Title 5, Judicial Procedure

(a) No admissions or statements of a child made while in custody to law enforcement officers or made to the Attorney General or employees of the Youth Services Administration during the processing of the case shall be admissible in evidence against the child unless the government…

(a) A law enforcement officer taking a child into custody shall notify the parents, guardian or custodian of the child or other person responsible for his care as soon as possible, and with all reasonable speed:(1) release the child to his parents, guardian, custodian or other pe…

(a) A child alleged to be delinquent shall not be placed in detention care prior to a fact finding hearing unless it appears from available information that detention is required and:(1) the child is a fugitive; or(2) the child requests protection in writing in circumstances that…

(a) A child alleged to be delinquent may be detained, pending court hearing, in the following places:(1) Detention home operated or licensed by the Youth Services Administration as specified in Title 3, section 1167.(2) Any other suitable place designated by the court provided th…

(a) If the child is not released as provided in Title 5, section 2513, a detention hearing must be held before the court no later than forty-eight hours, excluding Sundays, after the child is placed in detention. (b) Prompt notice of the detention hearing, stating the time, place…

(a) All hearings under this subchapter shall be dealt with by the Family Division and shall be heard without a jury. All hearings and proceedings shall be recorded either by stenographic notes, or by electronic, mechanical or other appropriate means. (b) The parties shall be advi…

(a) After a complaint has been filed pursuant to this subchapter, the court may direct that a predisposition study be made by the appropriate agency, authorized by law, the results of which study shall be contained in a report submitted in writing to the court. The study shall in…

(a) At any time after the filing of a delinquency or person in need of supervision complaint and before the entry of an adjudication order, the court may, on motion of the Attorney General or of counsel for the child, suspend the proceedings and place the child under supervision …

(a) An order of disposition or other adjudication in proceedings under this subchapter shall not be deemed a conviction of crime or impose any civil disabilities ordinarily resulting from a conviction or operate to disqualify the child in any civil services application or appoint…

(a) In disposition hearings all relevant evidence, including oral and written reports, may be received by the court and may be relied upon to the extent of its probative value. The parties shall be afforded a reasonable opportunity to examine and controvert oral or written report…

The court, before committing a child as delinquent to a residential institution, shall first temporarily commit such child to the Youth Services Administration for a period not to exceed forty-five days for evaluation, and the Youth Services Administration shall make a recommenda…

(a) Evaluations shall include but not be limited to:(a) a complete physical, psychological, and, if needed, a psychiatric examination;(b) an investigation and consideration of family and community environment and other facts in the background of the person concerned that might re…

(a) The period of probation may be for a determinate period of time or an indeterminate period of time until the child has attained the age of 19 years. The Family Division of the court may terminate probation and discharge the child at any time if warranted by the conduct of the…

(a) A child on probation incident to an adjudication as a delinquent or person in need of supervision who violates a term of his probation may be proceeded against in a probation revocation hearing. (b) A proceeding to revoke probation shall be commenced by the filing of a compla…

(a) A child who has been transferred from the Family Division to another court of competent jurisdiction may be sentenced or committed to the custody of the Youth Services Administration until the child reaches his eighteenth birthday and then be transferred to the Bureau of Corr…

(a) Law enforcement records and files concerning a child shall be kept separate from the records and files of arrest of adults. Unless a charge of delinquency is transferred for criminal prosecution, such records and files shall not be open to public inspection nor their contents…

(a) Youth Services Administration records and files shall only be open to inspection by consent of the Family Division to persons having a legitimate interest therein. All information obtained and social records prepared in the discharge of official duty by an employee of the You…

(a) The court shall make and keep records of all cases brought before it under this subchapter and shall devise and cause to be printed such forms as may be required for social, medical, psychological and legal records, including reports of preliminary inquiries, predispositional…

(a) Fingerprints and photographs shall be taken of a child taken into custody for any act which would be a felony if committed by an adult. If such act would be a misdemeanor if committed by an adult, photographs and fingerprints may be taken; provided further that if the child i…

(a) On motion by a person who has been the subject of a complaint filed under this chapter or on the court's own motion, the court may vacate its order and findings and order the sealing of the legal and social records of the court, Youth Services Administration, and of any other…

The Family Division of the Superior Court and the Virgin Islands Police Department shall release the names of minors fourteen years and older, and their parents, as part of the public record, whenever the minor is adjudicated delinquent for committing an act which would be a felo…

The public policy of this territory is to protect children whose health and welfare may be adversely affected through abuse and neglect; to strengthen the family and to make the home safe for children by enhancing the parental capacity for good care; to provide a temporary or per…

(a) When any physician, hospital personnel engaged in the admission, examination, care or treatment of persons, nurse, dentist or any other medical or behavioral health professional, school teacher or other school personnel, social service worker, day-care worker or other child-c…

