## Facts

- L.A.M., a minor, was previously adjudicated a child in need of supervision (CINS) after repeated running away and truancy.
- After the initial CINS adjudication, the court placed her in various settings, including detention, release to her parents, and later foster care with counseling.
- The court issued clear placement-related orders and expressly warned L.A.M. that leaving the foster home without notifying specified adults would result in incarceration.
- L.A.M. repeatedly left foster/receiving placements without permission and contrary to court orders.
- The State pursued criminal contempt based on willful disobedience of the court’s orders.
- The superior court adjudicated L.A.M. a delinquent child on the theory that her willful violations constituted criminal contempt under Alaska law, thereby permitting institutional placement.
- L.A.M. appealed the delinquency adjudication to the Alaska Supreme Court.

## Issues

1. Whether a minor previously adjudicated CINS may be prosecuted for criminal contempt for willfully disobeying juvenile court orders and, on that basis, be adjudicated delinquent and institutionalized.
2. Whether using criminal contempt to support delinquency unlawfully circumvents limits on institutionalizing a CINS minor for noncriminal conduct.
3. What limits, if any, must constrain the use of contempt so delinquency does not rest solely on status-based or noncriminal behavior.

## Decision

- The Alaska Supreme Court affirmed the delinquency adjudication.
- The court held that a CINS minor may be prosecuted for criminal contempt for willful disobedience of a lawful court order.
- The court accepted criminal contempt as an offense that can support a delinquency adjudication when the contemptuous conduct would be criminal if committed by an adult.
- The court concluded that delinquency and resulting institutional placement were not barred merely because the minor’s earlier involvement was through CINS proceedings.

## Legal Principles

- A juvenile court may treat willful disobedience of a clear, lawful court order as criminal contempt.
- A delinquency adjudication may be based on criminal contempt where the contempt is an offense that would be punishable as a crime if committed by an adult.
- Institutional placement is not permitted based on CINS status alone, but may be permitted when the minor’s conduct is properly classified as delinquent-level criminality.
- To avoid converting noncriminal status conduct into delinquency, contempt-based delinquency requires a lawful, specific order and a willful violation meeting the adult-crime equivalency requirement.

## Conclusion

The Alaska Supreme Court upheld treating a CINS minor’s willful disobedience of clear juvenile court orders as criminal contempt and, because such contempt would be criminal if committed by an adult, affirmed a delinquency adjudication permitting institutional placement.


L.A.M. v. State, 547 P.2d 827 (Alaska 1976)