{"data":{"id":"us-mt/41-5-102","jurisdiction":"us-mt","citation":"41-5-102","heading":"Declaration of purpose.","body":"The Montana Youth Court Act must be interpreted and construed to effectuate the following express legislative purposes:\n(1) to preserve the unity and welfare of the family whenever possible and to provide for the care, protection, and wholesome mental and physical development of a youth coming within the provisions of the Montana Youth Court Act;\n(2) to prevent and reduce youth delinquency through a system that does not seek retribution but that provides:\n(a) immediate, consistent, enforceable, and avoidable consequences of youths' actions;\n(b) a program of supervision, care, rehabilitation, detention, competency development, and community protection for youth before they become adult offenders;\n(c) in appropriate cases, restitution as ordered by the youth court; and\n(d) that, whenever removal from the home is necessary, the youth is entitled to maintain ethnic, cultural, or religious heritage whenever appropriate;\n(3) to achieve the purposes of subsections (1) and (2) in a family environment whenever possible, separating the youth from the parents only when necessary for the welfare of the youth or for the safety and protection of the community;\n(4) to provide judicial procedures in which the parties are ensured a fair, accurate hearing and recognition and enforcement of their constitutional and statutory rights.","path":["TITLE 41. MINORS","CHAPTER 5. YOUTH COURT ACT","Part 1. General"],"source_url":"https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0410/chapter_0050/part_0010/section_0020/0410-0050-0010-0020.html","current_through":"Montana Code Annotated 2025","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T04:55:09Z","sha256":"7047ea8104259a2667bcf4bec956dbb446fd4057dd0e98c0ff63224021da0f89","source_id":"us-mt","stale":false,"prev":"us-mt/41-5-101","next":"us-mt/41-5-103"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}