Juvenile Court Restitution Fund
The statutory authority for the creation of this Fund appears at 42 Pa. C.S. Sec 6352(a)(5), The Juvenile Act, Disposition of delinquent children.
The purpose of the Fund is to provide a means whereby the Court may:
Furthermore, the Court hereby adopts the following guidelines and operating standards for the Fund.
Fayette County Juvenile Court Restitution Fund Operating Guidelines
The Court of Common Pleas of Fayette County, Pennsylvania (Court), through the Fayette County Juvenile Probation Office (Probation) will establish the Fayette County Juvenile Court Restitution Fund (Fund) for the purpose of providing financial reimbursement to the victims of delinquent behavior as defined in the Juvenile Act.
The Probation department will be responsible for establishing, monitoring, maintaining, and auditing the Fund in accordance with the Fund Operating Guidelines and Standards and accepted accounting practices and principals.
Name
The name of the Fund will be the "Juvenile Court Restitution Fund." For clarity purposes, when referring to the Fund on documents such as an Informal Adjustment Consent, Consent Decree, an order issued by the Court, rules and conditions of probation, and all financial documents including restitution documents, judgment, etc., the Fund will be referred to as the JCR Fund.
Eligibility
For the purpose of the Fund, eligibility will be defined as follows:
Eligible Benefactor - An eligible benefactor of the Fund will be any child who is under the jurisdiction of the Court through the Probation department on or after the effective start date of the Fund and whose disposition, as rendered by the Court or Probation department, requires the child to pay restitution to a victim of a delinquent act.
Eligible Recipient - An eligible recipient of the Fund will be any person, business, organization, etc., including an insurance company, and the Commonwealth's Crime Victims Compensation Fund (Restitution) who has a legitimate restitution claim on file with the Probation office on or after the effective start date of the Fund that is the result of the delinquent act(s) of an Eligible Benefactor.
Fund Revenue
On and after the effective date of the creation of the Fund, it will be supported financially in the following manner:
NOTE: A child who otherwise qualifies for an expungement and who has only a single referral to the Court or Probation department that was successfully handled by the Fayette County Youth Commission will not be required to pay the above-mentioned fee.
Fund Management
The Fund receipts and expenditures will be managed by the Probation department. Any and all funds received by the Probation department that may be considered revenue for the Fund will be deposited into an account separate and apart from other accounts managed by the Probation department. The sole purpose of this account will be to receive and disperse funds associated with the JCR Fund. As of the date of the creation of the Fund, the account(s) used by the Probation department requires 2 signatures:
All Fund revenues will be receipted, recorded, deposited and otherwise handled as any other revenue received by the Probation department for the intended purpose of reimbursing victims of delinquent behavior.
Additionally, expenditures made from the Fund will be forwarded to eligible recipients by checks issued from the above-mentioned checking account on an as needed basis.
Expenditures from the above-mentioned account will require two signatures consisting of the Chief and Deputy Chief Juvenile Probation Officers.
The above-mentioned account will be subject to an audit performed by the Controller of Fayette County on an annual basis as per the request of the Chief Juvenile Probation Officer.
Review Committee
The President Judge will establish a committee to review the requests made by the eligible benefactors requesting benefits from the Fund. The committee will be comprised of the following individuals:
Chief or Deputy Chief Juvenile Probation Officer
Victim Services Coordinator for Juvenile Court
The child's supervising probation officer.
Fund Expenditures
Eligible benefactors of the Fund will be able to request assistance from the Fund in the following manner:
The applicant's probation officer will assure that the child completes the application, and the probation officer will forward the same to the Review Committee.
The Review committee will review the application, and recommend the level of expenditure to be made on behalf of the applicant.
The President Judge will authorize the amount to be expended from the Fund and credited to the applicant's / benefactor's restitution account. The Probation department will then disperse payments to all applicants remain victim(s) in a proportionate share.
Payments dispersed from the fund will be made on a first come / first serve basis and will be made in the full amount recommended by the Review Committee and approved by the President Judge.
The Probation department will be prohibited from dispersing payments from the Fund in excess of the Fund case reserves plus $100.00.
Maximum Disbursement
The maximum amount that may be disbursed from the Fund on behalf of any single child per period of supervision by the Court or Probation department will be one thousand dollars ($1,000.00).
Fund Balance
The Fund will maintain a minimum balance of $100.00 at all times.
Suspension of Activity
The Court or Chief Juvenile Probation Officer will have the authority to suspend any and all activities associated with the Fund.
Audit Requirement
The Fund will be subject to an audit by the Controller of Fayette County on an annual basis, covering the period January 1 through December 31 as part of the annual audit on the above-mentioned check account.