Chest. Cnty. Ct. Comm. Plea. R. 512

As amended through February 1, 2024

Rule 512 - Creation of a Juvenile Court Restitution Fund

A juvenile court restitution fund is created as follows:

Authority

The authority for the creation of a juvenile court restitution fund ("JCR Fund") with contributions paid by juveniles supervised by the Chester County Juvenile Probation Office ("JPO") may be found in the Juvenile Act at 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 6304.l(b), 6323(f), 6340(c.l) and 6352(a)(5), and in the Pennsylvania Code at 200.501 et seq. These statutory sections and rules permit a court of common pleas president judge to establish a restitution fund for victims of juvenile delinquent acts with monies provided by children supervised by a juvenile probation office.

Purpose of Fund

The purpose of the JCR Fund is to provide a means for children under the supervision of the JPO to earn money, through community service work, to reimburse crime victims for financial loss resulting from delinquent acts. In this manner, juvenile offenders are held accountable to their victims, required to benefit the community they harmed and provided opportunities to develop occupational competencies. Consequently, the JCR Fund purpose is consistent with the overarching goals of the Pennsylvania juvenile justice system to provide victim restoration and competency development.

Guidelines

The JPO shall establish and administer the JCR Fund in accordance with these guidelines, as supplemented by any revisions or additional procedures approved by the president judge.

-FR-512-1 Any future changes authorized to be made by the president judge pursuant to these guidelines will not necessitate the promulgation of a new administrative regulation.

Juvenile Payor - A juvenile payor utilizing the JCR Fund is any child under the jurisdiction of the JPO whose conditions of supervision require the child to pay restitution to a victim of a delinquent act.

Victim Recipient - A victim recipient of the JCR Fund includes all victims of juvenile delinquent acts, including any natural person, corporation, business or other organization that has submitted a restitution claim, approved by the JPO, which requests restitution for damages caused by a juvenile payor. Should the JCR Fund eventually have sufficient monies to routinely reimburse corporations, businesses and other organizations, the president judge may authorize those entities to be included as victim recipients.

JCR Fund Revenue

The JCR Fund will be provided funds in the following manner:

A. All monies previously collected by the JPO which remain in an existing restitution account shall be utilized as the initial JCR Fund.

B. The JPO shall collect a mandatory restitution fund contribution in the amount of $60.00 payable to the JCR Fund from every child subject to delinquency proceedings whose case results in an Informal Adjustment.

C. The JPO shall collect a mandatory restitution fund contribution in the amount of $40.00 payable to the JCR Fund from every child whose case results in a consent decree and $30.00 payable to the JCR Fund from every child whose case results in an adjudication.

D. Monies collected from a child whose case has been referred to the JPO by a magisterial district court due to the child's failure to pay summary offense fines and costs shall be deposited in the JCR Fund.

E. The president judge may approve other sources of revenue payable to the JCR Fund as the same become available, provided there is a statutory or other legal basis for doing so. The president judge may also revise the mandatory restitution fund contribution amount described above as deemed prudent to achieve the purpose of the JCR Fund.

JCR Fund Management

Any and all JCR Fund monies will be deposited into a Chester County government account maintained by the county treasurer's office and administered by the JPO. The purpose of this account will be to receive and disburse funds associated with the JCR Fund. Pursuant to the discretion of the president judge, the JCR Fund shall only be used to reimburse crime victims for financial losses resulting from delinquent acts. Disbursements from the JCR Fund shall require the review and signature approval of the chief juvenile probation officer ("Chief JPO") and a deputy chief juvenile probation officer.

Review Committee

A committee to review the restitution reimbursement requests of a juvenile payor from the JCR Fund will be comprised of a deputy chief probation officer or a supervising probation officer designated by the Chief JPO and the probation officer assigned to the juvenile payor.

JCR Fund Expenditures

Juvenile payors will be able to request that they earn restitution and that victim recipients be reimbursed from the JCR Fund in the following manner:

A. The JPO will use an application form for juvenile payors. The application form will require the following information:

1. Descriptive information about the juvenile payor including name, date of birth, type and length of supervision, and ability to pay. Older juvenile payors who have the apparent ability to obtain employment will be required to explain why they are not employed and their efforts to gain employment.

2. A summary by the probation officer assigned to the juvenile payor regarding his/her overall performance while under supervision, including school, home and community behavior, community service hours ordered and completed and the amount of restitution ordered and paid to date.

B. The review committee will authorize the amount of eligible JCR Fund disbursements to be made on behalf of the juvenile payor.

C. The JPO will then arrange for the juvenile payor to perform community service and disburse restitution payments to all appropriate victim recipients in a proportionate share of the amount earned by the juvenile payor, calculated by the amount of community service hours worked multiplied by $10.00/hour, the Pennsylvania minimum wage or the federal minimum wage, whichever is higher.

D. The JPO may create incentives, as approved by the supervising judge of the juvenile court, for juvenile payors to avoid utilizing the JCR Fund and pay restitution directly to victim recipients, e.g.

(1) if at least 50% of owed restitution is paid in cash, the wages earned by the juvenile payors shall be 20% higher than minimum wage;

(2) if a juvenile payor pays all restitution within the first thirty days of supervision, any community service usually required by JPO as a condition of supervision (not community service necessary to earn JCR Fund monies) will be reduced or eliminated.

Maximum Disbursement

The initial maximum amount that may be disbursed from the JCR Fund on behalf of any juvenile payor shall be an unlimited amount. A maximum amount may be approved in the future by the president judge, provided any such amount will allow the JCR Fund to maintain sustainability.

Suspension of Activity

The president judge shall have the authority to suspend any and all activities associated with the JCR Fund.

Audit

All payments to and disbursements from the JCR Fund shall be monitored monthly by the Chester County controller's office and shall be reviewed annually by that office in conjunction with the annual internal audit of the clerk of courts office, the adult probation office and the JPO.

Annual Report

The Chief JPO, or his/her designee, shall be responsible for the preparation of an annual report detailing the aggregate and individual data regarding payments to and disbursements from the JCR Fund. The annual report shall be provided to the president judge and supervising judge of the juvenile court.

Chest. Cnty. Ct. Comm. Plea. R. 512

Adopted effective 7/19/2021; amended effective 6/1/2022.