After Your Disposition Hearing: Important Things to Know

A judge might order you to pay money if there was harm or potential harm to one or more victims in your case. Victims can be individuals or businesses.

It is important for the victims in juvenile justice matters to be acknowledged. The law requires that victims be given an opportunity to receive information about your court proceedings and participate if they wish.

This process focuses on repairing the harm or potential harm caused by a law violation. It involves the victims, offenders, and community members in a process of dialogue and reconciliation. It aims to address the needs of victims, encourage offender accountability, and reintegrate youth offenders back into the community. Some counties have restorative justice programs that allow you to participate.

The law says you can appeal a judgment issued by the juvenile court if your rights were adversely affected (that means there were negative impacts). You have a right to an attorney at no cost to you or your parents. The court will appoint an attorney if you or your parents do not hire an attorney of your choice. Your attorney will have to file your appeal within 30 days of the date the court entered the judgement.

After your case has been closed for a certain period of time, this is the legal process where your juvenile case can be deleted from the court record, as if it never existed. After this happens, you can truthfully say you have no delinquency record or history. This option is only available for certain types of cases. You should talk with your attorney about this.