Caddo Parish Juvenile Court, Louisiana

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Court

Louisiana
Ballotpedia:Trial Courts

The Caddo Parish Juvenile Court is a juvenile court serving Caddo Parish, Louisiana.

There are four juvenile courts in Louisiana. These courts deal with children under the age of 17. They have jurisdiction over delinquency and criminal cases against children. They also handle adoptions. These courts may share jurisdiction with a family court over some child support cases or cases relating to neglect. District, parish, or city courts exercise jurisdiction over juvenile matters in parishes without a juvenile court.[1][2]

Judges

Former judges

See also

External links

Elections

See also: Louisiana judicial elections

Louisiana is one of 43 states that hold elections for judicial positions. To learn more about judicial selection in Louisiana, click here.

Selection method

See also: Partisan elections

Judges of the Louisiana Justice of the Peace Courts are each elected to six-year terms. The elections for this court are partisan contested elections. To serve on this court, a judge must be a local resident for two years, younger than 70 years old, and have a law degree.[4]

Election rules

Primary election

Judges compete in a primary election against candidates of all parties. If no candidate receives over 50 percent of the vote (a "majority vote"), the top two candidates run against each other in the general election. If a candidate does receive a majority vote in the primary, he or she is declared elected as an unopposed candidate and will not be listed on the general election ballot.[5]

In even-numbered years, Louisiana's primary elections are held in November during the general elections of other states.

For two or more open seats

In the event that candidates are competing for more than one open seat on a court, the majority vote is decided by "dividing the total votes cast for all of the candidates by the number of offices to be filled [and] dividing the result so obtained by two," according to the Secretary of State website. The SOS goes on to give the following example:

1,040 total votes cast ÷ 3 offices to be filled = 346.6
346.6 ÷ 2 = 173.3

In the above example, 174 votes are necessary to win for each of the 3 offices.[5]

General election

A general election is won by obtaining the highest number of votes. In the case of races with two or more open seats, the two or more candidates with the highest votes are declared the winners. If there is a tie, an additional election will be scheduled for the third Saturday after the announcement of the election results.[5]

Footnotes