Page 18 - Delaware Lawyer - Spring 2022

FEATURE | A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH TO TEEN JUSTICE
Judge’s podium, check-in station and door at Family Court.
to render them incompetent to stand trial. For those children, the attor- neys might suspect that mental illness or unaddressed trauma is the underly- ing cause of the delinquent behavior. In those instances, the DOJ hopes that addressing the underlying illness or trauma is a better way to reduce recidivism than traditional punish- ment. Youth Wellness Court provides a venue for pursuing this goal.
Sometimes a case is referred to this docket for case reviews only and a plea is never entered on the charg- es. Instead, the DOJ and the child’s defense attorney work together with the relevant state and community entities to secure a treatment plan for the juvenile’s mental health and
other needs before an entry of nolle prosequi.
Most often in Youth Wellness Court, the child will enter a guilty plea as they would in the general docket. However, the consequences of the guilty plea are deferred pend- ing an attempt at success in Wellness Court. The child will be connected with services designed to address their underlying issues with the opportunity to earn a nolle prosequi on the charges, notwithstanding the guilty plea. In this way, the child is presented with both a carrot and a stick — an opportunity to walk away with no criminal record if they accept the opportunity to address the mental health needs underlying their criminal behavior.
Expanding the Specialty Court Approach
This approach, giving the child a chance at a nolle prosequi as an incen- tive to improve behavior, has proven successful with enough youth in the specialty courts that attorneys have embraced it on the routine dockets when it is in the interests of justice and community safety to do so. For victimless crimes, misdemeanors and even low-grade felonies, the DOJ has the option of offering a uniquely structured plea deal often referred to as a “set-out.”
For a set-out, the child is asked to accept extra-judicial consequences voluntarily. These will often include exercises like composing an essay on
16 DELAWARE LAWYER SPRING 2022
PHOTOS BY SEAN O’SULLIVAN