Current Status Bill Number:4742 Type of Legislation:General Bill GB Introducing Body:House Introduced Date:19980303 Primary Sponsor:Hinson All Sponsors:Hinson Drafted Document Number:kgh\15455ac.98 Residing Body:House Current Committee:Judiciary Committee 25 HJ Subject:Juveniles, court to extend probation until age nineteen; Minors, Courts, Family, dispositional power, Justice Department
Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved
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House 19980303 Introduced, read first time, 25 HJ
referred to Committee
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TO AMEND SECTION 20-7-7805, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO DISPOSITIONAL POWERS OF THE FAMILY COURT IN JUVENILE PROCEEDINGS, SO AS TO AUTHORIZE THE COURT TO EXTEND PROBATION TO THE JUVENILES' NINETEENTH BIRTHDAY AND TO ASSESS A FEE AGAINST THE JUVENILE DURING THIS EXTENSION; AND TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF JUVENILE JUSTICE TO REPORT TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON THE FISCAL IMPACT OF SUCH EXTENSIONS OF PROBATION DURING FISCAL YEAR 1998-99.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 20-7-7805(A)(3) of the 1976 Code, as added by Act 383 of 1996, is amended to read:
"(3) place the child on probation or under supervision in the child's own home or in the custody of a suitable person elsewhere, upon conditions as the court may determine. A child placed on probation by the court remains under the authority of the court only until the expiration of the specified term of the child's probation. This specified term of probation may expire before but not after the eighteenth birthday of the child. However, the court may extend a term of probation up to the person's nineteenth birthday and may impose a reasonable monthly probation fee on the person during the probation extension payable to the department. Probation means casework services during a continuance of the case. Probation must not be ordered or administered as punishment but as a measure for the protection, guidance, and well-being of the child and the child's family. Probation methods must be directed to the discovery and correction of the basic causes of maladjustment and to the development of the child's personality and character, with the aid of the social resources of the community. As a condition of probation, the court may order the child to participate in a community mentor program as provided for in Section 20-7-7808. The court may impose monetary restitution or participation in supervised work or community service, or both, as a condition of probation. The Department of Juvenile Justice, in coordination with local community agencies, shall develop and encourage employment of a constructive nature designed to make reparation and to promote the rehabilitation of the child. When considering the appropriate amount of monetary restitution to be ordered, the court shall establish the monetary loss suffered by the victim and then weigh and consider this amount against the number of individuals involved in causing the monetary loss, the child's particular role in causing this loss, and the child's ability to pay the amount over a reasonable period of time. The Department of Juvenile Justice shall develop a system for the transferring of court-ordered restitution from the child to the victim or owner of property injured, destroyed, or stolen. As a condition of probation, the court may impose upon the child a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars when the offense is one in which a magistrate, municipal, or circuit court judge has the authority to impose a fine. A fine may be imposed when commitment is suspended but not in addition to commitment;"
SECTION 2. The Department of Juvenile Justice shall report to the General Assembly on the number of persons for whom the family court extended probation beyond the person's eighteenth birthday, pursuant to its authority under Section 20-7-7805(A)(3) of the 1976 Code, as amended in SECTION 1 of this act, during the 1998-99 fiscal year, and the fiscal impact on the department for these extended terms of probation.
SECTION 3. This act takes effect July 1, 1998.