Changes coming to youth appellate defense
From the July – August 2024 Criminal Defense Newsletter
Last December, Lt. Gov. Gilchrist
signed into law the first substantive changes to the Appellate Defender Act
(ADA) since it was originally passed in the 1970s. The new legislation (SB 425)
altered the mechanism for reimbursement of MAACS roster attorneys and made some
other smaller changes as well. The biggest amendment, though, was the addition
of youth defense to SADO’s mandate. Beginning October 1, 2024, MAACS will now
be responsible for the assignment of appellate counsel for indigent respondents
in juvenile delinquency, traditional waiver, and designated proceeding appeals.
Additionally, for the first time, SADO will now take a portion of these
appeals.
Despite upwards of 8,000 juvenile
delinquency adjudications per year, there are few delinquency appeals. The
Gault Center commented on the state of delinquencies appeals in its 2020
report, Overdue for Justice, shining a light on numerous deficiencies in
Michigan’s youth defense delivery systems. As part of the report, the Gault
Center recommended that delinquency appeals come under SADO’s mandate to
provide a uniform system of assignments and compensation to attorneys. This
recommendation was echoed by the Governor’s Task Force on Juvenile Justice
Reform when it released its own report and recommendations in 2022.
In May 2022, SADO launched the Youth
Defense Project to help pave the way for reforms to youth defense and work
toward implementation of the recommendations regarding delinquency appeals. The
Project has hosted several trainings for youth defense attorneys with hundreds
of participants; has provided expert knowledge about juvenile delinquencies
with public defenders, private practice attorneys, judges, referees, court
administrators, and others; has presented on youth defense to various groups;
has worked with SCAO on a series of court rule amendments to improve youth
defense; and has created a roster of youth defense appellate attorneys. The
Project will become a permanent part of MAACS in October 2024.
Project Staff also helped draft SB 425.
The amendments to the ADA are a huge change for youth defense. MAACS has been
responsible for the assignment of appellate counsel in adult felony appeals for
decades and now brings that experience to the juvenile delinquency realm. A
centralized system of assignment will provide uniformity to the process across
all counties, rates for assigned counsel will be more competitive with criminal
cases, and the process will allow for independence from the judiciary.
These ADA amendments were followed up
with changes to the Michigan Court Rules to make the process for assigning
counsel under MCR 3.993 nearly identical to the process under MCR 6.425.
Beginning on October 1, all requests for the assignment of appellate counsel in
delinquencies will go through MAACS, which will assign counsel in the same
manner as in adult cases. MAACS has already assembled a small roster of
attorneys to take these youth defense assignments, though there is always room
for more roster attorneys. In January 2025, the first dedicated youth defense
assistant appellate defender at SADO will begin taking assignments, and SADO’s
Criminal Defense Resource Center is also expanding by adding an attorney who
will coordinate future youth defense trainings and create resources for youth
defense attorneys.
There is still much work to be done on
expanding and improving youth defense throughout Michigan, particularly at the
trial level. The Senate has not taken up for a vote HB 4630, which would expand
MIDC to oversee trial-level juvenile delinquencies. At least on the appellate
side, though, the changes to the ADA and the juvenile court rules are a strong
start to the necessary reforms.
Joshua Pease
Youth Defense Project Director, MAACS
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