DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES, JUVENILE JUSTICE, STATE OF FLORIDA, PETITIONER,
v.
J.S.G., A CHILD, RESPONDENT
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The court declined to issue a writ of certiorari because the case became moot when the detention order expired before the petition was filed, but cautioned that trial courts must comply with statutory limits on juvenile secure detention under Florida law.
A petition for writ of certiorari challenging a juvenile detention order is moot when the order expires by its own terms before the petition is filed, but courts must comply with statutory detention limitations.
[1] Trial courts must comply with statutory limitations on the duration of secure detention of juveniles under Florida law, notwithstanding mootness of a particular petition…
Previewing 1 of 1 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“courts cannot hold juveniles in detention for a period in excess of that allowable under Florida law. The law must be complied with until it is changed.”
The court's admonition regarding trial courts' obligation to follow statutory detention limitations despite potential good motives.
A juvenile was committed to the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services for placement in a Level Six residential program under a court order …
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PER CURIAM.
We decline to issue the requested writ of certiorari in this case. The petition seeks the discharge from secure detention of a juvenile committed to the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services for placement in a Level Six residential program. Although the court order of January 21,1994 appears on its face plainly to violate the limitations contained in section 39.044(11), Florida Statutes, by the time application for relief was filed in this court, the order had expired by its own terms and the child was no longer in detention. The petition, therefore, is moot.
We write only to observe a disturbing tendency by some juvenile judges to ignore clearly articulated statutory limitations on the court’s power to hold a child in secure detention. Although this may be done, for the best of motives, courts cannot hold juveniles in detention for a period in excess of that allowable under Florida law. The law must be complied with until it is changed. Because the issue of secure detention of juveniles is presently the subject of intense legislative review, the precise problem at issue in this case may well not recur. Nevertheless, the refusal of a trial court to follow the clear dictates of the law is another matter entirely. As this court has made clear in other analogous contexts, mootness will not stand in the way of an appropriate remedy. See Swanson v. Allison, 617 So. 2d 1100 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993).
PETITION DENIED.
DAUKSCH, GRIFFIN and DIAMANTIS, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
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L.K. v. State, 729 So. 2d 1011 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999)…cement for a period not to exceed fifteen days after commitment. See S.B. v. Rayford, 717 So. 2d 1107 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998); R.E.D. v. Gnat, 681 So. 2d 847 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996); Department of Health and Rehabilitative Servs., Juvenile Justice v. J.S.G., 635 So. 2d 1065 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994). Notwithstanding the child’s acquiescence in a longer period of detention, the plain language of the statute forbids the trial judge from ordering detention in excess of 15 days after commitment.1 Additionally, the state concede…
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W.B.T. v. Enoc Esteves, 825 So. 2d 1055 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002)…as entitled to immediate release); R.L. v. Wimberly, 623 So. 2d 620 (Fla. 4th. DCA 1993)(the court cannot detain the child beyond the statutory twenty-one day period). In Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, Juvenile Justice v. J.S.G., 635 So. 2d 1065 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994), the court denied as moot a juvenile’s petition for writ of certiorari seeking release from secure detention, but noted: We write only to observe a disturbing tendency by some juvenile judges to ignore clearly articulated statut…
Authorities Cited
- Swanson v. Allison, 617 So. 2d 1100 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993)