender’s 

duty to register. For a juvenile classified as a Tier I offender, the duty to register 

lasts for 10 years; for a Tier II juvenile offender, the obligation continues for 20 

years; and a juvenile classified as a Tier III offender must register for life. R.C. 

2950.07(B). Further, “[t]he child’s attainment of eighteen or twenty-one years of 

age does not affect or terminate the order, and the order remains in effect for the 

period of time described in this division.” R.C. 2152.83(E). 

{¶ 10} The juvenile court must hold a second hearing to review the 

classification “upon completion of the disposition” (we will call this the 

“completion-of-disposition hearing”). R.C. 2152.84. The purpose of the hearing 

is 
January Term, 2020 

5

to review the effectiveness of the disposition and of any treatment 

provided for the child, to determine the risks that the child might reoffend, to determine whether the prior classification of the child as 

a juvenile offender registrant should be continued or terminated 

* * *, and to determine whether its prior determination * * * as to 

whether the child is a tier I sex offender/child-victim offender, a tier 

II sex offender/child-victim offender, or a tier III sex offender/childvictim offender should be continued or modified * * *. 

R.C. 2152.84(A)(1). “Upon completion of [this] hearing,” the court may either 

continue the juvenile’s previous classification, reduce the level of his classification, 

or terminate his classification altogether. R.C. 2152.84(A)(2). 

{¶ 11} Finally, R.C. 2152.85 allows a juvenile classified as a sex offender 

to petition the juvenile court at certain intervals to have his classification modified 

or removed (we will call this the “periodic-review provision”). The juvenile may 

first petition the court for review three years after the completion-of-disposition 

hearing. R.C. 2152.85(B)(1). The juvenile may petition the court a second time 

three years after the first petition was filed, R.C. 2152.85(B)(2), and then every five 

years after that for the duration of the registration period, R.C. 2152.85(B)(3). See 

also In re D.S., 146 Ohio St.3d 182, 2016-Ohio-1027, 54 N.E.3d 1184, ¶ 36. 

{¶ 12} With that understanding, we turn to the history of this case. 

II. R.B.’s classification

{¶ 13} When R.B. was 14 years old, he sexually abused his two four-yearold cousins. He confessed what he had done, and in October 2011, he was 

adjudicated delinquent on two counts of gross sexual imposition. The juvenile 

court held a dispositional hearing on December 2. The court placed R.B. on 

probation with a suspended commitment to the Ohio Department of Youth Services 
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that was to remain in place until he reached the age of 21. As a condition of 

probation, the court required R.B. to complete a residential treatment program. 

{¶ 14} The juvenile court issued an entry the following week continuing the 

case to January for the court to hold an initial sex-offender-classification hearing. 

After the hearing, the court classified R.B. as a Tier I offender. At that time, the 

court provided R.B. and his mother a form notifying them that as a result of R.B.’s 

classification, he would be required to register annually for a period of ten years. 

{¶ 15} After his initial classification hearing, R.B. continued to comply 

with his probation obligations. R.B. successfully completed the residential portion 

of his treatment program in February 2013 and reentered the community under an 

electronic-monitoring requirement. He attended counseling and sex-offender 

treatment on an outpatient basis. In July 2013, the probation department notified 

the court that R.B. had satisfied the terms of his probation. The court therefore 

ordered that R.B. “be released from official probation and placed on non-reporting 

probation with Monitored Time.” See R.C. 2929.01(Y) (monitored time is “a 

period of time during which an offender continues to be under the control of the 

sentencing court * * *, subject to no conditions other than leading a law-abiding 

life”). 

{¶ 16} R.B. stayed out of trouble and little happened in his case for another 

year. In July 2014, R.B. filed an application asking to have his record sealed, which 

the juvenile court denied two months later, noting that the “requisite requirements 

for eligibility have not yet been met” and that R.B. remained under a duty to register 

as a sex offender until 2022. 

