Court Opinion

ID: 9562414
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:28:22.158605+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:17:20.312587
License: Public Domain

Gernon, J.,
concurring: I am required to agree with the majority here based upon precedent before us by courts of last resort and several United States circuit court decisions. The facts and the issues before us require that result which, in my view, runs counter to traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.
To accept this sentencing philosophy, in my view, is a contradiction in legislative philosophy and die collective wisdom of those of us who have worked in the trial courts.
The juvenile justice system is based upon the concept of parens patriae. From its inception, a juvenile proceeding is not a question of guilt, but, rather, one of determining what is in the best interest of a child. While certain constitutional safeguards are observed in juvenile offender proceedings, no one would seriously argue that those safeguards can be equated with or compared to the due process protections in an adult criminal proceeding. The very nature of juvenile offender cases renders them different from adult trials where guilt or innocence is determined.
*288The legislative philosophy has been that a label affixed to a juvenile’s conduct does not necessarily serve the same kind of interest as does a label of guilt affixed to an adult criminal proceeding. Society says that in a juvenile proceeding “the best interest of the child” is paramount. In an adult criminal proceeding, there are other competing interests, most weighty among them the interests of society, which are to be considered. This is a fundamental and vital distinction between these two proceedings.
In the real world, what we have traditionally told juveniles in this state is that their adjudication of guilt will not follow them and can be expunged and will, in effect, not be a “record” they will be required to answer for. What the sentencing guidelines in cases such as LaMunyon’s tell the children of this state is that this is not so. Traditionally, attorneys appointed to represent juveniles in juvenile offender cases have been able to advise their clients that a stipulation to the evidence and an adjudication as a juvenile offender would not have permanent and lasting repercussions. That is no longer the case. In my view, attorneys now have the important obligation of advising every juvenile of the ramifications of the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act and weighing those ramifications carefully before stipulating in any juvenile offender case.
In addition, our standard of review in sentencing cases is usually to determine whether there is an abuse of discretion. This standard will place an increasingly heavy burden on the trial judges to decide when and if to depart downward or upward from the guidelines based upon the juvenile record. Such factors as the age of the juvenile offense, the seriousness of the juvenile offense, the emotional and mental age of the juvenile at the time of the offense, and other extenuating circumstances, including the entire juvenile and social history of a now-adult offender, will, of necessity, be required to be examined by the trial court.
While I concur with the result under the facts and the issues raised in this case, these facts also raise, in my view, serious due process considerations which we are not required to consider here.
Pierron, J., concurring: I concur with the majority opinion and with Judge Gemon’s concurring opinion.