In a juvenile protection case, what may the juvenile department judge do about witnesses, expert appraisal, interpretation and translation, and which rules govern how?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In the exercise file we read the juvenile department judge's paper examining a witness or ordering an appraisal, interpretation or translation, the notice or summons served on that person, and any appointment of an interpreter or translator, since each shows which of the provision's steps was taken and by whom.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the provision as granting the juvenile department judge the initiative: the judge may examine witnesses and may order expert appraisal, interpretation and translation, and the Criminal Procedure Act rules on the court's witness examination, appraisal, interpretation and translation then apply so far as they are not contrary to the nature of the protection case.
Another reading stresses the limit written into the reference: only those Criminal Procedure Act provisions survive that fit the nature of the protection case, and the provision itself does not say when a rule falls on the wrong side of that line, nor whether a party may ask for a witness to be examined or an appraisal ordered.
Your judgment
When a Criminal Procedure Act step sits awkwardly with the nature of a protection case, what in the papers could show which side of that line it falls on?
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 name the Criminal Procedure Act provisions applied or to change the limit, or if a court decision explains when a procedural step is contrary to the nature of the protection case.