Court Opinion

ID: 9687232
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:19:39.24886+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:25.057568
License: Public Domain

Heffernan, J.
(concurring). The judgment must be affirmed since it is supported by an uncontested find*319ing that defendant was habitually truant from school. However, I cannot agree with this court’s conclusion that defendant could have been found delinquent solely on the basis that he “habitually so deports himself as to injure or endanger the morals or health of himself . . . .” Sec. 48.12 (4), Stats.
The only admissible evidence considered by the juvenile court in reaching that finding was Officer Schuetz’s testimony that on one occasion he found defendant half naked and incoherent in a public park. This court’s opinion strains the accepted meaning of “habitually” by holding that a single occurrence can show habit.
Apart from the particular facts of this case, I am troubled by this court’s willingness to approve a finding of delinquency based upon the vague and uncertain language of sub. (4) of sec. 48.12, Stats. We have repudiated the concept that the state’s interest in the welfare of children allows it to play fast and loose with their constitutional right of due process. Winburn v. State (1966), 32 Wis. 2d 152, 145 N. W. 2d 178. Where adult offenders are concerned, we have recognized that statutes which fail to give adequate notice of the conduct prohibited are constitutionally infirm. State v. Driscoll (1972), 53 Wis. 2d 699, 193 N. W. 2d 851; State v. Zwicker (1969), 41 Wis. 2d 497, 164 N. W. 2d 512. Here, defendant’s liberty is at stake.
In juvenile proceedings, sec. 48.12, Stats., serves a role analogous to the use of the criminal code in actions against adult offenders. A juvenile should not be deprived of his liberty on the basis of the language of sec. 48.12 (4). That statute not only fails to give adequate notice of the conduct punishable by incarceration, but also fails to provide the juvenile court with sufficient guidance for making a finding of delinquency.1
*320■ While I concur in the result of this case and agree with the court’s admirable discussion and disposition of the evidentiary issues posed on this appeal, I cannot agree with the court’s unnecessary and, in my opinion, erroneous conclusion affirming the finding of delinquency under sec. 48.12 (4), Stats.

 We note that see. 48.12, Stats., has been amended by Laws of 1971, ch. 125, sec. 316, effective November 5, 1971, to provide *320that a child who “habitually so deports himself as to injure or endanger the morals or health of himself or others,” may be found “in need of supervision,” but not “delinquent,” and a disposition under sec. 48.345 may be made that does not include incarceration. This amendment does not, however, correct the infirmities of the prior statute, which are perpetuated in the new legislative enactment.