Bruce L. Mailman of Mailman & Kara LLC at the same time urged the House Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Affairs to pass legislation that will address the problems with the current code – H.B. 16-178, or the Juvenile Justice Act of 2008.
Mailman served as a volunteer on the Superior Court’s juvenile rules committee.
“Although the committee was originally formed to draft a set of juvenile rules for the court, we quickly determined that the existing juvenile code was insufficiently detailed to support a set of court rules,” he said in a letter to the committee chairwoman, Rep. Rosemond B. Santos, R-Saipan.
The existing code, he added, lacks sufficient protection for juveniles, provisions for parental responsibility, and integration with the Public School System’s administrative procedures.
He said the code lacks any detailed provision for “guardians ad litem” for juveniles under the court’s jurisdiction.
“We therefore determined to draft a new code, with the participation of all the government units originally assembled to draft new rules,” he added.
“Ad litem” is a Latin phrase that means “for the lawsuit” or “for the proceeding.”
In law, it refers to a party appointed by a court to act in a lawsuit on behalf of another party — for instance, a child or an incapacitated adult — who is deemed incapable of representing himself. An individual who acts in this capacity is generally called a guardian ad litem.
Mailman said the work of the juvenile rules committee was “very demanding” and required careful consideration of each provision in light of the requirements of each of the social service agencies, PSS and other government components involved with juvenile justice.
He said the core guiding principles of H.B. 16-178 “are accountability, community protection and competency development.”
It was, moreover, reviewed for compliance with federal statutes on juveniles.
Mailman has been frequently appointed by the Superior Court to serve as guardian for juveniles in wardship cases involving suspected neglect or abuse of minors.
“Our existing statute provides inadequate guidance,” he said. “Other U.S. jurisdictions have detailed laws regarding guardians ad litem and, although not all are the same with regard to the guardians’ exact role in the juvenile justice system … all provide guidance that was lacking in the CNMI’s statute.”
Mailman described the bill as a “modern, flexible and comprehensive statute” for the CNMI juvenile justice.
