In re E.L. CA3

BACKGROUND

Because a key aim of minor‟s appeal is to demonstrate that the DJJ commitment was

inappropriate, we recite in some detail minor‟s lengthy and continuous record of criminality and

lack of compliance with court and probation orders, as well as the juvenile court‟s measured and

increasingly onerous consequences, which failed to reform minor‟s delinquent and dangerous

behavior. On May 24, 2007, the People filed a delinquency petition alleging minor, then age 13,

had committed a robbery on or about December 19, 2006. An intake report stated minor had

admitted to an officer that he punched a fellow student and took his bicycle, and minor‟s father

reported that minor was a runaway, was a gang “wannabe” and “has recently become infatuated

with playing with fire.”2 Minor failed to appear, and when he was picked up on a warrant June

8, 2007, he stated he had been living on the streets. On July 11, 2007, minor (then 14) admitted

the robbery and was placed on court probation for six months.

On July 23, 2007, the probation department filed a five-count probation violation petition

(VOP), alleging minor left home without permission of his father or the probation officer,…