{¶ 17} Following that decision, the court scheduled a completion-ofdisposition hearing pursuant to R.C. 2152.84. The hearing was first set for 

November 19, 2014, but the matter was continued three times at the defense’s 

request. Then, on April 28, 2015, the court issued an entry stating that the defense’s 

request for reclassification had been “withdrawn.” The court did not hold the R.C. 
January Term, 2020 

7

2152.84 completion-of-disposition hearing or enter an order continuing or 

terminating R.B.’s classification at that time. 

{¶ 18} The court took no further action on R.B.’s classification until

October 24, 2016, when the state filed a motion asking the juvenile court to hold a 

completion-of-disposition hearing. R.B. objected to the state’s request, asserting 

that the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction to go forward with the hearing because it 

had not been held “upon completion of the disposition,” as required under R.C. 

2152.84. 

{¶ 19} In January 2017, a juvenile-court magistrate held a hearing to 

determine whether the court had jurisdiction to conduct the completion-ofdisposition hearing. R.B. contended that he had completed his disposition at the 

time he finished outpatient treatment and was released from his probation reporting 

obligations and that the hearing was therefore untimely. Alternatively, if the court 

determined that nonreporting probation was a valid dispositional order, then R.B. 

reasoned that he had not yet completed his disposition and the state’s attempt to 

hold the hearing was premature. 

{¶ 20} The juvenile-court magistrate determined that she could proceed

with the completion-of-disposition hearing. R.B. filed objections, and the parties 

argued the matter before the juvenile-court judge. On March 6, 2017, the judge 

issued a decision finding that the court had jurisdiction to proceed with the 

completion-of-disposition hearing. The court concluded that R.B. remained on 

nonreporting probation with a suspended commitment to DYS and that R.B. was 

therefore still subject to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. 

{¶ 21} The magistrate held the completion-of-disposition hearing on May 

8, 2017, and issued orders on July 13 and 14, 2017, continuing R.B.’s Tier I 

classification. R.B. turned 21 years of age one week later, on July 20, 2017. 

{¶ 22} R.B. filed objections to the magistrate’s decision. The juvenile-court 

judge held a hearing on the objections in September and issued a written decision 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO

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the following month adopting the magistrate’s orders continuing R.B.’s Tier I 

classification. 

{¶ 23} R.B. appealed, asserting that his initial classification order was 

invalid, that the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction to hold the completion-ofdisposition hearing because it did not take place at the time the disposition was 

completed, that the juvenile court violated R.B.’s due-process rights by not holding 

the completion-of-disposition hearing at the time that he had completed his 

treatment, and that the juvenile court abused its discretion in continuing R.B.’s 

classification. The First District Court of Appeals ordered further briefing on the 

question whether the juvenile court lost jurisdiction to adopt the magistrate’s order 

continuing R.B.’s classification once R.B. reached 21 years of age. The court of 

appeals concluded that the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction to issue orders 

continuing R.B.’s classification both because he had reached the age of 21 and 

because his disposition had ended when he turned 21. It therefore vacated the 

classification orders. 2019-Ohio-3298. Based on its resolution of the jurisdiction 

question, the court of appeals held that R.B.’s other arguments were moot and 

declined to address them. 

{¶ 24} We accepted the state’s appeal, which raised the following 

proposition of law: “Once a juvenile court makes an appropriate initial 

classification under R.C. 2152.83, it is permanently vested with jurisdiction to 

review the classification in accordance with R.C. 2152.84 and 2152.85.” See 157 

Ohio St.3d 1523, 2019-Ohio-5327, 137 N.E.3d 102. 

{¶ 25} R.B. filed a cross-appeal raising three propositions of law. We 

accepted discretionary review over one of them, which asserts that the completionof-disposition hearing must be held at the time the juvenile completes treatment to 

comply with due process. Id. 

 
January Term, 2020 

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III. The juvenile court does not lose jurisdiction to enter an order pursuant 

to R.C. 2152.84 when the juvenile reaches the age of 21

{¶ 26} We first take up the portion of the First District’s holding that the 

juvenile court lost jurisdiction to continue R.B.’s Tier I classification once he turned 

21. 

