Opinion ID: 2364229
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: There Is a Reasonable Relationship Between the Classification and the Legislative Purpose

Text: ¶ 31 In the last step of the three-part inquiry, we determine whether the legislature's classification is reasonably related to its legitimate objectives. Merrill, 2009 UT 26, ¶ 22, 223 P.3d 1089; see also Blue Cross & Blue Shield, 779 P.2d at 641 (The third and most critical question is whether the legislature chose a permissible means to achieve its legitimate ends.). Does placing the oldest children charged with murder directly in adult courts further the purposes of public safety, appropriate sanctions, and individual accountability? Given that in the juvenile system individuals cannot be detained beyond the age of twenty-one, Utah Code Ann. § 78A-6-120 (2008), and because juvenile court does not allow for criminal convictions, id. § 78A-6-116(1) (Supp. 2010), the classifications appear designed to further legitimate objectives. The longer sentences available in adult courts could provide greater protection of society from dangerous individuals. It also would seem to promote individual accountability and more appropriate sanctions to have criminal convictions and longer sentences available where the oldest minors are charged with murder. For example, it would seem inappropriate to have the oldest juveniles facing the shortest detainment for murder, because of the shorter period before their twenty-first birthdays. ¶ 32 The legislature certainly could have chosen more lenient means to further these same objectivessuch as requiring certification hearings for these minors, thus permitting any falsely accused or developmentally impaired children, for example, to remain in the juvenile system. But there is no requirement that an otherwise permissible classification be the best of all alternatives. Here the statute clearly applies equally to all persons within the classes it creates and the disparate treatment given the statutory classes is based on differences that have a reasonable tendency to further the objectives of the statute. It is therefore uniform both on its face and in operation. Schofield, 2002 UT 132, ¶ 18, 63 P.3d 667. Therefore, we hold that the automatic waiver statute comports with the Utah Constitution's uniform operation of laws provision. Because it passes scrutiny under this test, it also satisfies federal equal protection requirements. See Merrill, 2009 UT 26, ¶ 7, 223 P.3d 1089. [13]