The bill amends Section 8-10-23.1 of the General Laws in Chapter 8-10, titled "Family Court," to establish a full-time juvenile hearing board coordinator at the family court responsible for providing support and assistance to municipal juvenile hearing boards across Rhode Island. The coordinator's duties include coordinating with local municipal police departments, establishing and maintaining a statewide community service program, providing education and training to juvenile hearing board members, collecting and analyzing data, and assisting municipal juvenile hearing boards in partnership with nonprofit organizations engaged in juvenile services.

The bill mandates that any juvenile charged for the first time with a misdemeanor offense shall be referred to the juvenile hearing board in the municipality where the alleged offense occurred, unless the juvenile and their parent or legal guardian refuse participation. This referral applies only to individual juveniles and does not extend to offenses committed jointly or collectively.

Municipalities are granted the authority to create their own juvenile hearing boards. If a municipality does not have a hearing board, it may enter into a mutual agreement or memorandum of understanding with a neighboring municipality that has an established juvenile hearing board for the purpose of hearing and resolving eligible juvenile matters. If no neighboring municipality has a hearing board, the municipality may enter into an agreement with the geographically nearest municipality that maintains an established juvenile hearing board, as determined by the family court.

Each municipal police department and juvenile hearing board is required to provide an annual report by January 31 of each year to the family court and members of the general assembly representing their jurisdiction. This report must include the number of juveniles who appeared before the juvenile hearing board, the offenses charged, the outcomes of each case, demographic information (age, gender, race, and ethnicity), the number of re-arrests for each juvenile, and the number of times the juvenile hearing board met during the preceding year. The report must ensure that the names, dates of birth, or other identifying information of the juveniles are not included.

The act will take effect upon passage.

Statutes affected:
2940: 8-10-23.1