(Reports)
A study of selected juveniles committed to youth development centers in North Carolina. The study involved reviewing the court files to determine if the juveniles were committed without legal basis, or the term of commitment was incorrect. The report describes the impetus, methodology and results of the study. During the Project, an "error" was defined as a mistake in the file that could possibly have had an impact on the legality of the commitment or the maximum term of commitment. An "actionable error" was an error that, if corrected, would result in the release of the juvenile or a reduction in the juvenile's maximum term of commitment. The review and investigation phases revealed a total of 24 files (16.4%) with actionable errors, which directly led to an illegal basis or maximum term of commitment that could be corrected by the court. However, because not all of the files with potentially actionable errors were investigated and categorized as actionable or negligible, the true actionable error rate more likely fell between 16.4% and 43.8%.The report also describes initiatives to address the prevention of errors and future models of review.
