State v. T. J. L.
Citation558 P.3d 855, 335 Or. App. 477
Date Filed2024-10-16
DocketA177663
JudgeAoyagi
Cited14 times
StatusPublished
Full Opinion (html_with_citations)
No. 730 October 16, 2024 477
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE
STATE OF OREGON
In the Matter of T. J. L.,
a Youth.
STATE OF OREGON,
Respondent,
v.
T. J. L.,
Appellant.
Linn County Circuit Court
21JU03904; A177663
Brendan J. Kane, Judge.
Argued and submitted June 14, 2023.
Ginger Fitch argued the cause for appellant. Also on the
briefs was Youth, Rights & Justice.
Patricia G. Rincon, Assistant Attorney General, argued
the cause for respondent. Also on the brief were Ellen F.
Rosenblum, Attorney General, and Benjamin Gutman,
Solicitor General.
Before Aoyagi, Presiding Judge, Egan, Judge, and Joyce,
Judge.*
AOYAGI, P. J.
Affirmed.
______________
* Egan, J. vice Jacquot, J.
478 State v. T. J. L.
Cite as 335 Or App 477 (2024) 479
AOYAGI, P. J.
Youth appeals a delinquency judgment commit-
ting him to the legal custody of the Oregon Youth Authority
(OYA) for placement in a correctional facility. While driv-
ing under the influence of alcohol and marijuana, youth,
aged 17, caused a crash that killed his friend. The juvenile
court adjudicated youth for conduct that would constitute
second-degree manslaughter and driving under the influ-
ence of intoxicants if committed by an adult, and it com-
mitted him to OYA custody. On appeal, youth assigns error
to the disposition “removing [him] from his community and
placing him in a correctional facility.” He argues that the
court improperly “focused on the nature of [youth’s] offense
and its deadly harm,” instead of youth’s best interests as
required by ORS 419C.478, and that it “is in this youth’s
best interests to receive treatment for his severe alcohol use
disorder in the community.” We conclude that the court did
not err and therefore affirm.
Youth’s adjudication and disposition hearing took
place in December 2021. See State v. B. Y., 371 Or 364, 370,537 P3d 517
(2023) (“The ‘disposition’ is the judgment of the
juvenile court that imposes conditions on the adjudicated
youth for the purpose of that youth’s rehabilitation. ORS
419C.411. The disposition, like the one in this case, may
include a commitment to OYA custody. ORS 419C.478.”).
There was evidence that youth had been drinking alcohol
and smoking marijuana since age nine and that, in the year
prior to the July 2021 crash, he was drinking 18 to 30 beers
per day and experiencing blackouts, while living at home
and working full time, having dropped out of school. At some
point, youth lost a job due to a failed urinalysis (UA). After
the crash that killed his friend, youth stopped drinking for
two weeks “due to this current pending case,” then resumed
drinking. During a substance-abuse evaluation two months
after the crash, youth reported that he understood that
he drinks “in excess” and that his goal for alcohol use is
“moderation.”
Both youth’s parents and the victim’s parents made
statements at the hearing. Youth’s parents reported that
they had never seen youth drink alcohol, were unaware of
480 State v. T. J. L.
his drinking, and do not allow him to drink in their home.
The victim’s parents urged the court to place youth in a cor-
rectional facility, with the victim’s mother explaining that
doing so would allow their family to start to heal and grieve
their loss without having “to constantly worry about what
[youth] will do next.”
At the time of the hearing, youth was in pre-
adjudication detention and, by all reports, doing well. He
had obtained his general equivalency degree (GED) and
stopped drinking while in detention.
Youth admitted to the adjudicative allegations, and
he requested that he be placed on “community probation”
with “comprehensive treatment services, counseling, ankle
monitors, breathalyzer, work crew, [and] [A]ntabuse.” The
state’s position was that OYA custody with a correctional-
facility placement would be best for youth, because it would
protect him “from the risk of harming himself through get-
ting intoxicated and whatever else he might do while intox-
icated.” The state pointed out that living with his parents
had not deterred youth from drinking before or after the
accident, and it argued that local supervision and treat-
ment in a nonsecure facility would not be appropriate given
youth’s “recent past conduct in the context of these offenses.”
