A juvenile may be committed to DJF for a probation violation found pursuant to section 777, subdivision (a)(2) where the offense for which the ward received probation is a DJF-eligible offense. The minor was on probation based on a Welfare and Institutions Code section 602 petition alleging assault and participating in a criminal street gang. He was then charged in a pleading titled “Juvenile Wardship Petition Welf. & Inst. Code 602/777,” in which a probation violation was alleged along with an allegation of a new criminal offense. The minor admitted a probation violation not amounting to a crime. (Welf. & Inst. Code, sec. 777, subd. (a)(2).) The court sustained the probation allegation, dismissed the new charge, and committed the minor to DJF for the maximum confinement time previously imposed on the original offense. On appeal, the minor argued that his most recent offense alleged in a new petition was a violation of probation not amounting to a crime, and therefore the DJF commitment was unauthorized under Welfare and Institutions Code, section 733, subdivision (c). The appellate court rejected the argument and affirmed. The court recognized the probation violation was alleged in a petition, but found the probation violation was not an offense within the meaning of section 733. So the court found section 733 allows a juvenile court to commit a ward to DJF for a violation found pursuant to section 777, subdivision (a)(2) where the offense for which the ward received probation is a DJF-eligible offense under section 733, and no petition alleging a more recent non-DJF-eligible offense has been sustained.
Case Summaries