GA Code § 15-11-504 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 15 - Courts|Chapter 11 - Juvenile Code|Article 6 - Delinquency|Part 3 - Custody and Release of Child|§ 15-11-504. Place of Detention; Data on Child Detained

  An alleged delinquent child may be detained only in:   A licensed foster home;   A home approved by the court which may be a public or private home;   The home of such child's noncustodial parent or of a relative;   A facility operated by a licensed child welfare agency; or   A secure residential facility or nonsecure residential facility.     Placement shall be made in the least restrictive facility available consistent with the best interests of the child.   A child 15 years of age or older and alleged to be a delinquent child may be held in a jail or other facility for the detention of adults for identification or processing procedures or while awaiting transportation only so long as necessary to complete such activities for up to six hours, or for up to 24 hours if the closest secure residential facility is more than 70 miles from such facility, if all of the following apply:   Such child is detained for the commission of a crime that would constitute a class A designated felony act, class B designated felony act, or a serious violent felony as defined in Code Section 17-10-6.1;   Such child is awaiting a detention hearing;   Such child's detention hearing is scheduled within 24 hours after being taken into custody, excluding weekends and legal holidays;   There is no existing acceptable alternative placement for such child; and   The jail or other facility for the detention of adults provides sight and sound separation for children, including:   Total separation between children and adult facility spatial areas such that there is no verbal, visual, or physical contact and there could be no haphazard or accidental contact between child and adult residents in the respective facilities;   Total separation in all program activities for children and adults within the facilities, including recreation, education, counseling, health care, dining, sleeping, and general living activities;   Continuous visual supervision of a child; and   Separate staff for children and adults, specifically direct care staff such as recreation, education, and counseling, although specialized services staff, such as cooks, bookkeepers, and medical professionals who are not normally in contact with detainees or whose infrequent contacts occur under conditions of separation of children and adults, can serve both.       A child shall not be transported with adults who have been charged with or convicted of a crime. DJJ may transport a child with children who have been charged with or convicted of a crime in superior court.   The official in charge of a jail or other facility for the detention of adult offenders or persons charged with a crime shall inform the court or the juvenile court intake officer immediately when a child who appears to be under the age of 17 years is received at such facility and shall deliver such child to the court upon request or transfer such child to the facility designated by the juvenile court intake officer or the court.   All facilities shall maintain data on each child detained and such data shall be recorded and retained by the facility for three years and shall be made available for inspection during normal business hours by any court exercising juvenile court jurisdiction, by DJJ, by the Governor's Office for Children and Families, by the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, by the Administrative Office of the Courts, and by the Council of Juvenile Court Judges. Such data shall be used by the inspecting agency for official purposes and shall not be subject to release by such agency pursuant to Article 4 of Chapter 18 of Title 50, nor subject to subpoena. The required data are each detained child's:   Name;   Date of birth;   Sex;   Race;   Offense or offenses for which such child is being detained;   Date of and authority for confinement;   Location of the offense and the name of the school if the offense occurred in a school safety zone, as defined in Code Section 16-11-127.1;   The name of the referral source, including the name of the school if the referring source was a school;   The score on the detention assessment;   The basis for detention if such child's detention assessment score does not in and of itself mandate detention;   The reason for detention, which may include, but shall not be limited to, preadjudication detention, detention while awaiting a postdisposition placement, or serving a short-term program disposition;   Date of and authority for release or transfer; and   Transfer or to whom released.       (Code 1981, §15-11-504, enacted by Ga. L. 2013, p. 294, § 1-1/HB 242; Ga. L. 2015, p. 890, § 3/HB 263.)   Law reviews.   - For note criticizing jurisdiction of juvenile justice system over runaways and advocating alternative legal approaches, see 24 Emory L. J. 1075 (1975).   JUDICIAL DECISIONS   Editor's notes.   - In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under former Code 1933, § 24A-1403, pre-2000 Code Section 15-11-20, and pre-2014 Code Section 15-11-48, which were subsequently repealed but were succeeded by provisions in this Code section, are included in the annotations for this Code section. See the Editor's notes at the beginning of the chapter.   Applicability.    - Contrary to the defendant's claims, neither former O.C.G.A. § 15-11-67 (see now O.C.G.A. § 15-11-442) nor former O.C.G.A. § 15-11-48(e) (see now O.C.G.A. §§ 15-11-135,15-11-400, and15-11-412) applied to the defendant's case because both provisions applied when the child was found "unruly," and the defendant was adjudicated delinquent, not unruly. In the Interest of B. Q. L. E., 297 Ga. App. 273, 676 S.E.2d 742, cert. denied, No. S09C1197, 2009 Ga. LEXIS 787 (Ga. 2009) (decided under former O.C.G.A. § 15-11-48).   