In Re Eldridge T.

The juvenile court ordered a ward placed in the custody of the probation officer in anticipation that the ward would be placed with a strict residential program where he could receive counseling and treatment. After the probation department was unable to find a program which would accept the ward and address his needs, the prosecuting attorney petitioned that the previous placement be "modified" to a commitment to the California Youth Authority (CYA), which the probation officer believed was the only placement which could deal with the ward's problems. The juvenile court agreed.

Prior to the enactment of Proposition 21, titled the Gang Violence and Juvenile Crime Prevention Act of 1998 and approved by the voters at the March 7, 2000, Primary Election (Proposition 21), Welfare and Institutions Code section 777 [1] allowed a juvenile court to impose a more restrictive placement—including a commitment to the CYA—based solely on a finding that "the previous disposition has not been effective in the rehabilitation" of the ward. This appeal compels us to conclude that this option is no longer available to a juvenile court; the amendment of section 777 by Proposition 21 now…