The Intervention Function Introduction This chapter concerns interventions into the lives of juveniles and their families by public officials such as police officers, child protective services, welfare, school, and other public health, mental health, and social services personnel, in response to apparent neglect or abuse, noncriminal misbehavior, delinquent conduct, medical emergencies, and/or family crises. The term "intervention" is meant to indicate the moment the public official makes contact with the youth or family. It is not synonymous with referral to the family court or removal of juveniles from their home. Though one result of intervention may be placing a child in custody and referring the matter to family court for adjudication, intervention ordinarily will be more closely linked to the prevention activities described in the previous chapter. Hence, intervention is simply the point of contact precipitated by specifically defined conduct by or involving a juvenile and the actions which immediately follow that contact. This definition of intervention reflects current practices. Although limited to contacts based on delinquent conduct, a number of studies have shown that most interventions do not result in referral of the matter to the intake unit and family court. For example, of the juveniles actually arrested because of an alleged delinquent act, an average of 30 percent to 45 percent are either counseled and released or referred to community services. See, e.g., M. Klein and K. Teilmann, Pivotal Ingredients of Police Juvenile Diversion Programs 9 (LEAA, 1976); W. Webster, Crime in the United States: 1978, 228 (1979); President's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, Task Force Report: Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime, 18 (1967). In some police departments the counsel/community referral rate may exceed 70 percent. Klein and Teilmann, supra at 10. While intervention practices affect hundreds of thousands of juveniles and their families each year, there have been comparatively few guideposts to assist law enforcement officers and child welfare, protective services, school, and other public social services personnel in determining whether to refer a juvenile or family to the intake unit and whether to take a juvenile into custody. The standards recommended in this chapter identify the basic principles on which to base intervention decisions, and propose procedures to improve the consistency of those decisions, increase the accountability of the decision makers, and assure the fairness of the intervention process. The chapter is divided into three major sections. The first delineates the circumstances in which intervention is appropriate. Standards 2.11-2.13. While they are keyed to the recommendations regarding the jurisdiction of the family court, the criteria for intervention are necessarily broader, since, as is noted above, referral to the intake unit for possible submission to the family court is only one of the alternatives available upon intervention. Cf. Standards 3.111-3.113. For example, a police officer or protective services worker may intervene when a child is alone and in need of immediate medical care, even though the harm or threatened harm does not fall within the definition of neglect and abuse set forth in Standard 3.113. However, the standards make clear that except in medical emergencies, services should not be provided on other than a voluntary basis except upon an order of the family court issued following completion of the procedures described in the chapter on adjudication. The second series of standards focuses on intervention by law enforcement officers. Standards 2.21-2.253. Since police officers are often the first societal agents who must deal with accidents, emergencies, family crises, and criminal conduct, the standards set forth explicit guidelines for determining whether to refer matters to the intake unit following intervention, Standards 2.221-2.223, and whether to take a juvenile into custody. Standards 2.231-2.234. While the conduct leading to intervention varies, the types of options available are similar in delinquency, noncriminal misbehavior, and |