{¶ 27} R.C. Chapter 2152 outlines the jurisdiction of juvenile courts with 

respect to delinquent children. The general rule is that a juvenile court has 

jurisdiction over juveniles who have been adjudicated delinquent until they reach 

the age of 21: 

 The juvenile court has jurisdiction over a person who is 

adjudicated a delinquent child or juvenile traffic offender prior to 

attaining eighteen years of age until the person attains twenty-one 

years of age, and, for purposes of that jurisdiction related to that 

adjudication, except as otherwise provided in this division, a person 

who is so adjudicated a delinquent child or juvenile traffic offender 

shall be deemed a “child” until the person attains twenty-one years 

of age. 

R.C. 2152.02(C)(6); see also In re J.V., 134 Ohio St.3d 1, 2012-Ohio-4961, 979 

N.E.2d 1203, ¶ 23. R.B. would have us stop there and hold that the juvenile court 

lost jurisdiction to hold the completion-of-disposition hearing once he turned 21 

and was no longer a “child” under R.C. 2152.02(C)(6). 

{¶ 28} That argument might be successful if that statute was the only source 

of the juvenile court’s jurisdiction. But another provision grants the juvenile court 

“exclusive original jurisdiction” to carry out its obligations under the sex-offenderclassification statutes: “[t]o conduct the hearings, and to make the determinations, 

adjudications, and orders authorized or required under sections 2152.82 to 2152.86 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO

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and Chapter 2950. of the Revised Code regarding a child who has been adjudicated 

a delinquent child.” R.C. 2151.23(A)(15). In other words, the juvenile court has 

jurisdiction to conduct sex-offender-classification hearings and issue classification 

orders under the terms of the classification statutes. 

{¶ 29} R.B. picks up on the word “child” in R.C. 2151.23(A)(15). He 

contends that R.C. 2152.02(C)(6)—which states that a person who has been 

adjudicated delinquent “shall be deemed a ‘child’ until the person attains twentyone years of age”—provides the meaning of the word “child” for purposes of R.C. 

2151.23(A)(15). Because the statute authorizes the juvenile court to conduct 

hearings and issue classification orders “regarding a child,” R.C. 2151.23(A)(15), 

and a juvenile who has been adjudicated delinquent is only considered to be a child 

until he reaches the age of 21, R.C. 2152.02(C)(6), R.B. says the court’s jurisdiction 

to carry out its obligations under the classification statutes ends on a juvenile’s 21st 

birthday. 

{¶ 30} The difficulty with that reading is that, by their plain terms, the 

classification statutes extend a juvenile court’s authority over classification orders 

beyond a juvenile’s 21st birthday. As outlined above, the periodic-review provision 

allows the juvenile to petition the juvenile court to reduce or remove his 

classification at the following times: three years after the completion-of-disposition 

hearing; three years after the first petition; and every five years after that. R.C. 

2152.85(B). The statute permits the juvenile registrant to petition the court for 

review as long as the classification remains in effect, which may in some cases be 

the rest of the juvenile’s life. See R.C. 2950.07(B)(1). Thus, the periodic-review 

provision necessarily grants the juvenile court the authority to issue classification 

orders beyond the juvenile’s reaching the age of 21. If we were to apply R.B.’s 

interpretation of “child” to the jurisdictional statute, we would be forced to 

conclude that the plain language of the classification statutes notwithstanding, a 
January Term, 2020 

11 

juvenile loses his ability to have a classification removed as soon as he becomes an 

adult. 

{¶ 31} Thus, the language in R.C. 2152.02(C)(6) stating that a person who 

has been adjudicated delinquent “shall be deemed a ‘child’ until the person attains 

twenty-one years of age” cannot control the meaning of the word “child” as it is 

used in R.C. 2151.23(A)(15). We think the better reading comes from looking at 

how the word is used in conjunction with the surrounding text. The statute grants 

the juvenile court jurisdiction to conduct the hearings and issue the orders permitted 

by the classification statutes “regarding a child who has been adjudicated a 

delinquent child.” R.C. 2151.23(A)(15). The use of the words “has been” suggests 

a juvenile registrant need not still be a “child” for the court to have jurisdiction to 

review his classification but rather that the court has continuing jurisdiction to 

review the classifications of juvenile offenders who have been adjudicated 

delinquent. 

