Court Opinion

ID: 9743837
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:46:23.182253+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:25:06.867401
License: Public Domain

Mr. PRESIDING JUSTICE CRAVEN dissenting in part: The majority opinion holds that a 16-year-old may be prosecuted as an adult without any proceedings whatsoever for removal of jurisdiction from the juvemle court. Illinois Revised Statutes 1971, chapter 37, paragraph 702 — 7(1), provides in part: “Except as provided in this Section, no boy who was under 17 years of age or girl who was under 18 years of age at the time of the alleged offense may be prosecuted under the criminal laws of this State * * While the majority opinion does not discuss, indeed does not even mention, this language, the opinion does refer to sub-paragraph (3) of the cited section. Such sub-paragraph relates to the statutory removal procedure. As I understand the holding of the court, absolutely nothing is required and no protection whatsoever is afforded a minor of 16 under the Juvemle Court Act if the state’s attorney elects to proceed by way of indictment and trial of the minor as in adult felony matters. Thus, the court holds that a state’s attorney has absolute unfettered discretion to treat minors as adults and no removal procedure is necessary. No mention is made of the equal protection issues that necessarily follow by reasons of the varying procedures that may be employed in the 102 counties in this State with' 102 state’s attorneys. Two cases in this State have addressed this issue. In People v. Jiles, 43 Ill.2d 145, 251 N.E.2d 529, Mr. Justice Schaefer, speaking for a unanimous court, said: “Under the Illinois Juvenile Court Act the juvenile and his attorney have an uncontrolled discretion to choose to be proceeded against in the criminal court. They may make that choice without regard to any considerations relating to the public interest, or even to the ultimate best interest of the juvenile. No judge has any authority to interfere with that choice. Under the statute a State’s Attorney has a similar discretion to determine whether or not to proceed criminally against an alleged juvenile offender. His discretion, however, is not entirely uncontrolled. If the judge who hears the matter in the juvenile division objects to the removal of the case from that division, the matter is to be referred to the chief judge of the circuit for decision.” (p. 149.) In People v. Shaw, 3 Ill.App.3d 1096, 279 N.E.2d 729, the court stated: ‘The Juvenile Court Act simply makes a procedural arrangement so far as juveniles are concerned and specifically directs, at least by implication, that no criminal matters shall be undertaken as against a male infant between 13 and 17 years of age until after the recommended procedure in Section 702 — 7.” (p. 1100) In this case, the defendant Rahn was 16 years old at the time of the offense. Prior to trial his counsel requested that the prosecution make a matter of record the defendant’s removal from jurisdiction of the juvenile court. It is no answer to the issue here to say the trial judge had an opportunity to object to removal and that he did not do so. The trial court expressly found that the state’s attorney had absolute discretion and that he exercised that unfettered discretion by seeking and obtaining the instant indictment. There is no way that such can be construed as a failure to object by the trial court. Indeed, there is an express finding that once the state’s attorney elects to proceed as in adult criminal matters, the trial court judge has no function whatsoever to perform with reference to the issue of removal. As I see it, such is clearly erroneous. In 1899, the first Juvenile Court Act enacted in the United States was passed by the Illinois state legislature. The system thereafter spread to every state in the union, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, although with wide differences and variables. (See In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1, 87 S.Ct. 1428, 18 L.Ed.2d 527, and particularly, Footnote 14.) As was noted by the court in In re Carson, 10 Ill.App.3d 384, 295 N.E.2d 740, the object and purpose of the Juvenile Court Act and the proceedings thereunder is to provide an alternative to the criminal prosecution and the severe penalties ensuing when the acts amounting to the alleged delinquent conduct would amount to a crime if charged as against an adult. The Juvenile Court Act in this State and in other states places emphasis on rehabilitation and corrective