In re M.S. CA3

BACKGROUND

In 2019, a juvenile wardship petition was filed against M.S. under Welfare and Institutions Code section 602,1 alleging that he committed a lewd and lascivious act on a 13-year-old child. (Pen. Code, § 288, subd. (a).) The juvenile court sustained the petition after M.S. admitted to committing a reasonably related offense—a misdemeanor violation of Penal Code former section 288a, subdivision (b)(1) (now Penal Code section 287, subdivision (b)(1)). (Stats. 2018, ch. 423, § 49.) In a 2019 disposition, the court placed M.S. on probation for six months under section 725, subdivision (a) without making him a ward of the court and ordered him to participate in a treatment program on sexual boundaries. (See § 725, subd. (a) [authorizing a juvenile court to place a minor on probation “for a period not to exceed six months” without adjudging the minor a ward of the court].) Two months later, in January 2020, the juvenile court modified its probation conditions after receiving a psychological evaluation and recommendation from the probation officer. The probation officer thought the ordered program on sexual boundaries would be insufficient given M.S.’s alleged conduct, which…