Does a juvenile department hearing have to be held in private, and who may be let into the courtroom anyway?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In practice material for a juvenile matter, the papers to read are the hearing record or minutes, which show whether the public was excluded, and any written permission granting a named person attendance, since the provision makes the permission the judge's decision.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the rule as written: the hearing is not public, so members of the public have no right to attend, and the only attendance permitted is that the juvenile department judge grants to a person the judge finds appropriate.
Another reading stresses the condition attached to the exception: permission depends on the judge's own finding of what is appropriate, and the provision sets no list of eligible persons or procedure for granting or recording it, so the file must show what the judge decided.
Your judgment
What in the hearing record could show why the judge found a particular person's attendance appropriate, and could that reasoning be tested?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to limit or widen who may be permitted to attend, or if a court decision sets out the standard a juvenile department judge must apply.