Calling on the Committee on Public Health & Human Services to conduct a public hearing to investigate the current system of directly filing juvenile cases into adult court and make findings and recommendations concerning its use, and the treatment and conditions of confinement for this category of juveniles.

WHEREAS

,

The Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1995 amended and rewrote many sections of 42 Pa.C.S.A.6301, et seq., relating to juvenile matters; and

WHEREAS, This rewriting added at least nine additional specified offenses under which a juvenile case could be directly filed into adult court; and

WHEREAS, The number of Direct File juveniles has increased exponentially over these last four years as a result of these changes; and

WHEREAS

,

Philadelphia County does more Direct Files than the rest of the State combined; and

WHEREAS

,

Even though 50% of these Direct Files end up back in Juvenile Court, decertification of these juveniles can take months; and

WHEREAS

,

Pre-trial services such as psychological evaluation and counseling for this category of adult-certified juveniles are non-existent; now therefore

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby authorize the Council's Committee on Public Health and Human Services to conduct a Public Hearing to investigate the current system of Directly Filing juvenile cases into adult Court and make findings and recommendations concerning its use, and the treatment and conditions of confinement for this category of juveniles.

End