Opinion ID: 286226
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the family court act

Text: 7 Both petitioners claim that the Supreme Court of New York had no subject matter jurisdiction over the acts alleged in the indictments returned against them, and that exclusive original jurisdiction lay rather in the Family Court. They seek federal habeas corpus relief to void their convictions on the ground that this lack of jurisdiction under provisions of state law violated due process. 8 In 1962 the State of New York amended its Constitution to create a Family Court, which was to have jurisdiction as may be provided by law, over crimes and offenses by or against minors or between spouses or between parent and child or between members of the same family or household. N.Y. Const. art. VI, § 13(b). Legislation implementing this constitutional amendment was passed by the Legislature in 1963 in the form of the Family Court Act. N.Y.Jud. — Court Acts, Pt. 1, Family Court Act § 1 et seq. (McKinney 1963). 9 The key provision of the Act for present purposes is § 812: 10 The family court has exclusive original jurisdiction over any proceeding concerning acts which would constitute disorderly conduct or an assault between spouses or between parent and child or between members of the same family or household. 11 If a criminal complaint charging any of the acts within the compass of § 812 is lodged in any court other than the Family Court, that court must transfer the complaint to the Family Court under § 813. However, the Family Court in turn may transfer any proceeding within its jurisdiction under § 812 to an appropriate criminal court if it finds that the processes of the family court are inappropriate. Family Court Act § 814(a). After such a transfer by the Family Court the usual New York substantive and procedural law applicable to criminal prosecutions governs the disposition of the case, just as if the Family Court had never entered the picture. 12 The purpose of the above provisions is stated in § 811 of the Act. The Legislature determined that many criminal complaints founded upon intra-family assaults or disorderly conduct were brought by complainants to secure practical help in adjusting marital difficulties, rather than to secure a criminal conviction. The Act eliminates the need for such an indirect approach by vesting in the Family Court, with its power to enter orders for support and protection and its facility for initiating conciliation proceedings, an exclusive original civil jurisdiction over certain intra-family offenses. But, recognizing that the Family Court's ameliorative processes may be futile or inappropriate in some cases, the court may transfer matters to a criminal court for prosecution. See Montalvo v. Montalvo, 55 Misc. 2d 699, 286 N.Y.S.2d 605, 609-611 (Fam. Ct.1968). Thus the legislative scheme contemplates criminal prosecution of family offenses constituting assault or disorderly conduct only if a Family Court judge first determines that the dispute cannot be resolved through the less severe remedies at the Family Court's disposal. See generally Joint Legislative Comm. on Court Reorganization, Rep. No. II, Jan. 30, 1962, pp. 18-19. It is apparent that a defendant has a vital interest in the question of whether the Family Court or a criminal court acquires jurisdiction over the complaint filed against him. The maximum sentence that the Family Court may impose is six months, in the event of the violation of an order of protection, while a criminal prosecution can lead to extended sentences, such as those imposed upon both petitioners here.