Suspect may first be booked if rights are observed.    - There was no violation of former O.C.G.A. § 15-11-20 (see now O.C.G.A. §§ 15-11-155,15-11-400,15-11-412, and15-11-504) because a juvenile suspect was first taken to a police station for booking purposes, if the juvenile was advised of the juvenile's rights under that section to be questioned elsewhere; the juvenile signed a waiver of these rights on an "advice to juveniles" form and was detained at a youth development center. Marshall v. State, 248 Ga. 227, 282 S.E.2d 301 (1981) (decided under former Code 1933, § 24A-1403).   Confession admissible if juvenile taken before county police.    - Juvenile defendant's confession was admissible despite the fact that the juvenile was not taken before an impartial juvenile intake officer but a member of the county police department since the defendant's mother was present during the juvenile's interrogation and it was not alleged that the officer failed to perform any duty imposed upon the officer. Worthy v. State, 253 Ga. 661, 324 S.E.2d 431 (1985) (decided under former O.C.G.A. § 15-11-20).   All detention facilities not supervised and controlled by juvenile courts.    - Juvenile courts are not granted the power and authority to supervise and control all the various detention facilities. Jones v. State, 134 Ga. App. 611, 215 S.E.2d 483 (1975) (decided under former Code 1933, § 24A-1403).   No guarantee of all bed space desired by courts.    - Subsection (a) of former section contemplated otherwise than that the Department of Human Resources guarantee all bed space desired by the juvenile courts. Jones v. State, 134 Ga. App. 611, 215 S.E.2d 483 (1975) (decided under former Code 1933, § 24A-1403).   Confinement designation not exercise of court's jurisdiction.    - Juvenile court's order for detention was merely an order pursuant to the former statute; designating the place of confinement was not an exercise of jurisdiction by that court. Hartley v. Clack, 239 Ga. 113, 236 S.E.2d 63 (1977) (decided under former Code 1933, § 24A-1403).   Foster relationship gives rise to no state-created rights.    - Children are placed in foster homes as an alternative to institutional care for what is clearly designed as a transitional phase in the child's life. Therefore, in the eyes of the state, which creates the foster relationship, the relationship is considered temporary at the outset and gives rise to no state-created rights in the foster parents. Drummond v. Fulton County Dep't of Family & Children's Servs., 563 F.2d 1200 (5th Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 437 U.S. 910, 98 S. Ct. 3103, 57 L. Ed. 2d 1141 (1978) (decided under former Code 1933, § 24A-1403).   School officials not involved in admission of student to detention center.    - Because the school officials exercised their discretion under the law to report alleged criminal action against a school resource officer by the student, there was no evidence that school officials were involved in the decision to admit the student into the youth detention center, and the student was allowed to return to school upon the student's release from the youth detention center, the disciplinary hearing was not untimely, as there was evidence that the student had not been suspended before the hearing, and, thus, the superior court erred in reversing the state board of education's decision and remanding the case to the state board with direction to vacate the adjudication of expulsion entered against the student. Fulton County Bd. of Educ. v. D. R. H., 325 Ga. App. 53, 752 S.E.2d 103 (2013)(decided under former O.C.G.A. § 54-11-48).   Restrictive custody appropriate.    - Trial court did not abuse the court's discretion by ordering a juvenile to serve 12 months in restrictive custody as the juvenile's school disciplinary record; record of delinquency; violations of probation; immaturity; susceptibility to temptation; use of marijuana; lack of positive male role models; lack of structure; and the absence of other activities to occupy time demonstrated that restrictive custody was in the juvenile's best interests, as well as the community's, and was not arbitrary. In the Interest of C. M., 331 Ga. App. 16, 769 S.E.2d 737 (2015).    Cited in M.K.H. v. State, 135 Ga. App. 565, 218 S.E.2d 284 (1975); R.A.M. v. State, 148 Ga. App. 226, 251 S.E.2d 139 (1978); Lewis v. State, 246 Ga. 101, 268 S.E.2d 915 (1980); Long v. Long, 303 Ga. App. 215, 692 S.E.2d 811 (2010).   OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL   Editor's notes.   - In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, opinions under former Code 1933, § 24A-1403, which was subsequently repealed but was succeeded by provisions in this Code section, are included in the annotations for this Code section. See the Editor's notes at the beginning of the chapter.   Juvenile intake officer to locate appropriate juvenile facility.   - Juvenile intake officer should make all reasonable efforts to locate an appropriate juvenile facility for the detention of an allegedly delinquent child before determining that such a facility was "not available" for purposes of the former statute. 1978 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U78-13 (decided under former Code 1933, § 24A-1403).   RESEARCH REFERENCES   Am. Jur. 2d.   - 47 Am. Jur. 2d, Juvenile Courts and Delinquent and Dependent Children, §§ 47 et seq., 53 et seq., 66.   C.J.S.   - 43 C.J.S., Infants, §§ 140 et seq., 226 et seq., 239.   U.L.A.   - Uniform Juvenile Court Act (U.L.A.) § 16.   ALR.    - What constitutes delinquency or incorrigibility, justifying commitment of infant, 45 A.L.R. 1533; 85 A.L.R. 1099.   Authority of court to order juvenile delinquent incarcerated in adult penal institution, 95 A.L.R.3d 568.   Truancy as indicative of delinquency or incorrigibility, justifying commitment of infant or juvenile, 5 A.L.R.4th 1211.   Foster parent's right to immunity from foster child's negligence claims, 55 A.L.R.4th 778.