Youth courts would open most hearings and screen youth for diversion

Youth courts would admit the general public to youth court proceedings. The rule would cover hearings in welfare and delinquency matters, including adjudication and disposition hearings. A court could close a welfare hearing only after stating on the record that closure protects the child, prevents disclosure of protected information, or concerns an alleged sexual offense. A court could close a delinquency hearing without making a finding on the record. A court could exclude a person if that person's presence would harm the child, impair fact-finding, or otherwise conflict with justice. Electronic recording, photography, and similar recording would require a written court order for good cause. Media could not release identifying information about children or certain family members without such an order. The provision would apply from the act's effective date, which the text states is upon passage.

The Division of Youth Services may run community-based diversion programs, and intake officers would screen eligible youth for diversion. Screening would cover youth referred to youth court, including school-attendance referrals, subject to listed exceptions such as probation, commitment, a prior diversion attempt, or certain prosecutorial decisions. The division could contract with public or private agencies and provide services such as counseling, behavioral health care, tutoring, job support, restitution, and community service. Intake officers could not deny diversion solely because of inability to pay, agency involvement, protected personal characteristics, lack of a lawyer, or certain disability or mental-health symptoms. Screening results and statements made during screening or diversion could not be used as evidence against the youth in an adjudicatory hearing. The program's operation and services would depend on the division establishing the program and available funding arrangements. Beginning January 1, 2027, intake officers would conduct the required risk screening for covered youth referrals.

Youth court divisions in certain county courts would need a dedicated county judge, while some divisions would move to chancery courts. The dedicated-judge and abolition rules would apply to county-court youth divisions, including divisions in counties with fewer than 50,000 people under the 2020 census, with an opt-out process. A county under the population threshold could continue its county-court youth division only if its board of supervisors votes to opt out and the county notifies the Administrative Office of Courts before December 1, 2028. A county that continues the division would pay its costs, apart from the salary supplement allowed by law, and could still receive grants from other state agencies. The text provides for additional full-time chancery judges in listed districts and says those judges would handle only youth court matters. The dedicated-judge and county opt-out provisions would take effect January 1, 2031. Additional chancery positions would take effect July 1, 2027, and referee cases and dockets would transfer by July 1, 2027.