Creation of Juvenile Courts; Appointment of Judges

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. Courts
  4. Juvenile Code
  5. Juvenile Court Administration
  6. Creation of Juvenile Courts; Appointment of Judges

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  1. There is created a juvenile court in every county in the state.
  2. Except where election is provided by local law, the judge or a majority of the judges of the superior court in each circuit in the state may appoint one or more qualified persons as judge of the juvenile courts of the circuit. Such superior court judge or judges shall establish the total number of circuit-wide juvenile court judges and shall establish whether the judge or judges shall be full time or part time, or a combination of full time and part time. Each circuit-wide judge appointed shall have the authority to act as judge of each juvenile court in each county of the circuit.
  3. If no person is appointed as a juvenile court judge for a circuit, then a superior court judge of the circuit shall as part of the duties of the superior court judge assume the duties of the juvenile court judge in all counties in the circuit in which a separate juvenile court judgeship has not been established.
  4. All juvenile court judgeships established on or before October 1, 2000, and their methods of compensation, selection, and operation shall continue until such time as one or more circuit-wide juvenile court judges are appointed. However, in any circuit where a superior court judge assumes the duties of the juvenile court judge, such circuit shall not be entitled to the state funds provided for in Code Section 15-11-52.
  5. When one or more circuit-wide juvenile court judges are appointed or elected, any juvenile court judge in office at that time shall be authorized to fulfill his or her term of office. The jurisdiction of each judge shall be circuit wide.
  6. After the initial appointments and prior to any subsequent appointment or reappointment of any part-time or full-time juvenile court judge, the judge or judges responsible for making the appointment shall publish notice of the vacancy of the juvenile court judgeship once a month for three months prior to such appointment or reappointment. Such notice shall be published in the official legal organ of each of the counties in the circuit where the juvenile court judge has venue. The expense of such publication shall be paid by the county governing authority in the county where such notice is published.
  7. In the event that more than one juvenile court judge is appointed, one judge shall be designated presiding judge.
  8. In any case in which action under this Code section is to be taken by a superior court judge of the circuit, such action shall be taken as follows:
    1. Where there are one or two superior court judges, such action shall be taken by the chief judge of the circuit; and
    2. Where there are more than two superior court judges, such action shall be taken by a majority vote of the judges of the circuit.

(Code 1981, §15-11-50, enacted by Ga. L. 2013, p. 294, § 1-1/HB 242.)

Law reviews.

- For comment, "Pre-Adjudication Access to Counsel for Juveniles," see 69 Emory L.J. 359 (2019).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under former Code 1933, § 24A-201 and pre-2000 Code Section 15-11-3, which were subsequently repealed but were succeeded by provisions in this Code section, are included in the annotations for this Code section. See the Editor's notes at the beginning of the chapter.

Juvenile court judge has authority to issue criminal warrants for adults as juvenile court is county court. Thornton v. State, 157 Ga. App. 75, 276 S.E.2d 125 (1981) (decided under former O.C.G.A. § 15-11-3).

If superior court judge sits as juvenile court judge, orders issued by the judge are orders of that court and not of the superior court and must conform to the legal requirements of courts of limited jurisdiction to be valid. Turnell v. Johnson, 223 Ga. 309, 154 S.E.2d 591 (1967) (decided under former Code 1933, § 24A-201).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, opinions under former O.C.G.A. §§ 15-11-3 and15-11-18 are included in the annotations for this Code section. See the Editor's notes at the beginning of the chapter.

Existing terms unaffected by new judicial district.

- Terms of the existing juvenile court judge for the counties of Pickens, Fannin, Gilmer, Forsyth, and Cherokee are not affected by the creation of the new Appalachian Judicial Circuit. 1983 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U83-26 (decided under former O.C.G.A. § 15-11-3).

Term of office.

- Term of office of juvenile court judges appointed under former O.C.G.A. § 15-11-18 (see now O.C.G.A. §§ 15-11-50 and15-11-52) was four years to run from the date of the expiration of the term of office of the juvenile court judge's predecessor in office. 1984 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U84-32 (decided under former O.C.G.A. § 15-11-3).

All juvenile court judgeships are to be appointed to a term equal to that of superior court judges, which is currently four years. The provision for state contribution for circuit-wide juvenile court judges' compensation conditioned upon appropriation of the necessary funds for that purpose does not delay enactment of the remainder of the 1982 amendment. 1987 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U87-5 (decided under former O.C.G.A. § 15-11-3).

Appointment of retired superior court judge.

- Superior court judge who retires under either of the two superior court judges retirement systems may be appointed to serve as a juvenile court judge; however, with one limited exception, his or her eligibility for senior judge status under either system will be suspended or delayed while appointed to that office. 1991 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 91-9 (decided under former O.C.G.A. § 15-11-3).

Appointment of superior court judge as juvenile court judge.

- Senior superior court judge, who was not being appointed in that senior judge capacity pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 15-1-9.1, may be appointed to serve as a part-time state-funded juvenile court judge and, so long as the hours worked annually do not exceed 1040 hours, there is no effect on the senior judge's retirement. 2000 Op. Atty. Gen. No. U2000-9 (decided under former O.C.G.A. § 15-11-18).

Local legislation not necessary.

- Local legislation is not necessary to establish a juvenile court for a particular county alone, but the powers of the juvenile court cannot be restricted to only that county. 2000 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U2000-3 (decided under former O.C.G.A. § 15-11-18).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 47 Am. Jur. 2d, Juvenile Courts and Delinquent and Dependent Children, §§ 1, 6, 39 et seq.

ALR.

- Jurisdiction of another court over child as affected by assumption of jurisdiction by juvenile court, 11 A.L.R. 147; 78 A.L.R. 317; 146 A.L.R. 1153.


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