Juvenile Judge Pamela Johnson
First Speaker at Central Rotary
“Anything that makes us fear that a child may be hurt comes under the jurisdiction of our juvenile judges,” said Baton Rouge Judge Pamela Taylor Johnson who was the first speaker at the first official weekly meeting of the brand new Rotary Club of Central.
Judge Johnson is in her fourth term at a juvenile judge having been elected in 1994.
After 16 years on the bench Judge Johnson said her sphere of
responsibility reaches far beyond what people might think.
She is the judge in cases involving abortion,
underage marriages (even when the parents might agree) and health issues
involving children.
She said that when it comes to
“How can we have a healthy, productive future without healthy, productive children?” she asked. “Our children are out future.”
The judge explained that if a child commits a crime and is arrested the parents must come to court. If a child gets a traffic ticket in any parish, then that matter is handled in the juvenile court where the child lives so the parents can be there with their child to deal with that matter.
“In the case of any type of juvenile delinquency if a child is booked into a detention center there must be a court hearing within 48 hours,” she explained. “There must be a second hearing within three days and within seven days there must be an arraignment and any trial must commence within 30 days. Meanwhile the child remains locked up.”
Judge Johnson said at the conclusion of the trial the judge must make a decision even if the charge is first degree murder. There is no jury. The judge must render his or her decision within three days. Within 30 days there must be a pre-sentence hearing and a sentencing decision.
“The law requires that a child who is judged guilty of anything except murder, aggravated rape or some major crime must be kept in the community if at all possible” she said. “The ideal thing is for children to remain in their own home and not be with strangers taking care of them. The judge must always justify why a child should be removed from his or her home.”
The judge said children come into her court with many, many issues. She said drug use among young people is a big problem in East Baton Rouge Parish.
“A juvenile judge knows everybody’s business because it is the court’s responsibility to protect the children above all else,” she said. “If a teacher reports that a child came to school with a red mark on his or her leg then it is the business of the juvenile judge to find out what happened? How many times did he get hit?”
The judge must make a decision then either to leave the child in the home or to remove the child. She said CASA does a great job of helping the court and the children caught up in the system, but there are not enough foster programs.
The Central Rotary Club meets for breakfast every Tuesday
morning at 7:30 a.m. at the fire station on