Court Opinion

ID: 9643758
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 20:39:54.70749+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:03.427798
License: Public Domain

OPINION ON PETITION TO REHEAR
HENRY, Justice.
Responsive to the Respondent’s petition to rehear, we hold that this opinion shall not be retroactive. It will apply to all cases tried on or after its release and to all cases in process of appellate review wherein the specific issue is raised.
We take this occasion to clarify and to emphasize the extent of our holding.
At the outset we defined the issue to be “whether an adjudication of delinquency and a commitment to the Department of Corrections by a nonlawyer judge violates Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution of Tennessee.”
We noted that a child is delinquent when he “has committed any act designated a crime, Section 37-202(3).”
Thus, the opinion does not cover proceedings involving unruly, dependent, neglected or abandoned children. It does not cover shelter care, protective supervision or home placement, or other similar custody involving the control or physical care of the child with the goal of providing for the physical, mental, moral and emotional well-being of the child. See Section 37-202, T.C.A.
*796It is important to note that Section 37-226, T.C.A., relating to the right to counsel and Section 37-227, T.C.A., governing the basic rights of juveniles, are applicable only to delinquency hearings.
We emphasized throughout the opinion that we were dealing only with delinquent children — those charged with the commission of criminal offenses, where a conviction would result in confinement or a deprivation of liberty, a result which is attendant only upon a finding of delinquency as defined in the statutes. We reiterate that the custody arrangements made in cases involving dependent, neglected, abandoned or unruly children, does not constitute confinement or deprivation of liberty. The litmus test must be a finding of guilt of delinquency and punishment as contemplated by Section 37-231, T.C.A., subdivisions (3) and (4).
Further, nothing in the holding of this Court precludes a nonlawyer judge from making a pre-trial inquiry designed to determine whether there is substantial likelihood that a hearing, if conducted, would result in an adjudication of delinquency and confinement.
All members of the Court adhere to their original views.