b North Dakota » Juvenile court

Judicial selection, 2022

• Elected

• Appointed

• Combination

Judicial specialization, 2022

• All mixed case types

• Mostly mixed

• Mostly specialized

Caseload assignment, 2022

• Mixed assignment methods

• Individual discretion

• Statute/State court rules

Judicial experience, training, and tools, 2022

• Qualification Requirements

• Required Annual Training

• Required Risk/Need Assessments and Pre-Dispositional Reports

• Juvenile Justice Bench Books

Courtroom shackling, 2015

Restricted by judiciary

In re R.W.S., 728 N.W.2d 326 (N.D. 2007) held that the juvenile court had a duty to exercise its discretion when youth requests removal of handcuffs during the adjudicatory hearing. The youth’s due process right to a fair trial was violated when the referee failed to exercise discretion, and deferred the decision to law enforcement.  Effective 3/1/17, a rule of juvenile procedure has since required that restraints are removed from youth prior to a(ny) courtroom proceeding unless a judge finds they are necessary. (See Rule 20. Use of Restraints in Courtroom)

Competency, 2015

In North Dakota, no statute or court rule applies directly to juvenile competency proceedings or refers application of other (adult) rules to juveniles. Although not binding, a state Supreme Court opinion stated that juveniles have a due process right not to be subjected to the adjudicative stage of juvenile proceedings while incompetent and held that the juvenile court did not violate juvenile's due process rights when it failed to order a competency hearing to determine whether juvenile was competent to proceed with the adjudicative stage because only the matter of age was raised (rather than Dusky standards).

• No juvenile standard

• Juvenile standard is the adult standard

• Juvenile justice standard exists

• JJ standard includes developmental immaturity