S 0906 General Bill, By Jackson
 A Bill to amend Section 20-7-2170, as amended, Code of Laws of South Carolina,
 1976, relating to the commitment of a child to the Department of Juvenile
 Justice, so as to provide that children under twelve years of age may not be
 temporarily committed for the purpose of evaluation.

   12/06/93  Senate Prefiled
   12/06/93  Senate Referred to Committee on Corrections and Penology
   01/11/94  Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-34
   01/11/94  Senate Referred to Committee on Corrections and Penology SJ-34

A BILL

TO AMEND SECTION 20-7-2170, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE COMMITMENT OF A CHILD TO THE DEPARTMENT OF JUVENILE JUSTICE, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT CHILDREN UNDER TWELVE YEARS OF AGE MAY NOT BE TEMPORARILY COMMITTED FOR THE PURPOSE OF EVALUATION.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Section 20-7-2170, as last amended by Act 181 of 1993, of the 1976 Code is further amended to read:

"Section 20-7-2170. (A) A child after his twelfth birthday and before his seventeenth birthday, or while under the jurisdiction of the Family Court for disposition of an offense that occurred prior to his seventeenth birthday, may be committed to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice, which shall arrange for placement in a suitable corrective environment. Children under the age of twelve years may be committed only to the custody of the department, which shall arrange for placement in a suitable corrective environment other than institutional confinement. No child under the age of seventeen years shall be committed or sentenced to any other penal or correctional institution of this State.

(B) When a child is adjudicated delinquent, convicted of a crime or has entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere in a court authorized to commit to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice, such child may be committed for an indeterminate period until he has reached his twenty-first birthday or until sooner released by the Board of Juvenile Parole under its discretional powers.

(C) Any sentence which includes commitment to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice for a crime which, when committed by an adult, would carry a maximum sentence of thirty years or more, shall include a further provision that the Board of Juvenile Parole may transfer such child to the Department of Juvenile Justice, which may then transfer the child to the Department of Corrections for confinement for a period, including time served in its custody, not to exceed thirty years. Such transfer shall be within the discretion of the Department of Juvenile Justice or the Board of Juvenile Parole as may be appropriate.

(D) The court, before committing a child as a delinquent or as a part of a sentence including commitments for contempt, shall first temporarily commit the child to the Department of Juvenile Justice for a period not to exceed forty-five days for evaluation, and the department shall make a recommendation to the court prior to final commitment. However, no child under the age of twelve years shall be temporarily committed for the purpose of evaluation for any period of time. The committing judge may waive in writing temporary commitment in cases where the child concerned has within the past year either been evaluated by a center and the evaluation is available to the court or has within the past year been temporarily or finally discharged or conditionally released or paroled from a correctional institution of the Department of Juvenile Justice, and the child's previous evaluation or other equivalent information is available to the court.

(E) All commitments to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice for delinquency as opposed to the conviction of a specific crime may be made only for the reasons and in the manner prescribed in Sections 20-7-400, 20-7-410, 20-7-430, 20-7-460, 20-7-600, 20-7-620, 20-7-740, 20-7-750, 20-7-760, 20-7-770, 20-7-780, 20-7-1330, 20-7-1340, and 20-7-1520, with evaluations made and proceedings conducted only by the judges authorized to order commitments in this section. When a child is committed to the custody of the department under the proceedings, commitment must be for an indeterminate sentence, not extending beyond the twenty-first birthday of the child unless sooner released by the department.

(F) Any juvenile who has not been paroled or otherwise released from the custody of the department by his nineteenth birthday shall be transferred to the custody and authority of the Youthful Offender Division of the Department of Corrections. If not sooner released by the Department of Corrections, the juvenile shall be released by his twenty-first birthday according to the provisions of his commitment; provided, however, that notwithstanding the above provision, any juvenile committed as an adult offender by order of the Court of General Sessions shall be considered for parole or other release according to the laws pertaining to release of adult offenders."

SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.