Mental Hygiene System Mental hygiene commissioners are lawyers who preside over hearings on involuntary hospitalization, guardianship, and conservatorship. There is at least one mental hygiene commissioner in each of West Virginia's 31 circuits. Juvenile System Among other duties, juvenile referees hold detention hearings when a child is arrested or taken into custody. In most counties, magistrates act as juvenile referees. There are 156 magistrates statewide, with at least two in every county and 10 in the largest county.
Magistrates also issue protective orders in cases involving domestic violence.
Magistrates run for four-year terms in partisan elections. They do not have to be lawyers. Circuit judges may appoint magistrates to fill vacancies. An appointee who wishes to remain in office must run in the next election. The jurisdiction of municipal courts is constitutionally limited to those cases involving ordinance violations.