Chest. Cnty. Ct. Comm. Plea. R. 404.B
All juvenile adjudication hearings scheduled for non-detained juveniles shall be held within five (5) months from the filing of a delinquency petition initiated pursuant to Pa.R.J.C.P. 330, unless the supervising judge of the Chester County juvenile court grants an extension. This five month period shall not include time during which the juvenile is sought to be arrested pursuant to a bench warrant.
This regulation is intended to better assure that non-detained juveniles receive an adjudicatory hearing within a reasonable time, pursuant to Pa.R.J.C.P. 404(B), and that Pa.R.J.C.P. 404(B) is construed to eliminate unjustifiable delay, in accordance with Pa.R.J.C.P. 101(B).
The Chester County Juvenile Probation Department, the attorneys for juvenile defendants and the Commonwealth shall make a good faith effort to schedule formal adjudication hearings within the five month period required by this regulation. If an extension of this five month period is sought, the attorneys for the subject juvenile and the Commonwealth shall schedule a conference with the supervising juvenile judge and the assigned probation officer to explain the reason(s) for the anticipated delay. Any such reason(s) must constitute good cause for an extension to be granted. Except for unusual circumstances, any extension granted shall be provided within an order scheduling the adjudicatory hearing to begin on a date certain. Dismissal of the petition shall not result from the failure of the adjudication hearing to be held within the above described five month period or any extension of it.
All future juvenile probation court reports shall provide, in the upper right hand comer of the first page, the filing date of the juvenile delinquency petition and the date when the five month period to hold the adjudication hearing ends. (The five month period shall be recalculated to eliminate any time a bench warrant remains unexecuted.)
Chest. Cnty. Ct. Comm. Plea. R. 404.B