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The final stage of a juvenile court delinquency proceeding is referred to as a “disposition.” At this stage, a child who has been adjudicated delinquent is brought before the juvenile court for a subsequent hearing regarding what appropriate action should be taken. Before the formal disposition hearing, the court service unit and the probation staff prepare a complete social history and recommend an appropriate disposition for the child.
At the disposition hearing, the court considers the child's social history and reviews the staff recommendations and hears evidence or arguments from the child or his attorney as to what appropriate action should be taken. The juvenile court judge has broad dispositional discretion, which ranges from simply warning and releasing the child to formally committing the child to the Department of Juvenile Justice of the Department of Corrections. A child who is only determined to be in “need of services” and is not found to be delinquent may not be committed to the Department of Corrections.
In Virginia's juvenile courts, all of the circumstances surrounding the child's life and the offense are to be considered in formulating a disposition, which should be designed to further the best interests of the child and the community.