Present law generally provides that juvenile offenders are no longer under the continuing jurisdiction of the juvenile court upon reaching the age of 19. This bill authorizes juvenile courts to retain jurisdiction over a person until the person reaches 24, if the person is a serious youthful offender (as defined in this bill).
TRANSFER TO CRIMINAL COURT
Present law provides various circumstances under which a juvenile court may transfer a child to criminal court. Generally, the more severe the offense, the younger the age at which transfer is authorized.
Present law provides that the case of a juvenile who is transferred to criminal court must be disposed of as if the juvenile were an adult if the child was:
(1) Less than 14 at the time of the alleged conduct and charged with first degree murder or second degree murder or attempted first or second degree murder;
(2) Fourteen or more but less than 17 at the time of the alleged conduct and charged with the offense of first degree murder, second degree murder, rape, aggravated rape, rape of a child, aggravated rape of a child, aggravated robbery, especially aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, especially aggravated burglary, kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping, especially aggravated kidnapping, commission of an act of terrorism, carjacking, or an attempt to commit any such offenses;
(3) Sixteen or more at the time of the alleged conduct and charged with the offense of robbery or attempt to commit robbery; or
(4) Seventeen or more at the time of the alleged conduct.
This bill modifies (1) and (2) by adding that the case of a juvenile who is transferred to criminal court must be disposed of as if the juvenile were an adult if the child was 14 or more but less than 16 at the time of the alleged conduct and charged with first degree murder or second degree murder or attempted first or second degree murder.
Prior to transferring a child to criminal court, present law requires the court to conduct a probable cause hearing during which the court must consider seven specific factors to determine whether there is probable cause to believe that:
(1) The child committed the delinquent act as alleged;
(2) The child is not committable to an institution for the developmentally disabled or mentally ill; and
(3) The interests of the community require that the child be put under legal restraint or discipline.
This bill establishes different standards for probable cause hearings (most significantly that the court will not be required to consider the seven specific factors specified in present law or make a finding described in (3)), for a child alleged to have committed an offense or engaged in conduct that is designated a criminal offense and the child was 16 or more at the time of the alleged conduct and charged with:
(1) First degree murder or second degree murder or attempted first or second degree murder; or
(2) Any offense for which transfer from juvenile to criminal court is authorized, the offense was committed with a deadly weapon, and the child has been previously adjudicated delinquent for which transfer from juvenile to criminal court is authorized.
A court's determination to transfer or not transfer must be reduced to a written order detailing the court's findings of fact and conclusions of law. Any such order is subject to review by the criminal court upon motion of the child or the prosecution. The full text of this bill specifies procedural requirements for any such review.
This bill specifies that a child who is transferred under these provisions and who was 16 or older at the time of the offense and is subsequently convicted and committed must be housed in a juvenile correctional facility unless the committing court orders commitment to an adult facility. A child so committed to an adult facility must be housed separately and removed from adult inmates.
SERIOUS YOUTHFUL OFFENDERS/BLENDED SENTENCING
This bill requires that a juvenile court classify a child as a serious youthful offender if the juvenile is:
(1) Confined in a youth development center approved, certified, or licensed by the department of children's services, and charged with escape from that center; or
(2) Adjudicated delinquent for:
(A) First or second degree murder, if the child was less than 16 at the time of commission of the offense;
(B) Rape, aggravated rape, rape of a child, aggravated rape of a child, robbery, aggravated robbery, especially aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, especially aggravated burglary, kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping, especially aggravated kidnapping, commission of an act of terrorism, carjacking, aggravated child abuse, or aggravated child neglect or endangerment;
(C) Criminal attempt to commit any of the offenses (A) or (B); or
(D) Any offense involving the use of a deadly weapon during the commission of the offense.
This bill does not prohibit a court from imposing any of the dispositions authorized under present law upon a juvenile classified as a serious youthful offender; provided, that, this bill requires the court to impose a determinate disposition to last until the serious youthful offender's nineteenth birthday which may not be shortened by time credits for good behavior or completion of institutional programs. In addition to the determinate disposition lasting until the serious youthful offender's nineteenth birthday, this bill requires the court to impose an additional disposition to be served after the serious youthful offender turns 19, and which ends on or before the offender's 24th birthday. The minimum additional disposition beyond the serious youthful offender's 19th birthday must be:
(1) Four years if the juvenile is adjudicated delinquent for an act that would be a Class A felony if committed by an adult;
(2) Three years if the juvenile is adjudicated delinquent for an act that would be a Class B felony if committed by an adult; or
(3) One year if the juvenile is adjudicated delinquent for any other act for which classification as a serious youthful offender is required.
A court may stay the additional disposition. If the additional disposition is stayed, then the court is required to conduct a hearing within four months of the serious youthful offender's 19th birthday to review the offender's circumstances and determine whether the stayed additional disposition should be invoked. The full text of this bill specifies five circumstances for which a court will be required to invoke the additional disposition.
The full text of this bill specifies various procedural requirements concerning dispositions for serious youthful offenders.
This bill specifies that a serious youthful offender supervised in a secure facility must be housed separately and removed from the general population.
EFFECTIVE DATE
This bill takes effect on January 1, 2024.
ON AUGUST 28, 2023, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENTS # 2 AND 3, AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 7073, AS AMENDED.
AMENDMENT 2 specifies that, in order for a child to be designated a serious youthful offender under this bill, the child must be 14 years of age or older and must have been adjudicated delinquent for a Class A or B felony.
This amendment clarifies that a juvenile who is subject to blended sentencing must receive a disposition that does not end before the juvenile's 19th birthday and an addition disposition that ends on or before the juvenile's 24th birthday.
This amendment revises the process for a court to invoke stayed additional disposition. In deciding whether to invoke a stayed additional disposition, this amendment requires the court to consider whether the youthful offender has:
(1) Committed another delinquent act;
(2) Engaged in other conduct that creates a substantial safety risk;
(3) Failed to meet the conditions of supervision during the determinate disposition prior to the hearing;
(4) Failed to attend school regularly with passing grades, failed to graduate from high school; or failed to obtain a general educational development certificate; or
(5) Failed to obtain regular employment, if the offender has graduated from high school.
This amendment limits the offenses to which this bill's provisions concerning transfers from juvenile court to criminal court apply to first degree murder or second degree murder or attempted first or second degree murder. This amendment adds that, when a child transferred to criminal court is detained, the juvenile court is required to order confinement in a local juvenile detention facility or a juvenile detention facility with which it contracts, except that the juvenile court may order confinement in an adult detention facility separate and removed from adult detainees if the sheriff affirms to the court that the adult detention facility has the ability to comply with the requirements for detention of juveniles, and that the population of the adult detention facility does not exceed the capacity of the facility. The court having adult criminal jurisdiction may thereafter order detention in an adult detention facility separate and removed from adult detainees; provided, however, that during the period while such child is detained separately from adult detainees, the child must otherwise abide by the same regulations and policies governing conditions of imprisonment that apply to adult detainees who are charged with similar offenses. Similar regulations and policies governing educational opportunities for adults must be implemented for a child so detained, but such regulations and policies do not affect or alter the manner in which a LEA is required to provide educational services to a child under federal law.
AMENDMENT #3 substitutes the term "high school equivalency credential" for "general educational development certificate".

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 37-1-102(b)(5), 37-1-102, 37-1-131(a), 37-1-131, 37-1-134(a)(1)(A)(i), 37-1-134, 37-1-134(a)(1)(A)(ii), 37-1-134(a)(1)(A)(iv), 37-1-159