Opinion ID: 1910921
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: assessment of detention costs

Text: In addition, the clear focus of § 43-290 is to identify the party responsible for the provision of the support, study, and treatment of the juvenile. Section 43-290 explicitly delegates to DSS the costs for the support, study, or treatment of a juvenile in its care and custody which are not otherwise paid by the juvenile's parent. Lisa has been in the care, custody, and control of DSS since December 1990. This disposition did not change during the 5-day period when she was detained in the Panhandle Youth Detention Center. In addition, it was DSS who first suggested to the Keith County Attorney that if Lisa should be located, she could be detained in a secure facility, the Wayne Detention Center. When the county attorney resisted this suggestion and countered with her own offer to draft an order to detain Lisa at the Panhandle Youth Detention Center, DSS either acquiesced or at least did not voice any concern as to who would pay the costs of detention. Moreover, DSS agreed to transport Lisa to the Panhandle Youth Detention Center should she be found. If DSS had any reservations about Lisa's placement in the Gering facility or payment of the detention costs, it should have protested prior to transporting Lisa to the Panhandle Youth Detention Center or, at the very latest, at the November 30, 1992, hearing in juvenile court, instead of waiting until after the bill for detention costs had arrived. As its second assignment of error, DSS argues that any county-ordered detention should be considered an expense within the local administration of justice, and such expenses are the responsibility of the individual county. In support, DSS cited provisions of the criminal code and offered the proposition that since Lisa was detained pursuant to a court order, she was therefore a prisoner and that §§ 29-1001 and 29-1004 require the cost for confinement of prisoners to be paid by the county. The law in this state is clear that a juvenile offender is not similarly situated as an adult criminal offender. That is so because a juvenile offender is ordinarily committed to a public institution to effect treatment or rehabilitation, and not for the purpose of punishment. See In re Interest of A.M.H., 233 Neb. 610, 447 N.W.2d 40 (1989). Moreover, there is even less reason to treat a status offender like Lisa similarly to an adult offender, as Lisa was not a criminal offender in any sense of the word. Lisa was a child in need of help and treatment at the time of her detention. The State of Nebraska has never treated prisoners confined for punishment and those juveniles who must regrettably be confined for their own good in the same manner. Thus, the cost of detention under these circumstances is a cost which should devolve to DSS when a juvenile is committed to its care and custody. It is clear from our holding that the temporary detention of Lisa was to effect her treatment. Therefore, the cost of her detention is properly assessed to DSS.