In re Harrison

• Decision Date: 29 April 2010
• Docket Number: No. 2009-22-M.P.,2009-22-M.P.
• Citation: 992 A.2d 990
• Parties: In re Paul HARRISON.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

992 A.2d 990

In re Paul HARRISON.

No. 2009-22-M.P.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

April 29, 2010.

Aaron L. Weisman, Department of Attorney General, for Petitioner.

Marie T. Roebuck, Office of The Public Defender, for Respondent.

Present: SUTTELL, C.J., GOLDBERG, FLAHERTY, and ROBINSON, JJ.

OPINION

Justice FLAHERTY, for the Court.

The question before this Court is whether a Family Court justice retains the authority to place a juvenile in a facility other than the Training School when that juvenile has been certified under G.L. 1956 § 14-1-7.3 and sentenced to serve the period of the child's minority "in the training school for youth in a facility to be designated by the court." We granted the state's request for review by writ of certiorari of a Family Court order placing a minor at Ocean Tides Residential Treatment Program (Ocean Tides), a facility dedicated to the treatment of male adolescents. This case came before the Supreme Court for oral argument on February 9, 2010, pursuant to an order directing both parties to appear and show cause why the issues raised by this petition should not summarily be decided. After hearing the arguments of counsel and examining the memoranda filed by the parties, we are of the opinion that cause has not been shown and that the issues raised by this petition should be decided at this time. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the order of the Family Court.

I Facts and Travel

In December 2007, when he was sixteen years old, Paul Harrison sexually assaulted a young woman, whom he described as a friend.¹ Because of the serious nature of the allegations, the state requested that the Family Court waive its jurisdiction over Harrison, so that he could be tried as an adult.² But, on June 16, 2008, after an agreement apparently had been reached, the state requested that Harrison's waiver hearing be converted to a certification hearing. A Family Court justice certified him and, after Harrison pleaded nolo contendere to first-degree sexual assault, the justice sentenced him to fifteen years imprisonment at the Adult Correctional Institutions, with five years to be served at the Training School and ten years suspended.³

On January 12, 2009, Harrison appeared before the Family Court for a periodic review of his progress. At that hearing, the state and the Public Defender agreed that Harrison was doing well at the Training School; he had received a GED, had made progress in his sex-offender treatment, and he was free of serious disciplinary citations. The Public Defender, citing the impressive nature of Harrison's progress, suggested that when the court next reviewed his case a few months later, it might consider him for a "step-down program," such as a group-home placement.⁴ When the Family Court justice inquired about which program might be appropriate, the Public Defender offered several possibilities, and she also mentioned that Ocean Tides had earlier accepted him into its program. Without further inquiry, the Family Court justice ordered Harrison's immediate transfer to Ocean Tides as a Temporary Community Placement (TCP). He explained to Harrison, "young man, you're doing very well. That's why I gave you a break, you understand?"

On January 16, 2009, the state filed a motion asking the court to reconsider its order, which the Family Court justice denied. On January 21, 2009, the state requested a stay in Family Court.⁵ It also filed a petition for certiorari and a motion to stay the Family Court justice's order in this Court. We granted the state's petition for writ of certiorari, and on February 9, 2009, we stayed the Family Court's order, noting that the justice "neither considered any testimony or other evidence nor offered any legal rationale in rendering his decision." As a result, we remanded the matter for an evidentiary hearing about Harrison's appropriate placement and ordered the Family Court justice to issue a decision that contained "the necessary findings of fact and rulings on pertinent legal issues raised by the parties' counsel."

On February 23, 2009, on remand, the Family Court heard testimony from Brother Joseph Shafer, director of social services for Ocean Tides. He testified that Harrison was a good candidate for the facility's sex-offender program. He also said that Ocean Tides previously had accepted certified youths into its program as TCPs, including one who had been convicted of attempted murder. The state presented no evidence whatsoever at the hearing, and it dedicated the majority of its cross-examination of Brother Shafer to establishing that Ocean Tides was not a locked facility and that it had less rigorous supervision than the Training School.

