(a)Non-jury Hearings shall be conducted before a judge or magistrate without a jury, and shall be conducted in an informal manner. (b)Recording All proceedings shall be recorded verbatim by a recording method approved by the county administrative judge. Committee note: The requirement that all juvenile proceedings be recorded verbatim applies regardless of the location of the hearing.
(c)Place of Hearing A hearing may be conducted in open court, in chambers, remotely in conformance with the procedures and requirements in the Rules in Title 21, or elsewhere where appropriate facilities are available. (d)Open and Closed Hearings(1)Exclusion from CINA or Voluntary Placement Hearings A determination of who may or shall be excluded from a CINA or voluntary placement hearing is governed by Code, Courts Article, § 3-810(b). (2)Exclusion from CINS, Delinquency, or Peace Order Hearings A determination of who may be excluded from a CINS, delinquency, or peace order hearing is governed by Code, Courts Article, § 3-8A-13(f). (3)Participation by Nonparties Participation by foster parents, preadoptive parents, caregivers, and attorneys for those individuals is governed by Code, Courts Article, § 3-816.3. Cross reference: Code, Courts Article, § 3-810(b) addresses both mandatory and permissive exclusion of the general public from a CINA or voluntary placement hearing. Code, Courts Article, § 3-8A-13(f) addresses permissive exclusion of the general public from a CINS hearing or certain delinquency or peace order hearings, and requires certain delinquency proceedings to be conducted in open court.
(4)Confidential Information The court shall take appropriate steps to prevent public disclosure of information that is confidential under state or federal law.(e) List of Open Hearings Prior to the convening of court on each day that court is in session, the clerk shall prepare and make available to the public a list of the hearings scheduled for that day that are required by Code, Courts Article, § 3-8A-13(f) to be conducted in open court. The list shall include the full name of each respondent and the time and location of the hearing.(f)Notice(1)Generally Unless the parties are notified in open court and on the record of the date, time, place, and purpose of the next hearing, and except for a hearing on a petition for continued detention or shelter care, the clerk shall issue to each party a notice of the date, time, place, and purpose of each hearing. The notice shall be served in the manner provided by Rule 11107. (2)Timing The notice shall be provided as soon as practicable. It shall be provided at least five days before the hearing unless a different time is provided by law, the five day notice period is waived, or the hearing is: (A) on a petition for emergency medical treatment pursuant to Code, Courts Article, § 3-824(a) or § 3-8A-13(h);(B) on a petition for continued shelter care or detention;(C) a disposition hearing held the same day as the adjudicatory hearing; or(D) an emergency review hearing under Code, Courts Article, § 3-820(d).(g)Consolidation(1)Multiple Petitions Against One Respondent If two or more petitions are filed against a respondent, hearings on the petitions may be consolidated or severed as justice may require. (2)Petitions Filed Against More than One Respondent(A) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, hearings on petitions filed against more than one respondent arising out of the same incident or conditions may be consolidated or severed as justice may require.(B) If prejudice may result to any respondent from a consolidation, the hearing on the petition against that respondent shall be severed and conducted separately.(C) If petitions are filed against a child and an adult, the hearing on the petition filed against the child shall be severed and conducted separately from the adult proceeding.(h)Victims At an adjudicatory hearing in a delinquency action, the judge, magistrate, or clerk shall (1) inquire whether any victim or victim's representative, as defined in Code, Criminal Procedure Article, § 11-104(a), or family member of a victim is present, and (2) cause to be inserted in the case file a list of all such individuals as provided by the State's Attorney's Office. Identifying information regarding those individuals shall be shielded pursuant to the Rules in Title 16, Chapter 900 and Code, Criminal Procedure Article, § 11-301. (i)Admissions Made in Court A party entitled to file a response, whether or not a response was filed, may admit in court and on the record any or all of the allegations in the petition or state an intention not to deny one or more of the allegations. The court shall neither encourage nor discourage an admission or denial. Md. R. Juv. Causes 11-108
Source: This Rule is derived from former Rule 11-110(2021), except that section (i) is derived from former Rule 11-107(2021).
Revised as Maryland Rule of Procedure 908, Nov. 5, 1976, eff. 1/1/1977. Transferred to Rule 11-108, 6/5/1996, eff. 1/1/1997. Amended 6/5/1996, eff. 1/1/1997; amended Nov 9, 2021, eff. 1/1/2022; amended April 21, 2023, eff. 7/1/2023.Committee note: Statutes that govern confidential information include Code, Health-General Article, §§ 4-302 and 4-307, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), 42 U.S.C. § 1320det seq . See also the Rules in Title 16, Chapter 900 (Access to Judicial Records).
Committee note: Code, Courts Article, § 3-8A-27.1(b)(2) requires the court to serve a petition for expungement of a juvenile record on all listed victims and all family members of a listed victim "who are listed in the court file as having attended the adjudication for the case in which the person is seeking expungement." In order to comply with that requirement, the court file must include a list of those individuals.