The juvenile court decided that it is in youth’s best
interests to be placed in the legal custody of OYA. The
court explained its ruling at length, including, among other
things:
• agreeing with youth’s counsel that the goal in deciding
the disposition should not be “retribution for the victim”;
• acknowledging “the purpose of the juvenile court sys-
tem,” which had been “well articulated” by youth’s coun-
sel, and the “many studies about what’s best” for delin-
quent youth;
• identifying facts that it considered important to the
disposition for this youth, including that youth is now
18 and no longer “subject to the direction of [his par-
ents]” like a minor would be, that youth has abused sub-
stances for a long time and was not fully in his parents’
control even as a minor, and that youth’s conduct and its
consequences were “the most serious” possible;
Cite as 335 Or App 477 (2024) 481
• noting that youth has done well in pre-adjudication
detention; and
• concluding that community placement, as requested by
youth, is not “appropriate nor in [youth’s] best interest,
as being in the community did not serve him well prior
to the accident,” particularly given his longstanding
substance abuse problem and his dropping out of school.
The court further decided that a correctional facil-
ity is the preferred placement, given OYA’s inability to find
a residential treatment program that would accept youth,
at least until he has a period of stability, as demonstrated
by five failed referrals. See ORS 419C.478(2) (when the juve-
nile court places an adjudicated youth in the legal custody
of OYA, it “may specify the type of care, supervision or ser-
vices to be provided” by OYA, “but the actual planning and
provision of the care, supervision, security or services is the
responsibility of [OYA]”). The court explained that youth
needs close supervision, including prompt responses to any
further transgressions, to ensure his reformation. That is
especially so given that his prior “transgression was of such
a stark and violent nature that it leaves no margin for error
to assure that the community is safe, [youth] is safe, and
that a tragedy like this does not occur again in [youth’s]
life[.]” The court further stated that youth could not achieve
at home the “kind of accountability that’s required in the
Juvenile Code”1 and that it will “serve [youth] in his future”
to understand that “there are some things that you don’t do”
and that losing a job for failing a UA is one thing but taking
a life is another and that a life cannot be replaced like a job.
The court made some encouraging remarks to
youth, then ended with a summary of the reasons that it
believed that it is in youth’s best interests to be placed in
OYA custody with a correctional placement:
1
The court was referencing ORS 419C.001, which identifies the purposes
of the Oregon juvenile justice system; states that the “system is founded on the
principles of personal responsibility, accountability and reformation within the
context of public safety and restitution to the victims and to the community”;
and states that the system “shall provide a continuum of services that emphasize
prevention of further criminal activity by the use of early and certain sanctions,
reformation and rehabilitation programs and swift and decisive intervention in
delinquent behavior.”
482 State v. T. J. L.
“Youth’s decision making has jeopardized himself, the com-
munity, and has caused the greatest harm possible. Youth
would benefit from the accountability as detailed on the
record of the proceedings and reformative services that
commitment to the [OYA] correctional facility will pro-
vide, including early and swift response to future trans-
gressions, a sufficient period of stability and sobriety, and
treatment and vocational opportunities.”
The court subsequently issued an order committing youth
to OYA, which included best-interests findings materially
identical to the court’s concluding statement quoted above.
On appeal, youth challenges the disposition, argu-
ing that the juvenile court erred by “removing [youth] from
his community and placing him in a correctional facility.”
Although it is not entirely clear, it appears that youth means
to challenge both the sufficiency of the juvenile court’s writ-
ten findings and the substance of its ruling.2
We review the sufficiency of the court’s written find-
ings for legal error. State v. D. B. O., 325 Or App 746, 748,529 P3d 1004
(2023). Although youth does not directly assign
error to the written findings, youth argues prominently,
albeit briefly, that the court was required to make written
findings regarding what placement is in his best interests,
that the court improperly injected the idea of “accountabil-
ity” into its best-interests findings, and that we “should
reverse and remand with directions to the juvenile court to
separate the consideration of [youth’s] best interest regard-
ing placement from the consideration of accountability.”
Under ORS 419C.478(1), a juvenile court placing
a youth in OYA custody must include in its order “written
findings describing why it is in the best interests of the adju-
dicated youth to be placed with” OYA. It is legal error not to
make the required written findings, irrespective of whether
the record would support OYA custody. D. B. O., 325 Or App
at 748(vacating and remanding due to insufficient written findings under ORS 419C.478(1)); see also, e.g., State v. E. S.,333 Or App 350
,552 P3d 754
(2024) (same). In this case, we
2
For the benefit of the bar, we note that, when seeking to challenge both
the sufficiency of the written findings and the substance of the dispositional rul-
ing, the better practice is to assign error separately. See ORAP 5.45 (regarding
assignments of error).
Cite as 335 Or App 477 (2024) 483
disagree with youth that the court’s reference to “account-
ability” in its written findings causes those findings not to
comply with ORS 419C.478(1). As discussed more later, we
understand the juvenile court to have referred to account-
ability in the reformative sense. We therefore reject youth’s
narrow challenge to the sufficiency of the written findings
under ORS 419C.478(1).
