Pennsylvania Code › Title 237 - JUVENILE RULES › Part I - RULES › Subpart A - DELINQUENCY MATTERS › Chapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Part A - BUSINESS OF COURTS › Rule 120 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
ADULT is any person, other than a juvenile, eighteen
						years old or older.
ADVANCED COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY is any communication
						equipment that is used as a link between parties in physically separate
						locations and includes, but is not limited to, systems providing for two-way
						simultaneous audio-visual communication, closed circuit television, telephone
						and facsimile equipment, and electronic mail.
AFFIANT is any responsible person, capable of taking an
						oath, who signs, swears to, affirms, or when permitted by these rules, verifies
						a written allegation and appreciates the nature and quality of that person's
						act.
CLERK OF COURTS is that official in each judicial
						district who has the responsibility and function under state law or local
						practice to maintain the official court record and docket, without regard to
						that person's official title. A party to the proceedings shall not function as
						the clerk of courts.
COPY is an exact duplicate of an original document,
						including any required signatures, produced through mechanical or electronic
						means and includes, but is not limited to, copies reproduced by a photocopier,
						transmission using facsimile equipment, or by scanning into and printing out of
						a computer.
COUNTY AGENCY is the county children and youth social
						service agency established pursuant to the County Institution District Law,
						62
						P. S. §
												2305 (1937), or established by
						the county commissioners in the judicial districts where the County Institution
						District Law was abolished,
						16
						P. S. §§
												2161 and
						2168, and supervised by the
						Department of Public Welfare pursuant to the Public Welfare Code,
						62
						P. S. §
												901
et
						seq.
COURT is the Court of Common Pleas, a court of record,
						which is assigned to hear juvenile delinquency matters. Court shall include
						juvenile court hearing officers when they are permitted to hear cases under
						these rules and magisterial district judges when issuing an arrest warrant
						pursuant to Rule 210. Juvenile Court shall have the same meaning as
						Court.
DESTROY or DESTRUCTION is to erase permanently or the
						process of permanent erasure of an item leaving no trace or indication that it
						ever existed.
DETENTION FACILITY is any facility, privately or publicly
						owned and operated, designated by the court and approved by the Department of
						Public Welfare to detain a juvenile temporarily. The term detention facility,
						when used in these rules, shall include shelter-care. Detention facility shall
						not include any county jail or state prison.
DISPOSITION is a final determination made by the court
						after an adjudication of delinquency or any determination that ceases juvenile
						court action on a case.
EDUCATIONAL DECISION MAKER is a responsible adult
						appointed by the court to make decisions regarding a juvenile's education when
						the juvenile has no guardian or the court has limited the guardian's right to
						make such decisions for the juvenile. The educational decision maker acts as
						the juvenile's representative concerning all matters regarding education unless
						the court specifically limits the authority of the educational decision
						maker.
EXPUNGE or EXPUNGEMENT is to erase legally or the process
						of legal erasure of the juvenile record or the sealing of the record making it
						permanently unavailable to the public but where some information may be
						retained only by a juvenile justice agency for limited purposes as provided in
						Rule 173.
GUARDIAN is any parent, custodian, or other person who
						has legal custody of a juvenile, or person designated by the court to be a
						temporary guardian for purposes of a proceeding.
HEALTH CARE is care related to any medical need including
						physical, mental, and dental health. This term is used in the broadest sense to
						include any type of health need.
INSPECTION is the official examination of a document or
						evidence as authorized by Rules 160 and 161.
INTAKE STAFF is any responsible person taking custody of
						the juvenile on behalf of the court, detention facility, or medical
						facility.
INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION is information concerning the
						habits, practices, characteristics, possessions, associations, or financial
						status of any juvenile compiled in an effort to anticipate, prevent, monitor,
						investigage, or prosecute delinquent activity.
INVESTIGATIVE INFORMATION is the information assembled as
						result of the performance of any inquiry, formal or informal, into delinquent
						activity or an allegation of a delinquent act and may include
modus
						operandi
information.
ISSUING AUTHORITY is any public official having the power
						and authority of a magistrate, an arraignment court magistrate, or a
						Magisterial District Judge.
JUDGE is a judge of the Court of Common Pleas.
JUVENILE is a person who has attained ten years of age
						and is not yet twenty-one years of age who is alleged to have, upon or after
						the juvenile's tenth birthday, committed a delinquent act before reaching
						eighteen years of age or who is alleged to have violated the terms of juvenile
						probation prior to termination of juvenile court supervision.
