Court Opinion

ID: 9564561
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:03:05.322686+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:18:30.422482
License: Public Domain

PETERS, J.
— I dissent.
Section 834 of the Welfare and Institutions Code1 requires, in those cases to which the section is applicable, that, as a condition precedent to a remand of a minor for prosecution under the general law, the juvenile court obtain and consider a probation report, and “shall make a special finding of fact” that the minor is not a fit subject for consideration under the Juvenile Court Law. No compliance was had with either of these conditions. The majority hold that this did not invalidate the remand because section 834 does not, so it is contended, apply to a juvenile court proceeding that originates *393by certification from a court in which a juvenile has been accused of crime. Such holding is contrary to the general intent and purpose of the Juvenile Court Law, and is contrary to the expressed intent of the Legislature. It creates confusion, and establishes a rule of law that is demonstrably unsound.
The majority opinion correctly points out that the Legislature has provided at least two methods for bringing minors before the juvenile court. One is where the minor is first charged with crime in the ordinary courts, and then is certified to the juvenile court by the judge of the regular court. The other method is where the minor is first brought before the juvenile court by means of a verified petition of the probation officer. Undoubtedly the Legislature, in some respects, has provided some different procedures applicable to each method. The question here presented is whether the procedures set forth in section 834 are applicable to both methods, are applicable to the certification method, or are only applicable, as held by the majority, to the verified petition method. In my opinion the requirements of the section are applicable to both methods, and certainly are, at least, applicable to the certification method.
The purpose of the Juvenile Court Law is to provide that a minor who is believed to have committed a criminal offense shall, before he can be tried in the regular courts, first come before a juvenile court judge who shall ascertain whether he and society will best be served by the juvenile court retaining jurisdiction, or by a remand to the regular courts. It makes no difference, so far as this purpose is concerned, how the minor gets to the juvenile court, that is, whether he is brought there by certification or by verified petition. The question is, whether the minor is a fit subject of consideration by the juvenile court. The majority concede that, even in a certification case, before the minor can be remanded, the juvenile court must pass on this issue. But the majority say that the juvenile court judge in a certification case does not have to make a "special finding of fact on this issue,” as required by section 834, but may simply make the general finding, as was done here, "[g]ood cause appearing therefor.” No possible reason exists that could have impelled the Legislature to have provided expressly for a "special finding” in verified petition cases, but only for a "general” finding (and that by implication) in certified cases. To assume that the Legislature made such a distinction is simply to assume that, without any logical or reasonable basis, it capriciously provided different pro*394cedures for the two methods. Such an assumption should not be made, and, in my opinion, is contrary to the expressed intent of the Legislature.
Section 834 appears in article 9 of the Juvenile Court Law entitled “Persons charged with Commission of Crime.” This article includes sections 825 to 836 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. A completely different article of the code deals with eases brought to the juvenile court by the probation officer filing a verified petition. All of the other sections in article 9 refer to problems arising out of the situation where the minor is first charged with crime in the regular courts. Thus, by direct inclusion, the Legislature has demonstrated its intent that section 834 shall apply to certification cases.
This intent is shown by other sections in the same article. Section 826 is the section providing for certification of cases first brought in the regular courts. Section 827 expressly requires, as a condition of certification, that the probation officer file an unverified petition with the juvenile court under the appropriate code sections. Section 700, subdivision (m), specifically referred to in section 834, provides that the juvenile court jurisdiction applies to a person under 21 ‘ ‘ [w] ho violates any law of this State.” It was under this very provision that the probation officer filed the unverified petition that gave jurisdiction to the juvenile court in the instant ease.
Compelling evidence that section 834 is applicable to “certified cases” is to be found in section 829 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. It provides, with unmistakable clarity, that “Except as otherwise provided in this article, the proceedings in the juvenile court in the case of any person brought before it in accordance with the provisions of Sections 826 and 827 of this code shall be the same as in the case of a verified petition.” This is an express statutory mandate that section 834 shall apply to cases certified to the juvenile court.
The provisions of section 834 to the effect that a juvenile shall not be remanded to the regular courts unless a special finding of fact is made to the effect the minor is not a fit subject for juvenile court consideration, and until the probation report is considered, are clearly jurisdictional. Stated another way, the regular criminal courts cannot obtain jurisdiction over the minor, unless or until the juvenile court judge complies with the conditions of section 834.
The requirement of section 834 for the filing of the probation report by the probation officer and its consideration by the judge, is also most important. This portion of the section, *395too, carries out the basic intent of the Legislature, which is that all criminal cases involving minors shall first be heard in the juvenile court, and shall only be considered by the regular courts when there are compelling reasons why the case should be heard in the regular criminal courts. It is of some significance that the trial judge, in the instant case, granted probation to the minor in regular courts after reading the report of the probation officer that should have been filed and considered by the juvenile judge.
The majority, in concluding that the requirements of section 834 are not applicable to certified cases, place great reliance on one word appearing in the last sentence of the rather lengthy section. That sentence, with the word in question italicized, reads as follows: “If the court finds that the minor is not a fit subject under the Juvenile Court Law, the court shall dismiss the petition, and direct that criminal proceedings be instituted against the minor under the general law.” It is argued that, because of the word “instituted,” the section cannot possibly apply to cases certified to the juvenile court, because, in such eases, criminal proceedings have already been started. Therefore, it is confidently argued, the section can only refer to verified petition cases, because in such cases criminal proceedings have not yet been “instituted.” To give such a meaning to that one word is to permit that word to control the meaning of the entire section. As already pointed out, the section as a whole, and the entire article of the code in which the section appears, demonstrate to a certainty that the word involved could not have been intended by the Legislature to have such a meaning. Obviously, the word, when read in context, does not and cannot mean that after such a finding a criminal ease must be started for the first time, but simply means that in such event criminal proceedings shall be carried on under the general law. To give any other meaning to the word is to distort the meaning of the entire section and article.
It is to be noted that section 834 requires the trial judge to make “a special finding of fact” that “the minor is not a fit subject under the Juvenile Court Law.” It is not suggested by the majority that this requirement was substantially complied with by the general finding “ [g] ood cause appearing therefor.” Such suggestion, had it been made, would have been unsound. The finding made, in every sense of the word, was a general one. The finding required was special. The word “special” is not a word of art with a par*396ticular and peculiar legal meaning. It is a simple English adjective with a clear and positive meaning. In Webster’s New International Dictionary (2d ed.) the word “special” is defined as 1 ‘ [c] ontaining particulars; detailed; specific; — ■ opposed to general.” The synonyms given for the word “special” are “particular, peculiar, specific, individual, concrete.” One does not have to be an English scholar to know that a finding of “ [g]ood cause appearing therefor” is the very antithesis of a “special finding.” It is, obviously, a general finding and does not, by any stretch of the imagination, amount to a “special finding of fact.” Thus this jurisdictional requirement of section 834 was not complied with, and the ease was never properly, or at all, transferred to the criminal court. That court never acquired jurisdiction of the case, its judgment is void, and should be reversed.
The result of the majority opinion is to hold that a juvenile court judge, at his own whim or caprice, and without giving any reasons therefor except the general finding “good cause appearing,” may transfer a case out of the juvenile court into the regular court for trial. That is contrary, not only to express provisions of the statute, but to its obvious purposes and intent. To so interpret the section is contrary to the express provisions of the statute, and is violative of public policy. I would reverse the order.
Appellant’s petition for a rehearing was denied March 15, 1961. Peters, J., was of the opinion that the petition should be granted.

The section is quoted in full in the majority opinion and need not he requoted here.