- Consolidated Laws - Family Court
PART 2
CUSTODY AND DETENTION
Section 720. Detention.
723. Duties of private person before and after taking into
custody.
724. Duties of police officer or peace officer after taking into
custody or on delivery by private person.
725. Summons or warrant on failure to appear.
727. Rules of court authorizing release before filing of
petition.
728. Discharge, release or detention by judge after hearing and
before filing of petition in custody cases.
729. Duration of detention before filing of petition or hearing.
S 720. Detention. 1. No child to whom the provisions of this article
may apply, shall be detained in any prison, jail, lockup, or other place
used for adults convicted of crime or under arrest and charged with a
crime.
2. The detention of a child in a secure detention facility shall not
be directed under any of the provisions of this article.
3. Detention of a person alleged to be or adjudicated as a person in
need of supervision shall be authorized only in a detention facility
certified by the division for youth except as provided in subdivision
four of this section.
4. Whenever detention is authorized and ordered pursuant to this
article, for a person alleged to be or adjudicated as a person in need
of supervision, a family court in a city having a population of one
million or more shall, notwithstanding any other provision of law,
direct detention in a foster care facility established and maintained
pursuant to the social services law. In all other respects, the
detention of such a person in a foster care facility shall be subject to
the identical terms and conditions for detention as are set forth in
this article and in section two hundred thirty-five of this act.
5. Where the person is sixteen years of age or older, the court shall
not order or direct detention under this article, unless the court
determines and states in its order that special circumstances exist to
warrant such detention.
S 723. Duties of private person before and after taking into custody.
(a) Before taking into custody, a private person must inform the person
to be taken into custody of the cause thereof and require him to submit.
(b) After taking into custody, a private person must take the person,
without unnecessary delay, to his home, to a family court judge or
deliver him to a peace officer, who is acting pursuant to his special
duties, or a police officer.
S 724. Duties of police officer or peace officer after taking into
custody or on delivery by private person. (a) If a peace officer or a
police officer takes into custody or if a person is delivered to him
under section seven hundred twenty-three, the officer shall immediately
notify the parent or other person legally responsible for his care, or
the person with whom he is domiciled, that he has been taken into
custody.
(b) After making every reasonable effort to give notice under
paragraph (a), the officer shall
(i) release the child to the custody of his parent or other person
legally responsible for his care upon the written promise, without
security, of the person to whose custody the child is released that he
will produce the child before the family court in that county at a time
and place specified in writing; or
(ii) forthwith and with all reasonable speed take the child directly,
and without his first being taken to the police station house, to the
family court located in the county in which the act occasioning the
taking into custody allegedly was done, unless the officer determines
that it is necessary to question the child, in which case he may take
the child to a facility designated by the chief administrator of the
courts as a suitable place for the questioning of children or, upon the
consent of a parent or other person legally responsible for the care of
the child, to the child`s residence and there question him for a
reasonable period of time; or
(iii) take the child to a place certified by the state division for
youth as a juvenile detention facility for the reception of children.
(c) In the absence of special circumstances, the officer shall release
the child in accord with paragraph (b) (i).
(d) In determining what is a "reasonable period of time" for
questioning a child, the child`s age and the presence or absence of his
parents or other person legally responsible for his care shall be
included among the relevant considerations.
S 725. Summons or warrant on failure to appear. The family court
before which a person failed to produce a child pursuant to a written
promise given under section seven hundred twenty-four may issue a
summons requiring the child and the person who failed to produce him to
appear at the court at a time and place specified in the summons or may
issue a warrant for either or both of them, directing that either or
both be brought to the court at a time and place specified in the
warrant.
S 727. Rules of court authorizing release before filing of petition.
(a) The agency responsible for operating a detention facility or in a
city of one million or more, the agency responsible for operating a
foster care facility, may release a child in custody before the filing
of a petition to the custody of his parents or other relative, guardian
or legal custodian when the events occasioning the taking into custody
appear to involve a petition to determine whether a person is in need of
supervision rather than a petition to determine whether a person is a
juvenile delinquent.
(b) When a release is made under this section such release may, but
need not, be conditioned upon the giving of a recognizance in accord
with section seven hundred twenty-four (b) (i).
(c) If the probation service for any reason does not release a child
under this section, the child shall promptly be brought before a judge
of the court, if practicable, and section seven hundred twenty-eight
shall apply.
S 728. Discharge, release or detention by judge after hearing and
before filing of petition in custody cases. (a) If a child in custody is
brought before a judge of the family court before a petition is filed,
the judge shall hold a hearing for the purpose of making a preliminary
determination of whether the court appears to have jurisdiction over the
child. At the commencement of the hearing, the judge shall advise the
child of his right to remain silent, his right to be represented by
counsel of his own choosing, and of his right to have a law guardian
assigned in accord with part four of article two of this act. He must
also allow the child a reasonable time to send for his parents or other
person legally responsible for his care, and for counsel, and adjourn
the hearing for that purpose.
(b) After hearing, the judge shall order the release of the child to
the custody of his parent or other person legally responsible for his
care if the court does not appear to have jurisdiction.
(c) An order of release under this section may, but need not, be
conditioned upon the giving of a recognizance in accord with sections
seven hundred twenty-four (b) (i).
(d) Upon a finding of facts and reasons which support a detention
order pursuant to this section, the court shall also determine and state
in any order directing detention:
(i) whether continuation of the child in the child`s home would be
contrary to the best interests of the child based upon, and limited to,
the facts and circumstances available to the court at the time of the
hearing held in accordance with this section; and
(ii) where appropriate, whether reasonable efforts were made prior to
the date of the court hearing that resulted in the detention order, to
prevent or eliminate the need for removal of the child from his or her
home or, if the child had been removed from his or her home prior to the
court appearance pursuant to this section, where appropriate, whether
reasonable efforts were made to make it possible for the child to safely
return home.
S 729. Duration of detention before filing of petition or hearing. No
person may be detained under this article for more than seventy-two
hours or the next day the court is in session, whichever is sooner,
without a hearing under section seven hundred twenty-eight.
