People v. N.C.(In re N.C.)

*83 This is an appeal from the juvenile court's dispositional order committing minor *631 N.C., born in 2000, to the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) for a maximum period of confinement of nine years following his admission to one count of forcible oral copulation and one count of sexual battery. These counts stem from an incident in which N.C. and another minor, G.K., sexually abused a clearly intoxicated 17-year-old female high school student outside a private house party after a homecoming dance.

On appeal, N.C. challenges his commitment to DJJ as an abuse of the juvenile court's discretion, reasoning there is no evidence this commitment would be of probable benefit to him or that a less restrictive placement would be ineffective or inappropriate. For reasons that follow, we affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On October 20, 2017, a juvenile wardship petition was filed pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 602 1 alleging that minor committed the following offenses: kidnapping for sexual purposes ( Pen. Code, § 209, subd. (b)(1) ) (count one); rape in concert ( Pen. Code, § 264.1 ) (count two); forcible oral copulation in concert ( Pen. Code, § 288a, subd.…