{¶ 32} We therefore conclude that R.C. 2151.23(A)(15) vests the juvenile 

court with jurisdiction to carry out its requirements under the classification statutes, 

independent of whether the “delinquent child” has reached the age of 21. 

{¶ 33} This court’s holding in State ex rel. Jean-Baptiste v. Kirsch, 134 

Ohio St.3d 421, 2012-Ohio-5697, 983 N.E.2d 302, does not compel a contrary 

result. That case dealt with the juvenile court’s imposition of an initial 

classification order pursuant to R.C. 2152.83. As noted above, that provision 

requires the court to impose the initial classification either as part of the 

dispositional order or at the time of the juvenile’s release from a secured facility. 

This court concluded that the juvenile court lacked statutory authority to impose 

the initial classification order after it had terminated the juvenile’s disposition and 

after the juvenile had reached the age of 21. Id. at ¶ 28. 

{¶ 34} In this case, the juvenile court had issued its initial classification 

under R.C. 2152.83 prior to R.B.’s 21st birthday and that classification remained in 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO

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effect for the duration of R.B.’s registration period. See R.C. 2152.83(E) (the initial 

classification order “shall remain in effect for the period of time specified in section 

2950.07 of the Revised Code”). Thus, the imposition of the initial classification 

order in this case triggered the statutory-review process outlined in the 

classification statutes, and the juvenile court retained jurisdiction to review R.B.’s 

classification pursuant to R.C. 2151.23(A)(15). 

IV. The timing requirements of R.C. 2152.84 are not jurisdictional 

A. The meaning of “upon completion of the disposition” 

{¶ 35} The First District determined that R.B.’s disposition, by its own 

terms, ended at the same time he turned 21.1

 2019-Ohio-3298 at ¶ 14. It concluded: 

Because the trial court did not complete the statutorily-required 

process for classifying R.B. prior to the completion of his 

disposition upon his turning 21, it had no jurisdiction to classify him 

as a Tier I offender. The initial classification order is not revived or 

still in effect, and therefore, there is no order in place requiring R.B. 

to register as a sex offender. 

Id. Thus, the court of appeals read the language “upon completion” in the statute 

as requiring the hearing to occur prior to the completion of the disposition. 

{¶ 36} R.B. contends that “upon completion” means the hearing must be 

held on the very day that the juvenile’s disposition ends—no earlier and no later. 

We find this to be an excessively technical reading of the word “upon.” Indeed, 

taken to its logical conclusion, such an interpretation would mean that if the 

 

1. In his cross-appeal, R.B. raised a proposition of law in which he argued that the dispositional 

order of nonreporting probation with monitored time was not validly imposed. We declined to 

accept that proposition and therefore, for the purposes of answering the jurisdictional question, we 

assume without deciding that the First District was correct in holding that R.B. was under a valid 

disposition. 
January Term, 2020 

13 

disposition ends upon the juvenile’s reaching the age of 21, the juvenile court would 

be foreclosed from holding the completion-of-disposition hearing altogether: under 

R.B.’s view, the court can’t hold it before the disposition is complete, but it loses 

jurisdiction to hold it as soon as R.B. turns 21. 

{¶ 37} Moreover, R.C. 2152.84 not only provides that the hearing be held 

“upon completion of the disposition,” R.C. 2152.84(A)(1), but also that the judge’s 

classification order be issued “upon completion of [the] hearing,” R.C. 

2152.84(A)(2). Reading “upon” in the manner suggested by R.B. would require 

that the hearing be conducted on the day that the disposition ends and that the court 

issue its decision regarding the juvenile’s classification immediately after the 

hearing is complete, without any time to consider and review the evidence 

presented. In some jurisdictions, as in this case, the completion-of-disposition 

hearing and classification orders are issued by magistrate judges and then adopted 

or rejected by juvenile-court judges. It follows that under R.B.’s view, the 

magistrate would have to hold a hearing and issue its classification order, the parties 

would have to file objections, and the juvenile-court judge would have to rule on 

those objections and issue its own decision—all in the course of a single day. 

