NCSLnet: Juvenile Justice State Legislation in 2006

Posted January 31, 2007

Juvenile Justice State Legislation in 2006

State juvenile justice legislation in 2006 focused on gang and delinquency prevention and addressed mental health and competency issues. Policymakers also enacted laws dealing with gender, race and conditions of confinement in the juvenile justice systems.

Recognizing juveniles' mental health needs was the topic of several new state laws last year. New Colorado legislation requires health insurance carriers who offer mental health benefits to provide services whether voluntary or ordered by a juvenile court, thus, ensuring a court order cannot be a reason to deny coverage. Significant enactments also address the legal issues surrounding a juvenile's competency to understand the crime and the adjudicatory process. Maryland now requires the juvenile court to order the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene or a qualified expert to conduct an evaluation of a juvenile's competency to proceed. In Louisiana, a new law provides that any juvenile transferred for criminal trial may seek a special sanity hearing. And a Georgia measure requires that a juvenile be represented by an attorney when being evaluated for competency. It further requires a full mental health evaluation if the juvenile is found not competent and subsequently that all community-based treatment options be exhausted before treatment in a secure facility is considered. Mississippi now requires the Adolescent Offender Program operated with local mental health organizations to include evidence-based practices and positive behavioral interventions such as academic, tutoring, mentoring, literacy and vocational training for youth. The law reinforces the idea of a system that focuses more on community-based programs, rather than on programs that are incarceration-based.

Other juvenile justice legislation addressed include truancy policy, combating gang crime, and improving intervention and aftercare services for juveniles. Recognizing that truancy can lead to more serious delinquent behavior, a 2006 Illinois law increased non-judicial preventative intervention options for chronically and habitually truant youths and their families. In Maryland, legislation established a Delinquency Prevention and Diversion Services Task Force to help study and prevent juvenile crimes in the state.

Virginia passed several gang prevention measures in 2006. New laws there provide for the exchange of information on gang-related activity between the Department of Corrections or locally operated court service unit and law enforcement and attorneys for the Commonwealth. Virginia now requires the Departments of Corrections and Juvenile Justice to collect information on individuals identified as gang members and transmit that information to the Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ Services Council. It also creates a “gang member" database to help identify and stop members before new crimes are committed.

Lawmakers also worked on improving conditions of confinement for juveniles by providing safety, education and even compensation for work programs. A Georgia act requires local school systems to provide education to children in the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice. Similarly, Mississippi now requires that school districts work collaboratively with juvenile detention center staff to provide special education services. In Louisiana, juveniles in custody of the Department of Corrections may be compensated for work performed during work programs. An act in Vermont mandates that when the state transports a child in its custody, all safety measures are made to prevent physical and psychological trauma to the juvenile. The law further requires that mechanical restraints are not to be used in any transports when juveniles are in custody.

A new Kansas measure requires the Kansas Advisory Group on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to study the effectiveness of juvenile justice programs in reducing racial, geographic and other biases that may exist in the system. The law allows the Group to make grants to counties for the development, implementation and improvement of programs in juvenile correctional facilities to reduce racial and other biases. Finally, a few states focused their efforts on the topic of juvenile female offenders. A 2006 Hawaii measure requires the Office of Youth Services and the Department of Public Safety to develop and implement gender-responsive, community-based programs for female adjudicated youth and female offenders. And in Alabama, policymakers established the Girls and Women in the Criminal Justice System Commission to study the conditions, needs, issues and problems of the criminal justice system as it affects girls and women.

For a complete list of the 2006 Juvenile Justice State Enactments

Appendix:

Mental Health and Competency In Court
Colorado SB 5; Georgia HB 1145; Louisiana HB 503 and HB 1372; Maryland HB 1257; Mississippi HB 199

Delinquency Prevention (Truancy and Gangs)
Illinois SB 2197; Maryland HB 686; Virginia HB 692, HB 847 and SB 561

Improving Conditions of Confinement
Georgia SB 618; Louisiana HB 187; Mississippi HB 199; Vermont HB 306

Race and Female Offenders
Alabama HJR 15; Hawaii SB 467; Kansas SB 47;