JUVENILE COURT HEARING OFFICER is an attorney with
						delegated authority to preside over and make recommendations for delinquency
						matters. Juvenile court hearing officer has the same meaning as master as used
						pursuant to
						42 Pa.C.S. §
												6301
et seq
.
JUVENILE JUSTICE AGENCY is any court, including the minor
						judiciary, or any other governmental agency specifically authorized to perform
						the administration of juvenile justice as its function. Juvenile justice
						agencies include, but are not limited to, organized State and municipal police
						departments, probation agencies, district or prosecuting attorneys, the
						Juvenile Court Judges' Commission, the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania
						Courts, or any such persons, agencies, or departments as determined by the
						court to be juvenile justice agencies.
JUVENILE PROBATION FILES are those records formally
						maintained by the juvenile probation office and its officers, including, but
						not limited to, copies of information contained in the official juvenile court
						record; social studies; school records and reports; health evaluations,
						screenings, assessments, records, and reports, including psychological and
						psychiatric evaluations and reports, drug and alcohol testing, evaluations, and
						reports; placement reports and documents; employment records; and probation
						reports.
JUVENILE PROBATION OFFICER is a person who has been
						appointed by the court or employed by a county's juvenile probation office, and
						who has been properly commissioned by being sworn in as an officer of the court
						to exercise the powers and duties set forth in Rule 195, the Juvenile Act, and
						the Child Protective Services Law.
JUVENILE RECORD is the information collected and retained
						by juvenile justice agencies concerning juveniles, and arising from the
						initiation of delinquency proceedings, consisting of identifiable descriptions,
						dates and notations of arrest, written allegations, petitions, other formal
						charging documents, official court records, and any dispositions arising from
						those records. The juvenile record does not include intelligence information or
						investigative information that is maintained separately by law enforcement
						agencies.
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER is any person who is by law given
						the power to enforce the law when acting within the scope of that person's
						employment.
MEDICAL FACILITY is any hospital, urgent care facility,
						psychiatric or psychological ward, drug and alcohol detoxification or
						rehabilitation program, or any other similar facility designed to treat a
						juvenile medically or psychologically.
MINOR is any person, other than a juvenile, under the age
						of eighteen.
OFFICIAL COURT RECORD is the juvenile court file
						maintained by the clerk of courts which contains all court orders, court
						notices, docket entries, filed documents, evidence admitted into the record,
						and other court designated documents in each juvenile case.
ORDINANCE is a legislative enactment of a political
						subdivision.
PARTIES are the juvenile and the Commonwealth.
PENAL LAWS include all statutes and embodiments of the
						common law, which establish, create, or define crimes or offenses, including
						any ordinances that may provide for placement in a juvenile facility upon a
						finding of delinquency or upon failure to pay a fine or penalty.
PETITION is a formal document by which an attorney for
						the Commonwealth or the juvenile probation officer alleges a juvenile to be
						delinquent.
PETITIONER is an attorney for the Commonwealth or a
						juvenile probation officer, who signs, swears to, affirms, or verifies and
						files a petition.
PLACEMENT FACILITY is any facility, privately or publicly
						owned and operated, that identifies itself either by charter, articles of
						incorporation, or program description, to receive delinquent juveniles or which
						otherwise provides treatment to juveniles as a case disposition. Placement
						facilities include, but are not limited to, residential facilities, group
						homes, after-school programs, and day programs, whether secure or non-secure.
						Placement facility shall not include any county jail or state prison.
POLICE OFFICER is any person, who is by law given the
						power to arrest when acting within the scope of the person's employment.
POLITICAL SUBDIVISION shall mean county, city, township,
						borough, or incorporated town or village having legislative authority.
PROCEEDING is any stage in the juvenile delinquency
						process occurring once a written allegation has been submitted.
RECORDING is the means to provide a verbatim account of a
						proceeding through the use of a court stenographer, audio recording,
						audio-visual recording, or other appropriate means.
SERVICE PROVIDER is any entity that provides services to
						juveniles pursuant to a proceeding under the Juvenile Act,
						42 Pa.C.S. §
												6301
et seq.
SOCIAL STUDY is a pre-dispositional report, which
						summarizes important information concerning the juvenile to aid the court in
						determining the disposition.
VERIFICATION is a written statement made by a person that
						the information provided is true and correct to that person's personal
						knowledge, information, or belief and that any false statements are subject to
						the penalties of the Crimes Code,
						18 Pa.C.S. §
												4904,
						relating to unsworn falsification to authorities.
WRITTEN ALLEGATION is the document that is completed by a
						law enforcement officer or other person that is necessary to allege a juvenile
						has committed an act of delinquency.