{¶ 38} Instead, we find that the phrase “upon completion” is given meaning 

by the surrounding language. R.C. 2152.84(A)(1) states that “upon completion of 

the disposition,” the judge “shall conduct a hearing to review the effectiveness of 

the disposition and of any treatment provided for the child * * *.” That the juvenile 

court is directed to review the effectiveness of the disposition and treatment 

suggests that the hearing may be held after the disposition and treatment have been 

completed. 

{¶ 39} Thus, we do not read the phrase “upon completion” to limit the 

juvenile court’s ability to conduct a completion-of-disposition hearing to a single 

day. The lack of more specific language lends itself to a reading that the juvenile 

court is directed to conduct the completion-of-disposition hearing within a 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO

14 

reasonable proximity—either before or after—the date the disposition is scheduled 

to end. 

B. The timing requirement of R.C. 2152.84 is not jurisdictional

{¶ 40} R.B.’s argument fails for another reason: the requirement that the 

hearing be held “upon completion of the disposition” is not jurisdictional. The 

question whether the timing requirement is jurisdictional goes to the juvenile 

court’s subject-matter jurisdiction—its power to hear the case. See Pratts v. Hurley, 

102 Ohio St.3d 81, 2004-Ohio-1980, 806 N.E.2d 992, ¶ 34. As we have already 

explained, R.C. 2151.23(A)(15) grants the juvenile court “exclusive original 

jurisdiction * * * [t]o conduct the hearings, and to make the determinations, 

adjudications, and orders authorized or required” under the classification statutes. 

{¶ 41} R.B. focuses on the word “shall” in R.C. 2152.84(A)(1) (“upon 

completion of the disposition * * * the judge * * * shall conduct a hearing”). He 

contends that the timing requirements “must be read as mandatory and therefore 

jurisdictional.” 

{¶ 42} But not all mandatory provisions are jurisdictional in nature. Smith 

v. May, 159 Ohio St.3d 106, 2020-Ohio-61, 148 N.E.3d 542, ¶ 31; State v. Martin, 

154 Ohio St.3d 513, 2018-Ohio-3226, 116 N.E.3d 127, ¶ 27. We see no language 

in R.C. 2152.84 indicating that a failure to comply with this timing requirement 

divests the juvenile court of jurisdiction to hold the hearing altogether. Nor does 

the statute specify a remedy for a court’s failure to adhere to the timing requirement. 

In the absence of language clearly stating that the failure to comply with the timing 

provision creates a jurisdictional barrier, this court will be reluctant to find one. See 

May at ¶ 24, citing Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp., 546 U.S. 500, 515-516, 126 S.Ct. 

1235, 163 L.E.2d 1097 (2006); Nucorp, Inc. v. Montgomery Cty. Bd. of Revision, 

64 Ohio St.2d 20, 22, 412 N.E.2d 947 (1980). 

{¶ 43} This does not mean that the juvenile court may conduct the 

completion-of-disposition hearing any time it wants as long as the registration order 
January Term, 2020 

15 

remains in effect. That would render the language “upon completion of the 

disposition” meaningless. (Indeed, the failure to hold a hearing within a reasonable 

time could affect the ability of the juvenile to seek further review of his 

classification pursuant to R.C. 2152.85, as the time for review under that section 

begins from the order following the completion-of-disposition hearing. R.C. 

2152.85(B)(1).) If the juvenile court fails to conduct the mandatory R.C. 2152.84 

completion-of-disposition hearing, the juvenile could file an action in procedendo 

to compel the court to hold the hearing. See In re Davis, 84 Ohio St.3d 520, 523, 

705 N.E.2d 1219 (1999). Additionally, a juvenile may still object to 

noncompliance with the timing requirements for holding the hearing, that issue may 

be reviewed on direct appeal, and the court of appeals may determine an appropriate 

remedy for an untimely hearing. See May at ¶ 31. 

