On Aug. 10, in State in the Interest of N.H., the New Jersey Supreme Court held that a juvenile is entitled to full discovery of the state’s case at a waiver hearing that occurs upon the prosecutor’s endeavor to have the defendant tried as an adult in the Law Division. Because of the importance of the waiver hearing, which occurs in the Family Part where the juvenile complaint is pending, the Supreme Court exercised its “supervisory authority under the State Constitution,” and held that full disclosure of all discovery in the prosecutor’s file is necessary, subject to any appropriate protective order.
We agree with the court and are somewhat surprised that it has taken so long, since addressing the significance of a waiver hearing in State v. R.G.D., 108 N.J. 1 (1987). Under the 1982 waiver statute, the focus of the waiver had begun to move from the ability to rehabilitate a delinquent by the time of his 19th birthday, to concern about public safety and protection of the public from crimes of violence. The Legislature by then had placed the burden on the juvenile to prove the prospect of rehabilitation by age 19 and that it “substantially outweigh[ed] the reasons for waiver” in cases like N.H., who was charged with murder. But as Chief Justice Rabner suggested in N.H., by 1987, full discovery seemed to be the protocol in these cases. See State in the Interest of K.A.W., 104 N.J. 112, 121 (1986) (“Even though the Juvenile Code contains no provision for discovery, the custom almost invariable in matters such as this [involving allegations of sexual assault] is for the State to open its file to the juvenile…” so that there was no need to amend the rules regarding discovery at the time).
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