Court Opinion

ID: 9752446
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 18:08:56.529204+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:16.500863
License: Public Domain

HESTER, Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. I would affirm on the excellent opinion of Judge Tamilia of the court below. In his 80-page adjudication Judge Tamilia sets forth the reasoning which gives the Juvenile Courts of this Commonwealth the authority to exercise sufficient restraint over the juveniles involved to plan for placement, obtain necessary evaluations and tests, and to convince said juveniles that there is authority sufficient to act as a deterrent to their uncontrollable behavior. Judge Tamilia accurately describes the problem on page 80 of his opinion where he states:
“If this court cannot enforce its orders, the alternatives are clear. The malaise which effects this country in so many ways, which saps our will and points to a substantial decline in our culture and society, is no more evident than in our inability to do what is difficult and to some degree painful, to compel our children to accept education, routine discipline and authority. If the Court does not have the power to deal with this issue, then we will see a massive movement in Pennsylvania, as is already occurring to a fair degree elsewhere, to ‘emancipate’ children at sixteen so that they can obtain public assistance and begin their careers as drones who will never make a contribution to our society. Those under sixteen will, of course, have to ‘make it’ on the street however they can, until they too *418can be ‘emancipated’ and be maintained by the public. The issue is not one of children’s rights, but society’s survival.”
One of the major purposes of the Juvenile Act is to provide for the care, protection and wholesome mental and physical development of children coming within its provisions. By their frequent runaways and absences, the juveniles involved in this appeal were able to frustrate the Juvenile Court’s fulfillment of this mandate.
The situation confronted by our Juvenile Courts was accurately evaluated by the California appellate court in In Re: Ronald S., 69 Cal.App.3d 866, 138 Cal.Rptr. 387 (Cal.App.1977), wherein the court stated:
“If the juvenile court is to be saddled with the responsibility for (status offenders), it must also be afforded the tools and authorities to handle those cases. Courts must have coercive authority or they cease being courts. A judge does not suggest to a defendant that he go to prison, he sentences him to prison. A judge does not ask a parent to support his child, he orders him to do so. When a judge gives a money judgment or other relief to a litigant, procedures exist for the enforcement of that judgment. It is simply not fair to a juvenile court judge to whom the community looks for help to so restrict him that he cannot put his orders or decisions into effect. Certainly, not all (status offenders) need to be placed in secure facilities. However, some do and in these cases the juvenile court judge must have the authority to detain in a secure facility-if (status offenders) are to remain in the juvenile court.”
I would affirm.