{¶ 44} But the question in this case is whether the juvenile court loses 

jurisdiction to hold the hearing based on an alleged failure to comply with a 

statutory timing requirement. We conclude that it does not. 

C. The effect of the completion-of-disposition hearing on the initial classification 

order 

{¶ 45} The First District held that because the juvenile court did not hold 

the completion-of-disposition hearing before R.B.’s disposition ended, R.B. was no 

longer under a valid classification order. 2019-Ohio-3298 at ¶ 14. The state 

contends that the initial classification order remained in effect pursuant to R.C. 

2152.83(E) (the initial classification order “shall remain in effect for the period of 

time specified in section 2950.07 of the Revised Code, subject to a modification or 

termination of the order under section 2152.84 of the Revised Code”). 

{¶ 46} R.B. insists that the failure of a juvenile court to hold the R.C. 

2152.84 completion-of-disposition hearing within a certain timeframe invalidates 

the initial classification order. He contends that under R.C. 2152.83(E), the initial 

classification order is “subject to” the provisions of R.C. 2152.84. Thus, in his 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO

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view, if the completion-of-disposition hearing is not held within the timeframe 

required by R.C. 2152.84, then the initial classification order ceases to have any 

effect. 

{¶ 47} The plain language of R.C. 2152.83(E) belies that conclusion. That 

provision says that the initial classification order is subject to modification or 

termination under R.C. 2152.84. Rather than suggest that the court’s failure to 

comply with the procedural requirements for the completion-of-disposition hearing 

voids the initial classification order, R.C. 2152.83(E) is explicit that the initial 

classification order remains in effect for the entire registration period unless it is 

modified or terminated. 

V. We decline to reach R.B.’s due-process argument

{¶ 48} R.B. raised an assignment of error in the court of appeals contending 

that his due-process rights were violated as a result of the amount of time that 

passed between the date that he completed his treatment and the completion-ofdisposition hearing. As noted above, the First District determined that this question 

was moot as a result of its conclusion that the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction to 

issue the order continuing R.B.’s classification. R.B. conceded this point in his 

brief in support of jurisdiction. Because there is no judgment below for us to review 

on the due-process question, we dismiss this proposition as having been 

improvidently allowed. 

VI. Conclusion

{¶ 49} R.C. 2151.23(A)(15) grants the juvenile court jurisdiction to review 

classifications, hold hearings, and issue orders authorized under the classification 

statutes, and this jurisdiction necessarily extends beyond the juvenile’s having 

reached the age of 21. While the failure of the juvenile court to hold the R.C. 

2152.84 hearing in a timely manner may support other claims for relief, we 

conclude that the statutory directive that the hearing be held “upon completion of 

the disposition” is not a jurisdictional requirement. We therefore reverse the 
January Term, 2020 

17 

judgment of the court of appeals and remand the cause for that court to consider the 

assignments of error it previously deemed moot. 

Judgment reversed 

and cause remanded. 

KENNEDY, FRENCH, GALLAGHER, DONNELLY, and STEWART, JJ., concur. 

O’CONNOR, C.J., concurs in judgment only. 

EILEEN A. GALLAGHER, J., of the Eighth District Court of Appeals, sitting 

for FISCHER, J. 

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Joseph T. Deters, Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney, and Paula 

Adams, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellant and cross-appellee. 

Raymond T. Faller, Hamilton County Public Defender, and Julie Kahrs 

Nessler, Assistant Public Defender, for appellee and cross-appellant. 

Timothy Young, Ohio Public Defender, and Brooke M. Burns, Assistant 

Public Defender, urging affirmance for amici curiae Office of the Ohio Public 

Defender, Children’s Law Center, Justice for Children, Juvenile Law Center, 

National Juvenile Defender Center, and Professor Catherine Carpenter. 

Michael C. O’Malley, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor, and Daniel T. Van, 

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, urging reversal for amicus curiae Ohio Prosecuting 

Attorneys Association. 

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