A bill

 

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING SECTIONS 63-19-360, 63-19-810, 63-19-1440, AND 63-19-1810, ALL RELATING TO JUVENILE JUSTICE PROCEEDINGS, SO AS TO REQUIRE COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENTS AS PART OF JUVENILE EVALUATIONS, TO MAKE CERTAIN CHANGES PERTAINING TO THE DETENTION OF JUVENILES IN JUVENILE DETENTION FACILITIES AND THEIR COMMITMENT TO THE CUSTODY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUVENILE JUSTICE; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

 

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

 

SECTION 1.  Section 63-19-360(3) of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 

    (3) establishing and maintaining residential and nonresidential reception and evaluation centers at which all children committed to its custody by a circuit or family court must be received, examined, and evaluated before assignment to one of its institutions or before other disposition or recommendation is made concerning the child. The commitment of a child to a reception and evaluation center or youth correctional institution of the department may be made only after the child has been adjudicated delinquent. The evaluation conducted by the reception and evaluation centers includes, but is not limited to:

       (a) a complete social, physical, psychological, and mental examination a comprehensive, individualized biopsychosocial assessment to include an examination of the child's social, physical, and mental health functioning;

       (b) an investigation and consideration of family and community environment and other facts in the background of the person concerned that might relate to the person's delinquency;

       (c) a determination of the correctional or custodial care that would be most appropriate. The department shall create facilities and employ personnel as will enable the centers to conduct the necessary physical, mental, and psychological examinations and assessments required by this section;

 

SECTION 2.  Section 63-19-810 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

 

    (E) No child or juvenile eighteen years of age or older will be detained in a juvenile detention facility. Upon written notice from a juvenile detention facility that a child or juvenile is eighteen years of age or older, local law enforcement immediately must transport the person to the county detention center.

 

SECTION 3.  Section 63-19-1440 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 

    Section 63-19-1440. (A) A child, after the child's twelfth birthday and before the eighteenth birthday or while under the jurisdiction of the family court for disposition of ana criminal offense that occurred prior to the child's eighteenth 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 eighteen years may be committed or sentenced to any other penal or correctional institution of this State.

    (B) 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 63-3-510, 63-3-520, 63-3-580, 63-3-600, 63-3-650, and this chapter, 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 as part of the disposition of the criminal offense, commitment must be for an indeterminate sentence, not extending beyond the twenty-second birthday of the child unless sooner released by the department, or for a determinate commitment sentence not to exceed ninety days for misdemeanor offenses or one hundred eighty days for felony offenses. A child may not be committed to the department for more than one hundred and eighty days for an adjudication resulting from a probation violation or contempt of court of an underlying criminal offense.

    (C) The court, before committing a child as a delinquent or as a part of a sentence including commitments for contempt, shall order a community evaluation or temporarily commit the child to the Department of Juvenile Justice for not more than forty-five days for evaluation. A community evaluation is equivalent to a residential evaluation, but it is not required to include all components of a residential evaluation. However, in either evaluation the department shall make a recommendation to the court on the appropriate disposition of the case and shall submit that recommendation to the court before final disposition. The department is authorized to allow any child adjudicated delinquent for a status offense, a misdemeanor offense, or violation of probation or contempt for any offense and who is temporarily committed to the department's custody for a residential evaluation, to reside in that child's home or in his home community while undergoing a community evaluation, unless the committing judge finds and concludes in the order for evaluation, that a community evaluation of the child must not be conducted because the child presents an unreasonable flight or public safety risk to his home community. The court mayIt is within the court's discretion to waive in writing the evaluation of the child and proceed to issue final disposition in the case if the child:

       (1) has previously received a residential evaluation or a community evaluation and the evaluation is available to the court;

       (2) has been within the past year temporarily or finally discharged or conditionally released for parole from a correctional institution of the department, and the child's previous evaluation or other equivalent information is available to the court;  or

       (3) receives a determinate commitment sentence not to exceed ninety days.