(a) Reports of child abuse, sexual abuse or neglect made pursuant to this subchapter shall be made immediately by telephone or otherwise to the U.S. Virgin Islands Police Department (V.I.P.D.) or to the Department of Social Welfare. The U.S. Virgin Islands Police Department (V.I.…

Any person required to report cases of child abuse, sexual abuse and neglect, may take or cause to be taken color photographs of the areas of trauma visible on a child and, if medically indicated, cause to be performed radiological examinations of the child. Any photographs or X-…

(a) The Department of Social Welfare shall receive or arrange for the receipt of all reports of alleged child abuse, sexual abuse or neglect; provide or arrange for emergency temporary care and protection of victims of alleged child abuse, sexual abuse or neglect; and within 24 h…

Any person, official or institution participating in good faith in any act permitted or required by this subchapter shall be immune from any civil or criminal liability that otherwise might result by reason of such actions.

The privileged quality of communications between husband and wife and between any professional person and his patient or his client, except that between attorney and client, is hereby abrogated in situations involving alleged child abuse, sexual abuse or neglect. Such privileged …

(a) Any person, official or institution required by this subchapter to report a case of alleged child abuse, sexual abuse or neglect, or to perform any other act, who knowingly fails to do so, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned …

(a) In order to protect the rights of the child and his parent or guardian, all records concerning reports of child abuse, sexual abuse or neglect, made to the government of the Virgin Islands and all records generated as a result of such reports, shall be confidential, except as…

Within available funding and as appropriate, the Department of Social Welfare shall conduct a public education program in order to encourage maximum reporting of alleged child abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. To the extent possible, such education programs shall include informati…

In every case of child abuse or neglect the court shall appoint counsel for the child to act in the role of guardian ad litem. Such counsel shall be willing and competent by training or experience in representing the interests of a child in such proceedings. Guardian ad litem sha…

Any party to the proceedings may petition the court for appointment of experts, at public expense for independent evaluation of the child or the respondents or to evaluate the recommendations of the investigating agency.

(a) A child shall not be removed from his home prior to an adjudicatory hearing on the issue of abuse and neglect unless the child is in imminent danger of death or serious injury. (b) Any physician, law enforcement officer or social worker of the Department of Social Welfare sha…

(a) The court may issue a warrant directing the person responsible for the welfare of the child to be brought before the court, when a petition or complaint is filed with the court under this chapter and it appears that:(1) the summons cannot be served; or(2) the summoned person …

(a) At any time prior to an adjudicatory hearing and upon the application by the respondent for an order returning the child temporarily removed, the court shall hold a hearing:(a) if there has not been a hearing on the removal of the child at which the respondent was present or …

(a) Prior to or at trial, upon the motion of any party and with the consent of all parties, and upon such conditions as may be agreeable to all parties, the court may, at its discretion, order that the proceeding be “continued in contemplation of dismissal”. (b) A continuance in …

(a) Except as provided pursuant to section 2544 of this title, abuse and neglect proceedings shall be instituted with the filing of a written petition or complaint giving with particularity all factual and other allegations relied upon asserting that a child is abused or neglecte…

(a) In disposition hearings all relevant evidence, including oral and written reports, may be received by the court and may be relied upon to the extent of its probative value. The parties shall be afforded a reasonable opportunity to examine reports prepared by the Department of…

(a) As used in this section, the term:(1) “Court” means the Family Division of the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands.(2) “Department” means the Department of Human Services.(3) “Reasonable efforts” means the exercise of due diligence and care by the Department to utilize all a…

(a) If an order of disposition from a petition alleging abuse or neglect releases a child to the custody of his parents, guardian or other persons responsible for his care, or continues him in such legal custody, the court may place the person having custody of the child, except …

(a) The court may make an order of protection in assistance of, or as a condition of, any other order authorized under this subchapter. The order of protection may set forth reasonable conditions of behavior to be observed for a specified period by any person who is before the co…

In placing a child under the guardianship or legal custody of an individual or of a private agency or institution, and in granting adoption, the court shall whenever practicable select a person or agency or institution governed by persons of the same religious faith as that of th…

(a) A dispositional order authorized pursuant to section 2549 of this title shall remain in force for one year unless the court:(1) in the order authorizes the Department of Social Welfare to terminate the status or conditions sooner if the purposes of the order have been achieve…

The court may appoint a person from a Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Program to represent the interest of abused and neglected children in court proceedings. The court will by court order, court rule, or other written agreement with a CASA Program, define the working re…

(a) The Department of Human Services may petition the court to allow an investigator investigating child abuse and neglect matters to request information from the prescription drug monitoring database established in 19 V.I.C. § 635b. (b) The court may grant a petition under this …