MIAMI-DADE COURTS:
Juveniles in custody to be
seen within 24 hours Miami-Dade judges were told detention
hearings for juveniles must be held within 24 hours of their
arrests.
BY SUSANNAH A. NESMITH
The Third District Court of Appeal ordered Miami-Dade courts to
begin holding detention hearings within 24 hours of a juvenile's
arrest.
Juveniles have waited in custody as long as 44 hours before they
were able to see a judge, according to the public defender's
office.
"We have been arguing with the judges for several months that
the statute is very clear that a child who is arrested has to be
brought before a judge within 24 hours of an arrest," Chief
Assistant Public Defender Carlos Martinez said.
The appellate court agreed, in Wednesday's ruling, calling the
law "crystal clear."
Circuit Judge Lester Langer said the court had been scheduling
hearings the same way for as long as he could remember, with
juveniles who were eligible to go home coming to court every
morning and juveniles who were eligible to be held in custody
coming to court in the afternoons.
Because the children were arrested at all times of the day or
night, some juveniles waited longer than 24 hours.
But that's about to change.
"We do have a contingency plan in place to try to deal with the
issue of holding hearings within 24 hours of someone being
arrested," Langer said.
He said he wasn't sure how much the expedited hearing schedule
would cost.
"Not only does it affect the court, it affects law enforcement.
It affects the Juvenile Assessment Center, the public defender's
office, the state attorney's office, the Department of Juvenile
Justice, the clerk's office.
It affects the whole system that has been set up for a very,
very long time," he said. "At this point, with this ruling, we
don't have a lot of choice."
"To accommodate this and to readjust computer systems and
reprogram things is not inexpensive," he said. "It can cost a
boatload of money."
© 2006
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