After J. V., a minor, confessed to aggravated assault, the juvenile court issued an order committing him to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice the “Department” and confining him to a youth development center for five years. The trial court denied J. V.’s subsequent motion to commute or reduce his sentence, finding that Georgia law prohibits the modification of an order of commitment of a child once physical custody of the child has been transferred to the Department. For reasons that follow, we affirm. OCGA § 15-11-63 sets forth designated felony acts for which a child may be placed in restrictive custody.1 Aggravated assault is one such designated felony act.2 In determining whether to place the child in restrictive custody, the juvenile court considers several factors, including the best interests of the child and the nature of the offense.3 If the juvenile court orders restrictive custody, “the child shall be placed in the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice for an initial period of five years” and “shall initially be confined in a youth development center for a period set by the order, to be not less than 12 or more than 60 months.”4 The child may not be released from a youth development center or transferred to a less restrictive facility during this period, “unless by court order.”5 And “the child shall not be discharged from the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice unless a motion therefor is granted by the court, which motion shall not be made prior to the expiration of one year of custody.”6 The language of OCGA § 15-11-63 thus suggests both that the juvenile court could order a child’s early release from a youth development center to a less-restrictive form of custody and that a child or the Department could move for early discharge from custody.
This language, at first glance, appears to conflict with that of OCGA § 15-11-40 b, which sets forth the grounds for modification or vacation of juvenile court orders and provides that an order of the court may also be changed, modified, or vacated on the ground that changed circumstances so require in the best interest of the child, except an order committing a delinquent child to the Department of Juvenile Justice, after the child has been transferred to the physical custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice. Applying this statute, we have previously held that an order committing a child to the custody of the Department for a designated felony act could not be modified to change the terms of confinement once the Department has taken physical custody of the child.7
