Court Opinion

ID: 9645072
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 21:12:04.148866+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:22.749612
License: Public Domain

WICKERSHAM, Judge:
On April 24, 1980 in the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County, Pennsylvania—Juvenile Division, the defendant was found guilty of the summary offense of criminal mischief and was fined one hundred dollars ($100.00), costs and restitution. The juvenile-appellant appealed to this court.1
*300Following an episode where two concrete and wooden park benches were found overturned in a tree-well at the West Reading Playground, West Reading Police charged Alan D., age 12, with criminal mischief under the Pennsylvania Crimes Code, 18 Pa.C.S. § 3304(a)(2). A district justice entered a summary criminal conviction against defendant on the offense charged on November 20, 1979, imposed a $300 fine and ordered restitution in the amount of $150.34. Defendant timely appealed his summary criminal conviction to the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County for a trial de novo, Pa.R.Crim.P. 67, and shortly thereafter the matter was ordered transferred from regular miscellaneous court to the juvenile division. Defendant, at the time of trial, challenged the jurisdiction of the juvenile division of the court of common pleas over an appeal from a district justice’s summary conviction.
Following testimony, the lower court entered its adjudication: finding defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the acts alleged, imposed a fine of $100, and ordered defendant to make restitution in the amount of $300.68. The court further found that the amount of damages being less than $500, the crime committed was a summary offense, 18 Pa.C.S. § 3304(b), and unless defendant failed to pay the fine levied, he had not committed a delinquent act, and therefore was not a delinquent child. 42 Pa.C.S. § 6302.
Underlying appellant’s objection to jurisdiction appears to be the contention that the Juvenile Act, 42 Pa.C.S. § 6301, et seq., applies only to delinquent acts, that summary offenses are not included within the designation “delinquent act,” and, therefore, the juvenile division lacks jurisdiction over the subject matter of this case. Section 6302 of the Juvenile Act (hereinafter “Act”) indeed provides that a delinquent act is one designated a crime under the law and that the term shall not include summary offenses, “unless *301the child fails to pay a fine levied thereunder . . . . ” However, jurisdiction under the Act does not depend solely on allegations of delinquency. Section 6303 of the Act, entitled “Scope of chapter,” provides that in addition to proceedings in which delinquency is alleged, the Act shall apply to “[transfers under section 6322 (relating to transfer from criminal proceedings).” Section 6322, subsection (a), states, in pertinent part, that:
f it appears to the court in a criminal proceeding other than murder, that the defendant is a child, this chapter shall immediately become applicable, and the court shall forthwith halt further criminal proceedings, and, where appropriate, transfer the case to the division or a judge of the court assigned to conduct juvenile hearings, together with a copy of the accusatory pleading and other papers, documents, and transcripts of testimony relating to the case. (Emphasis added).
A threshold question in applying the facts of the case to the above section would be whether a hearing on a charge of a summary offense is a “criminal proceeding.” The Crimes Code, 18 Pa.C.S. § 101, et seq., itself provides the answer. Section 106 of the Crimes Code, subsection (a), states: “An offense defined by this title for which a sentence of death or of imprisonment is authorized constitutes a crime.” 18 Pa.C.S. § 106(a) (Supp.1981 82) (emphasis added). At section 1105, the Crimes Code provides: “A person who has been convicted of a summary offense may be sentenced to imprisonment for a term which shall be fixed by the court at not more than 90 days. Interest of Golden, 243 Pa.Super. 267, 365 A.2d 157 (1976). It follows logically that a criminal proceeding encompasses a summary offense.
In the instant case, following defendant’s appeal of his summary criminal conviction, the case was listed for a hearing in the common pleas court to be held January 9, 1980. Five days after that hearing, on January 14, 1980, the trial judge entered an order on the record noting that defendant was a child and certifying the matter to the juvenile division of the court. Thus, the procedures enumer*302ated in section 6322, subsection (a), were carried out precisely according to their terms. We believe that section 6303 of the Act, subsection (a)(2), which directs that the Act applies exclusively to transfers under section 6322, confers jurisdiction over a matter such as this one to the juvenile division of the court of common pleas.
It is significant to note that the lower court did not find that the child had committed a delinquent act and did not find that Alan D. was a delinquent child as those terms are defined in section 6302 of the Act. Clearly the term delinquent act expressly excludes summary offenses.2
When Alan D. appeared before the court of common pleas in a de novo proceeding arising out of his appeal from a conviction before a district justice, Alan D. was clearly involved in a “criminal proceeding”. Being a child, age 12, the Juvenile Act immediately became applicable and it was appropriate and proper to transfer the case to the division of the court assigned to conduct juvenile hearings. Sections 6303 and 6322 of the Act clearly support the action taken by the Juvenile Division of the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County, and we affirm the order of the court below.3
MONTEMURO, J., files a dissenting opinion.

. The appellant frames the Statement of Questions Involved as follows:
*300A. Whether the Juvenile Court of Berks County, Pennsylvania had jurisdiction to hear a case involving a minor charged with a summary offense and to render a finding of guilt of [sic] innocence.
B. Whether the citation in the instant case is fatally defective in charging an improper section under 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 3304(a)(2)?

. 42 Pa.C.S. § 6302 provides that a delinquent act does not include a summary offense unless the child fails to pay a fine levied thereunder, in which event notice of such fact shall be certified to the court. See In Interest of Ryan, 277 Pa.Super. 433, 419 A.2d 1224 (1980). In both cases in Ryan, a child was convicted by a district justice of various summary offenses. The child was fined and did not take an appeal. When the child did not pay the fines, the district justice certified the case to the court of common pleas. The juvenile court ruled that the only issue properly before it was whether the child had failed to pay the fines. Finding that the child had failed to pay, the juvenile court adjudicated the child delinquent and placed him on probation. This court held that the juvenile court acted properly, and that pursuant to 42 Pa.C.S. § 6302, the juvenile court may not adjudicate a child delinquent simply because the child has been convicted of a summary offense.

. Alan D.’s further contention that the citation issued to him was defective is utterly devoid of merit.