Dina N., In re

• Decision Date: 28 January 1983
• Docket Number: No. 82-295-M,82-295-M
• Citation: 455 A.2d 318
• Parties: In re DINA N. P.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

Page 318

455 A.2d 318

In re DINA N.

No. 82-295-M.P.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

Jan. 28, 1983.

Michael D. Coleman, Child Advocate, Providence, for petitioner.

John Edward Farley, Chief Legal Counsel, Dept. for Children and Their Families, Providence, for respondent.

OPINION

BEVILACQUA, Chief Justice.

This is a petition for a writ of habeas corpus wherein the petitioner, Dina N., a juvenile, asserts that her detention at the Rhode Island Training School for Youth (the Training School) by order of the Family Court constitutes a violation of G.L. 1956 (1981 Reenactment) § 14-1-11, as amended by P.L. 1981, ch. 184, § 1.

Dina N., age sixteen and approximately seven and one-half months pregnant at the time this case was presented in the Family Court, has never been charged with a delinquent, wayward, or status offense. Because of her father's inability to care for her, she was committed to the custody of Child Welfare Services (the predecessor agency of the Department for Children and Their Families (the DCF)) on March 3, 1977, as a dependent child. (Her mother died on November 20, 1975.) The DCF arranged several placements for Dina from which she repeatedly ran away.

On May 24, 1982, Dina was taken to Transition House, a group home for girls in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where she was placed by order of the Family Court. She ran away the same day. Dina appeared before a justice of the Family Court on June 3, 1982 and, upon her refusal to return to Transition House, he ordered her detained at the Training School pending a hearing on June 17, 1982. Dina remained at the Training School after the denial of the child advocate's request for her immediate release and the continuance of the case until June 22, 1982.

At the hearing on June 22, 1982, the DCF made a motion to adjudge Dina in contempt of the court's prior placement orders. The trial justice found Dina in contempt and remanded her to the Training School until she agreed to return to Transition House or any other appropriate placement arranged by the DCF. The judge also denied the child advocate's renewed motion for Dina's immediate release.

The sole issue presented, one of first impression, is whether a juvenile nonoffender may be detained at the Training School despite the provisions of § 14-1-11 based on a Family Court justice's finding of contempt for violating prior placement orders of the court.

At the time of oral argument, however, the issue was moot. Dina was removed from the Training School and was placed in the RCA alternative program, a secure facility housing only status offenders and dependent children. As a general rule we will not consider moot, abstract, academic, or hypothetical questions. The court will only address real issues in dispute. See, e.g., Perry v. Petit, 116 R.I. 89, 352 A.2d 396 (1976); Ramsdell v. Kiely, 111 R.I. 1, 298 A.2d 144 (1973). This rule, however, is not without exception. If the issue is one of extreme public importance and is capable of repetition but evades review, the court will consider it although the question is technically moot. E.g., Morris v. D'Amario, R.I., 416 A.2d 137, 139 (1980); Mello v. Superior Court, 117 R.I. 578, 581, 370 A.2d 1262, 1263 (1977). Juvenile nonoffenders are currently incarcerated at the Training School under circumstances similar to this case. It is likely that they will be removed prior to a hearing in this court regarding the legality of their incarceration. We find, therefore, that the issue presented by this case falls within the exception to the general rule, and we shall accordingly address the question placed before us.

The construction of statutes is a matter reserved for the courts. See Rule v. Rhode Island Department of Transportation, R.I., 427 A.2d 1305, 1310 (1981); Statewide Multiple Listing Service, Inc. v. Norberg, 120 R.I. 937, 940, 392 A.2d 371, 373 (1978). The Supreme Court, as the highest court in the state, is the final arbiter of questions of statutory interpretation. When the language of the statute in question is clear and unambiguous and does not contradict an evidence legislative purpose, there is no need for statutory construction and the use of interpretative aids. The statute must be applied literally by giving the words their ordinary and plain meaning. E.g., Citizens for Preservation of Waterman Lake v. Davis, R.I., 420 A.2d 53, 57 (1980); Gomes v. Rhode Island State Board of Elections, 120 R.I. 951, 956, 393 A.2d 1088, 1090 (1978). This proposition applies to the statutory provision involved in the case at bar, § 14-1-11.

Section 14-1-11 ¹ provides that "[n]o child shall be ordered detained at the training school, unless there is pending against such child a petition setting forth such facts which would constitute a felony or misdemeanor if committed by an adult." A reading of the statute clearly prohibits incarceration in the Training School of juveniles who have not been charged with delinquent conduct. ²

Dina has never been charged with conduct which would constitute a felony or misdemeanor if committed by an adult. She has only been adjudged dependent and found in contempt for running away from court-ordered placements. ³ This conduct does not place Dina within the exception to the prohibition against detention at the Training School in § 14-1-11. We hold, therefore, that Dina's incarceration at the Training School by order of the Family Court is a violation of §...