We turn to the substance of the court’s placement
ruling, which is the subject of the vast majority of youth’s
argument. Under ORS 419C.478(1), the juvenile court “may,
in addition to probation or any other dispositional order,
place an adjudicated youth who is at least 12 years of age
in the legal custody of [OYA] for care, placement and super-
vision[.]” As previously noted, the court must make written
findings as to “why it is in the best interests of the adju-
dicated youth to be placed with [OYA].” ORS 419C.478(1).
By necessary implication, that means that, before placing a
youth in OYA custody, the court must determine that doing
so is in the youth’s best interests.
We review the juvenile court’s dispositional deci-
sion regarding placement of a delinquent youth for abuse of
discretion. See B. Y., 371 Or at 378(discussing the juvenile court’s “discretionary authority to determine the appropri- ate disposition based on the specific circumstances and reha- bilitative needs of the youth in each case”). We will reverse a discretionary ruling only if it falls outside the range of legally permissible options, keeping in mind that there is often more than one legally permissible choice when discre- tion is at play. State v. Rogers,330 Or 282, 312
,4 P3d 1261
(2000) (“If the trial court’s decision was within the range of legally correct discretionary choices and produced a permis- sible, legally correct outcome, the trial court did not abuse its discretion.”); Sjomeling v. Lasser,251 Or App 172, 187
,285 P3d 1116
, rev den,353 Or 103
(2012) (reversal is proper
“only if a trial court’s discretionary determination is not a
legally permissible one”).
Youth views the juvenile court as having focused
too much on the fatal consequences of his adjudicated con-
duct in making its placement decision. Youth acknowl-
edges in his reply brief that “there is no inherent conflict
484 State v. T. J. L.
between accountability and a child’s best interest.” Youth
argues, however, that the juvenile court focused too much
here on the nature of the adjudicated conduct and the need
for accountability, essentially trying to achieve punish-
ment rather than rehabilitation and starting with the most
restrictive placement instead of the least restrictive one.
The state disagrees. It points out that the juve-
nile court is expected to consider a variety of factors in
deciding the disposition in a delinquency case. Under ORS
419C.411(3), there are five factors that the court must con-
sider, including, inter alia, the “gravity” of the injury caused
by the youth’s adjudicated conduct, the “manner” in which
the youth engaged in the conduct, and the need to protect
the victim’s family and the community.3 The court also may
consider a multitude of other factors under ORS 419C.411,
including, inter alia, the youth’s efforts toward reform or
rehabilitation, the youth’s educational status and school
attendance record, the youth’s employment record, the par-
ties’ recommendations regarding disposition, statements by
the victim’s family, and “[a]ny other relevant factors or cir-
cumstances raised by the parties.” 4 The state argues that,
3
In full, ORS 419C.411(3) states:
“Except as otherwise provided in subsections (6) and (7) of this section
[(which pertain to youth found responsible except for insanity)] in determin-
ing the disposition of the case, the court shall consider each of the following:
“(a) The gravity of the loss, damage or injury caused or attempted
during, or as part of, the conduct that is the basis for jurisdiction under ORS
419C.005;
“(b) Whether the manner in which the adjudicated youth engaged in the
conduct was aggressive, violent, premeditated or willful;
“(c) Whether the adjudicated youth was held in detention under ORS
419C.145 and, if so, the reasons for the detention;
“(d) The immediate and future protection required by the victim, the vic-
tim’s family and the community; and
“(e) The adjudicated youth’s juvenile court record and response to the
requirements and conditions imposed by previous juvenile court orders.”
4
In full, ORS 419C.411(4) states:
“In addition to the factors listed in subsection (3) of this section, the court
may consider the following:
“(a) Whether the adjudicated youth has made any efforts toward reform
or rehabilitation or making restitution;
“(b) The adjudicated youth’s educational status and school attendance
record;
Cite as 335 Or App 477 (2024) 485
here, the juvenile court properly considered accountability
as one relevant factor and did not abuse its discretion in
determining that it is in youth’s best interests to be commit-
ted to OYA custody, with initial placement in a correctional
facility.