measures rather than the usual adult penology treatment and concepts. The 1899 Illinois enactment endured with few changes from its original form until 1965. In 1965, the Act was substantiaUy changed, but there is no indication whatsoever that there was a change in the original object and purpose. (See Trumbull, Proposed New Juvenile Court Act for Illinois, 53 Ill. Bar. J. 608 (1967).) In three cases — Kent v. United States, 383 U.S. 541, 86 S.Ct. 1045, 16 L.Ed.2d 84; In re Gault; In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 — the Supreme Court clearly manifests an intention to find a constitutional requirement of fundamental fairness and procedural due process in juvenile matters which the court sometimes found to be absent even though a benevolent intent was manifest in juvenile court legislation. In Kent v. United States, waiver or removal from juvenile court jurisdiction was at issue. There, the court considered a statute applicable to the juvenile court of the District of Columbia. The essence of the holding in that case is that a valid waiver of exclusive jurisdiction necessarily must be accompanied by the basic requirements of due process and fairness. See Schornhorst, The Waiver of Juvenile Court Jurisdiction: Kent Revisited, 43 Ind. Law. J. 583; Waiver in Juvenile Courts, 68 Colo. Law Rev. 1149; and Moundford and Berenson, Waiver of Jurisdiction: The Last Resort of the Juvenile Court, 18 Kan. Law Rev. 55. The supreme court of Illinois in People v. Bombacino, 51 Ill.2d 17, 280 N.E.2d 697, People v. Handley, 51 Ill.2d 229, 282 N.E.2d 131, People v. Hawkins, 53 Ill.2d 181, 290 N.E.2d 231, and People v. Reese, 54 Ill.2d 51, 294 N.E.2d 288, concludes that a due process hearing as set forth in Kent is not required upon removal proceedings being instituted under the Illinois statute and limited Kent by reason of the fact that Kent was concerned with the statutory scheme of the District of Columbia. Thus, insofar as the application of Kent is concerned, a so-caHed “due process hearing” is not mandated by the IlHnois statute as interpreted by our highest court. Indeed, in Reese, Hawkins, Handley and Bombacino, a definquent petition was filed and removal was in compfiance with our statutory provisions. In each of these cases it is noted that the state’s attorney is vested with discretion to determine whether or not to proceed criminally against a juvenile offender but that the judge presiding at the juvenile division has the right to object and thereafter further review by the chief judge. The majority opinion effectively eliminates any judicial function whatsoever, even including the power to object to removal. In so doing, the majority runs counter to In re Gault and McKeiver v. Pennsylvania, 403 U.S. 528, 91 S.Ct. 1976, 29 L.Ed.2d 647. Certainly removal of a defendant from juvenile court jurisdiction to criminal proceedings, wherein he is treated as an adult, is a critical matter for the defendant that cannot be based solely upon prosecutorial discretion. This court’s approval of such procedure offends our statute, our decisions, and is the first case so holding since 1899. I would reverse the conviction of the defendant Rahn for the deficiencies indicated and remand this matter to the circuit court of Cass County for further proceedings as required by law. Defendant Wright was held accountable for arson under the provisions of Illinois Revised Statutes (1969), chapter 38, paragraphs 5 — 1, 5 — 2. The evidence in this case must prove beyond a reasonable doubt the following propositions in order to sustain the conviction: “(1) That defendants solicited, aided, abetted, agreed or attempted to aid another person in planning or commission of the offenses; (2) that this participation must have taken place either before or during the commission of the offenses; and (3) that it must have been with the concurrent, specific intent to promote or facilitate the commission of the offenses.” People v. Tillman, 130 Ill.App.2d 743, 749, 265 N.E.2d 904. At best, the evidence indicates that Wright in a drunken condition drove his truck, stole some gas when his truck began to “sputter”, and used the cemetery next to a church in order to relieve himself. Although the evidence indicates that Wright knew that the church was on fire when the boys left, this knowledge alone would not be sufficient to constitute aiding or abetting within the meaning of the statute. The evidence falls short of proving affirmative acts necessary to render Wright a principal; thus, Wright’s conviction should be reversed.