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1994 SESSION

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SB 520 Serious juvenile offenders.

Introduced by: Mark L. Earley | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY:

Transfer of juveniles to be tried as adults. Lowers the age at which juveniles can be transferred from juvenile (or family) court to circuit court for trial as adults from fifteen to fourteen. In addition, for violent felony offenses (murder, voluntary manslaughter, mob-related felonies, kidnap/felony assault/wounding/robbery and conspiracies) juveniles aged sixteen and older will be transferred following a preliminary hearing (essentially the same procedure as a preliminary hearing for adults in a general district court). Transfer is required for principals in the first and second degree and accessories before the fact.

This bill replaces the amenability and legal constraints findings with a list of specific factors for the court to consider in deciding whether the juvenile is a "proper person" to remain in the juvenile justice system. This standard has been adopted by the American Bar Association. Legislative waiver, under current law, consists of a waiver where the juvenile has been previously tried as an adult and convicted of a felony and a laundry list of crimes for which the legislature has decreed no finding of amenability is necessary (i.e., armed robbery, rape, and murder). This bill expands that felony list for which the juvenile can be transferred without any finding that the juvenile is a proper person to remain before the juvenile court to include any felony for which the maximum punishment is death or life imprisonment. The bill also clarifies bail, the filing of appeals, and the placement of a transferred juvenile in an adult facility (i.e., jail). Under this bill, the jurisdiction of the juvenile court is terminated (i) over pending charges arising from the same act, transaction or scheme giving rise to the charge for which the juvenile is transferred when the circuit court certifies the juvenile for trial as an adult, and upon conviction of the juvenile in the circuit court, (ii) over any unrelated pending charges, and (iii) for the prosecution of any future criminal acts. In an effort to prevent the reversal of a criminal conviction because of a failure of a judge to properly complete the appropriate paperwork, this bill stipulates that any objection to the circuit court's jurisdiction over the trial of the case is waived if not raised before arraignment [See Hairfield v. Commonwealth, 7 Va. Appeals 649 (1989)]. The bill also restricts learning center commitments to those juveniles who have committed (i) a felony or (ii) a Class 1 misdemeanor after having been previously committed for a felony or Class 1 misdemeanor.

In order to be committed as a serious offender under current law, a juvenile 15 years of age or older must either have been adjudicated delinquent based on the commission of murder, rape, armed robbery, or use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, or have been on parole when he committed a felony, or have committed a felony and been a resident of a group home within the preceding year. This bill (i) reduces the age to 14 years, (ii) applies serious offender status to a juvenile on parole for a felony, and (iii) expands the requisite felony offenses to those punished by a term of confinement of more than 20 years. The factors to be considered in committing a juvenile to a learning center under this bill are expanded to include specific considerations underlying the nature of the offense and the juvenile's prior record and gives the committing court continuing jurisdiction over the juvenile throughout his commitment. Under current law, the court may commit the juvenile to the Department of Youth and Family Services for a minimum period of six to 12 months. Under this bill, the juvenile court is given the authority to give a juvenile a determinate sentence of up to seven years (or the juvenile's twenty-first birthday)---something which the juvenile court does not have the power to do currently. The Department is required to petition for a review of continuing commitment on the second anniversary of commitment and each annual anniversary thereafter. The Department is given the authority to petition for early release of a juvenile (based on good cause). The court is empowered to continue the commitment of the juvenile for the original commitment period or a lesser amount of time, or the court may order the release of the juvenile under whatever terms and conditions the court may prescribe. Prior to the release of any serious offender, the Department is required to give notice to the committing court, the sheriff, the chief of police, and the attorney for the Commonwealth, as well as any victim. This requirement parrots the same requirement for the Department of Corrections in releasing adult offenders.

Finally, the bill makes changes to various sections of the Code to correspond with the reductions in the minimum age for transfer and for serious offender status (e.g., photographing and fingerprinting of juveniles, expungement of records).


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