Tribe: Muckleshoot Indian Tribe
7.06.020 Informal Conference
a) The probation officer shall, during the course of the preliminary investigation, conduct an informal conference to include:
1) The juvenile;
2) The juvenile’s parent(s);
3) The juvenile’s attorney, if the juvenile has legal counsel; and
4) Any person providing services to the juvenile or the juvenile’s parent(s), so long as the juvenile, the juvenile’s parent and the probation officer are in agreement on that person’s participation.
b) Such an informal conference shall not be required where the probation officer determines it would not be in the juvenile’s best interest, due to domestic violence in the family, neglect or abuse of the juvenile by a parent, or other circumstances where such an informal conference might reasonably jeopardize the health, safety or welfare of the juvenile or of another family member.
c) The purpose of the informal conference shall be to identify and discuss services, interventions, agreements to other alternatives which would render the filing of a delinquency petition unnecessary.
d) To the extent possible, the informal conference shall be treated as a non-adversarial effort to resolve the issues presented by the case, without intervention by the court.
e) Whenever possible, participants in the informal conference should meet in person, but may when necessary and expedient meet by telephone.
f) Statements made by the juvenile at the informal conference shall not be admissible in any other subsequent hearing or proceeding as evidence that the juvenile committed the delinquent act, but may be considered at a disposition hearing.
7.06.030 Attendance and Rights at an Informal Conference.
a) At the start of the informal conference, the probation officer shall inform the juvenile and the juvenile’s parent(s):
1) Of their rights under this code;
2) Of the nature and purpose of the informal conference; and
3) That participation in the informal conference is voluntary.
b) The probation officer shall conduct the informal conference:
1) Without the participation of the juvenile, if the juvenile declines to attend or participate; or
2) Without the participation of the juvenile’s parent(s), if:
i. The juvenile’s parent(s) declines to attend or to participate; and
ii. The juvenile’s parent(s) consents to the juvenile’s participation.
c) If the juvenile declines to attend or to participate directly in the informal conference, counsel for the juvenile may, to the extent that such efforts are consistent with counsel’s professional and ethical obligations to the juvenile:
1) Attend and participate in the informal conference on behalf of the juvenile; and
2) Otherwise confer with the probation officer to further the purposes of the informal conference.
Read Full Text of Muckleshoot Tribal Code. Title 7 Juvenile Delinquency Code. 7.06.020 Informal Conference & 7.06.030 Attendance and Rights at an Informal Conference.