    (D) When a juvenile is adjudicated delinquent or 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, the juvenile may be committed for an indeterminate period until the juvenile has reached age twenty-two or until sooner released by the releasing entity or released by order of a judge of the Supreme Court or the circuit court of this State, rendered at chambers or otherwise, in a proceeding in the nature of an application for a writ of habeas corpus. A juvenile who has not been paroled or otherwise released from the custody of the department by the juvenile's nineteenth birthday must be transferred to the custody and authority of the Youthful Offender Division of the Department of Corrections. If not sooner released by the releasing entity, the juvenile must be released by age twenty-two according to the provisions of the juvenile's commitment; however, notwithstanding the above provision, any juvenile committed as an adult offender by order of the court of general sessions must be considered for parole or other release according to the laws pertaining to release of adult offenders.

    (E) A juvenile committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice following an adjudication for a violent offense contained in Section 16-1-60 or for the offense of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, who has not been paroled or released from the custody of the department by his eighteenth birthday must be transferred to the custody and authority of the Youthful Offender Division of the Department of Corrections. A juvenile who has not been paroled or released from the custody of the department by his nineteenth birthday must be transferred to the custody and authority of the Youthful Offender Division of the Department of Corrections at age nineteen. If not released sooner by the Board of Juvenile Parole, a juvenile transferred pursuant to this subsection must be released by his twenty-second birthday according to the provisions of his commitment. Notwithstanding the above provision, a juvenile committed as an adult offender by order of the court of general sessions must be considered for parole or other release according to the laws pertaining to release of adult offenders.

    (F) Notwithstanding subsections (A) and (E), a child may be committed to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice or to a secure evaluation center operated by the department for a determinate period not to exceed ninety days when:

       (1) the child has been adjudicated delinquent by a family court judge for a status offense, as defined in Section 63-19-20, excluding truancy, and the order acknowledges that the child has been afforded all due process rights guaranteed to a child offender;

       (2) the child is in contempt of court for violation of a court order to attend school or an order issued as a result of the child's adjudication of delinquency for a status offense, as defined in Section 63-19-20;  or

       (3) the child is determined by the court to have violated the conditions of probation set forth by the court in an order issued as a result of the child's adjudication of delinquency for a status offense, as defined in Section 63-19-20 including truancy.

       Orders issued pursuant to this subsection must acknowledge:

           (a) that the child has been advised of all due process rights afforded to a child offender;  and

           (b) that the court has received information from the appropriate state or local agency or public entity that has reviewed the facts and circumstances causing the child to be before the court.

    (G)(F) A child committed under this section may not be confined with a child who has been determined by the department to be violent.

    (H)(G) After having served at least two-thirds of the time ordered by a court, a child committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice for a determinate period pursuant to this section may be released by the department prior to the expiration of the determinate period for "good behavior" as determined by the department. The court, in its discretion, may state in the order that the child is not to be released prior to the expiration of the determinate period ordered by the court.

    (I)(H) Juveniles detained in any temporary holding facility or juvenile detention center or who are temporarily committed for evaluation to a Department of Juvenile Justice evaluation center for the offense for which they were subsequently committed by the family court to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice shall receive credit toward their parole guidelines, if indeterminately sentenced, or credit toward their date of release, if determinately sentenced, for each day they are detained in or temporarily committed to any secure pre-dispositional facility, center, or program.

 

SECTION 4.  Section 63-19-1810(A) of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 

    (A) The release and revocation of release of juveniles adjudicated delinquent and committed to the department must be determined by:

       (1) the department for juveniles adjudicated delinquent and committed after March 31, 2007, for an indeterminate period for a status offense or a misdemeanor, other than assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature or assault with intent to kill, and for juveniles who have violated probation for a status offense or a misdemeanor, other than assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature or assault with intent to killmisdemeanors and nonviolent felonies as defined by Section 16-1-70;

       (2) the Board of Juvenile Parole for juveniles adjudicated delinquent and committed for an offense other than an offense provided for in item (1).

 

SECTION 5.  This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

----XX----