H.B. 465 Juvenile Court Amendments: transcript

Thank you so much. Alright. Um, so this might be a shock to all of you, but I have no background in judiciary things. I'm a tax accountant and so as part of my work on judiciary, I've decided to try to get to know the court process a little bit better. I've been meeting with different prosecutors and as the judiciary was going around and, um, holding different meetings for us legislators, I would go and ask what, um, different judges needed and how they felt like they needed support or what was going well and what wasn't. And one of the things I heard quite a few times was that in the juvenile justice courts, uh, there's a few more tools that they could, um, definitely use. And, um, in the adult, um, criminal track, if an adult gets a sentence, a judge can suspend their sentence while they're, um, doing some other kind of treatment. So like either treatment center or they could have an intervention of some other kind. And if they don't do it, then the judge can, um, bring that sentence back. And, um, so one of the things that some of the justices said that would be helpful is in the juvenile system, as soon as an alternative route of intervention is, um, put into place, whether it's community service hours or treatment, um, those sentences cannot be held in abeyance. And so, um, this bill, HB 4 65 would let, um, the justices hold up to five days of the sentence being suspended. And hopefully the, the process behind this isn't necessarily that we want more juveniles and in detention, but it's that there's something hanging over their head that's a motivating factor for them to do these treatment, um, interventions that have been proven to, um, help them integrate back in and, and maybe not become so high risk, but that we see a lot of kids going through this process and not learning that there are real consequences. And so by having this motivating factor hanging over their head, I'm hoping it will help them finish, um, their treatment faster and, um, just get back on with their lives rather than having to wait to have the judge issue an order to show cause and haul 'em back in, in front of, um, the courts then. And the reason why we chose five days was because that is the same amount as an order to show causes. And so right now that's what it is. Um, we're, I'm continuing to work with, um, the different stakeholder groups and I've presented this with CCJJ and, and others. And so there will be continuing, um, conversations, maybe doing a, um, graduated system based on risk. But as of right now, um, this is where we are and we'll be continuing those conversations.

Thank you Mr. Chair. I move that we favorably recommend a HB 4 65, uh, to the house floor for their consideration.

I'll waive. Alright.

Thank you. I think there's been a lot of discussion about the changes that have been made with juvenile justice and, and looking to see how to implement, um, a few more consequences so that when our kids turn 18, it's not such a shock to the system that they'll be being treated differently and hopefully they can work through everything they need to as, um, juveniles so they can get on with a happy, successful life.

Fast. It's not

Okay. Sounds good. Um, so I've been talking with the stakeholders on this defense prosecutors, CCJJ and, um, basically,

Yes. You want the second sub? Second sub? Yes. Okay.

Um, it lets judges suspend five days, um, while they're doing a diversion of the regular sentence so that if the diversion doesn't work, they have those tools. I heard from lots of justices that they didn't have tools to do that. So, uh, five days for that. And then if they commit a second offense while they're still in the time period of their diversion for a first offense, it would suspend up to 30 days for that second offense. Okay. Are You aware of any opposition to the bill? No. And in fact there was in sub two I was adding something from, um, the defense who asked to make sure that it was with a notice and hearing and not a warrant. So we didn't conflate with OSC.

We first adopt, correct. Mr. Chairman? Yes. Make a motion that we, uh, delete embody entitled HP 4 65 and to be replaced with second sub HP 4 65.

All right. Now we have a second motion to, Um, motion. Um, so move Mr. Chair to pass second sub P 4 65 with a favorable recommendation.

Thank you Mr. Speaker Proti. Um, this, this bill came about from a lot of, um, visits with our courts and our justices talking about some different tools that they could use. And one of the things that we learned was that, um, for adult sentences, judges are able to suspend those sentences and then also offer a different course of treatment. And if the adults don't finish that treatment, then they can bring back some of those suspended days. And right now there is no mechanism like that in juvenile courts. And so this bill, um, would help the judges have something of a motivating factor from the very beginning, helping these kids to get through their treatments or the community service or whatever was the alternative, um, course of action. And if they were not fulfilling that, then there would be this, um, up to a certain amount, which is five days of them to be able to suspend those and, and, um, motivate the kids to get their stuff done so that they don't have those five days hanging over their head anymore. And so just, just gimme some more tools in the toolbox to our justices.

Um, yeah, I think all of us just want, um, all of our kids getting back to their lives and getting through with the treatment that, that they've been, um, given by these judges. And if this is a way to get that done faster, then um, I would love your support. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Speaker Pro Tim, um, I move to encircle house Bill 360 6.