The Family Court justice issued his decision on February 25, 2009. After finding Brother Shafer's testimony to be credible, the justice addressed the legal arguments of the parties. He rejected the state's argument that transferring a certified minor to Ocean Tides as a TCP amounted to a modification of the minor's sentence as set forth in § 14-1-42.⁶ Rather, the Family Court justice determined that the "juvenile is still under sentence at the Rhode Island Training School" even when he is sent to Ocean Tides as a TCP. He further found that the sex-offender program at Ocean Tides was "particularly suited for this individual." Accordingly, the Family Court justice ordered Harrison to be sent to Ocean Tides as a TCP. We stayed that order on February 27, 2009, but vacated the stay on March 12, 2009, and ordered that Harrison be placed at Ocean Tides.⁷

II Standard of Review

"When presented with questions of statutory interpretation this Court engages in a de novo review." State v. LaRoche, 925 A.2d 885, 887 (R.I.2007) (citing State v. Oliveira, 882 A.2d 1097, 1110 (R.I. 2005)). "As we have noted previously, `when the language of a statute is clear and unambiguous, this Court must interpret the statute literally and must give the words of the statute their plain and ordinary meanings.'" Id. (quoting Oliveira, 882 A.2d at 1110). "Moreover, when we examine an unambiguous statute, `there is no room for statutory construction and we must apply the statute as written.'" Id. "It is only when confronted with an unclear or ambiguous statutory provision that this Court will examine the statute in its entirety to discern the legislative intent and purpose behind the provision." Id. at 888 (citing Oliveira, 882 A.2d at 1110). "When language of a statute can be given more than one interpretation, `legislative intent must be gathered from the entire statute and not from an isolated provision.'" Arnold v. Lebel, 941 A.2d 813, 819 (R.I.2007) (quoting State v. Caprio, 477 A.2d 67, 70 (R.I.1984)). Moreover, "no construction of a statute should be adopted that would demote any significant phrase or clause to mere surplusage." State v. Clark, 974 A.2d 558, 572 (R.I.2009) (quoting State v. DeMagistris, 714 A.2d 567, 573 (R.I.1998)).

III Discussion

The overarching purpose of the statutory scheme relating to juvenile justice is to rehabilitate miscreants who have not reached the age of majority. See In re Richard A., 946 A.2d 204, 210 (R.I.2008) ("The primary goals of the juvenile-justice system are protection, rehabilitation, and treatment of the offender, whereas the criminal system seeks to punish the offender."); State v. Day, 911 A.2d 1042, 1048 (R.I.2006) ("The philosophy underlying the movement to create juvenile justice systems, separate from the adult criminal system, stemmed from the belief that people under a certain age inherently were less culpable than were adults."). Those minors who have committed an act that would be considered to be a crime if committed by an adult may be adjudicated wayward⁸ or delinquent.⁹See § 14-1-5. In such cases, the Family Court has at its disposal a wide range of dispositions to accomplish its statutory mandate of rehabilitation, ranging from probation and counseling at one end of the spectrum to incarceration at the Training School at the other.

Yet, the delinquency and waywardness process is not an adequate means of addressing all juvenile wrongdoing. There are also those youths who have perpetrated such heinous acts or who may be so incorrigible, even at a young age, that they are not amenable to rehabilitation within the juvenile system. To protect society from these more or less hopeless cases, the Family Court may waive a child from its jurisdiction so that he may be tried as an adult and punished accordingly upon a finding of guilt. Section 14-1-7.1. In 1990, as a middle ground between these polar opposites, the General Assembly also provided for certification, the process selected for Harrison.

The certification process is set forth in chapter 1 of title 14 of the General Laws. Section 14-1-7(c) permits the attorney general to institute a certification hearing with respect to any minor "who is charged with an offense which would constitute a felony if committed by an adult." At such a hearing, the attorney general must demonstrate that (1) "probable cause exists to believe that the offense charged has been committed and that the child charged has committed it," (2) "the child's past history of offenses, history of treatment, or the heinous or premeditated nature of the offense is such that the court finds that the interests of society or the protection of the public necessitate the certification," and (3) "the jurisdiction of the court but for the exercise of certification is in all likelihood an insufficient period of time in which to accomplish a rehabilitation of the child." Section 14-1-7.2. Certification allows the minor to be tried as an adult in Family Court, but affords the justice with broader options when he imposes a sentence.¹⁰ In the case before us, the Family Court justice opted to "impose a sentence upon the child for a period in excess of the child's nineteenth birthday to the adult correctional institutions, with the period of the...