As a general matter, youth is correct that Oregon’s
juvenile justice system is concerned with rehabilitation, not
punishment, a point made frequently over the years in the
case law. See, e.g., B. Y., 371 Or at 383(holding that juvenile courts have authority to impose consecutive commitment periods when a youth is adjudicated for new conduct that took place while in OYA custody, but noting that such discretion- ary authority “is not in furtherance of additional ‘punish- ment,’ but rather in furtherance of ensuring that the juve- nile courts retain the authority that the legislature intended them to have—discretionary authority to determine the appropriate disposition based on the specific circumstances and rehabilitative needs of the youth in each case”); State ex rel Juv. Dept. v. Reynolds,317 Or 560, 574
,857 P2d 842
(1993) (“Juvenile courts are concerned with rehabilitation, not punishment.”); State v. S. Q. K.,292 Or App 836, 846
,426 P3d 659
, adh’d to as modified on recons,294 Or App 184
,426 P3d 258
, rev den,364 Or 209
(2018) (“[J]uvenile delin- quency proceedings are not criminal proceedings but are, instead, something quite different—proceedings to rehabil- itate children.”). As the Oregon Supreme Court observed in 1993, “Unlike many states that recently have shifted their focus from juvenile rehabilitation to juvenile accountability and punishment, Oregon has remained faithful to its orig- inal emphasis on the rehabilitation of delinquent youth.” Reynolds,317 Or at 568
.
Given Oregon’s focus on rehabilitation rather
than punishment for juvenile offenders, it is important to
“(c) The adjudicated youth’s past and present employment;
“(d) The disposition proposed by the adjudicated youth;
“(e) The recommendations of the district attorney and the juvenile court
counselor and the statements of the victim and the victim’s family;
“(f) The adjudicated youth’s mental, emotional and physical health and
the results of the mental health or substance abuse treatment; and
“(g) Any other relevant factors or circumstances raised by the parties.”
486 State v. T. J. L.
acknowledge that the term “accountability” can be used in
different ways. For example, it can be used to express the
idea that taking personal responsibility for wrongdoing is
important to personal growth and reformation, which is
in line with the goal of rehabilitation. Or it can be used
as essentially a synonym for punishment, conveying that
people who engage in criminal activity should be punished
so that they are held accountable to their victims and to
society more generally. In this case, having read the entire
record, we understand the juvenile court to have considered
accountability as relevant to youth’s reformation, rather
than punishment.
The court provided a thoughtful ruling demonstrat-
ing its consideration of a number of factors relevant to the
disposition, including, but by no means limited to, youth’s
need for accountability to serve youth’s best interests in the
long term. See State ex rel Juvenile Dept. v. Lauffenberger,
308 Or 159,777 P2d 954
(1989) (recognizing, in the juvenile dependency context, that “best interests” refers to a child’s interests in both the short term and long term); see also, e.g., State v. N. R. L.,249 Or App 321, 332
,277 P3d 564
(2012) (explaining that ordering restitution in juvenile delin-
quency cases can serve a rehabilitative purpose, “by holding
the youth offender accountable for his or her actions” and
impressing upon the youth “the seriousness and cost of his
offense” (internal quotation marks omitted)). We do not view
the court as having conflated punishment with accountabil-
ity, as youth contends, or as having lost sight of the need
to determine what placement was in youth’s best interests.
Rather, we view it as having appropriately weighed a num-
ber of considerations as contemplated by ORS 419C.411, in
a difficult case, to decide how best to ensure that youth will
obtain the treatment that he needs while remaining under
close enough supervision to avoid another tragedy, including
one that might lead to youth’s own serious injury or demise.5
5
Youth argues for a “presumption” of parental placement for youth offenders
adjudicated in juvenile court. We reject that framing. ORS 419C.446(1) autho-
rizes a variety of different community placement options for youths on probation,
without any stated preference among them. As for non-OYA custody versus OYA
custody, ORS 419C.478(1) requires a finding that it is in the youth’s “best inter-
ests” to be committed to the legal custody of OYA. While that may effectively
serve as a preference for non-OYA custody, we see no reason to characterize the
Cite as 335 Or App 477 (2024) 487
On this record, the juvenile court did not abuse its
discretion in deciding that keeping 18-year-old youth with
his parents in the community is not in youth’s best interests,
that placement in a residential treatment program in the
community is not an available option, and that OYA custody
with an initial placement in a correctional facility is ulti-
mately what is in youth’s best interests.6 Youth may have a
different view of what is in his best interests, but the court
did not abuse its discretion in ruling as it did.
Affirmed.
statutes as creating a “presumption” of non-OYA custody that the court must
“overcome” or that the state must rebut. We view it as more accurate and more
useful to speak in the statutory terms of youth’s “best interests.”
6
Youth suggests that the juvenile court could have committed him to the
legal custody of OYA but physically placed him with his parents. An OYA witness
testified to why that is not a viable option, including explaining that OYA custody
is typically reserved for youth who cannot be maintained at home. On this record,
the court properly understood the available options to be keeping youth at home
with his parents or committing him to OYA custody with initial placement in a
correctional facility.