Due Process Protections and Police Interrogation
Lawmakers in three states—New Hampshire, Tennessee and Utah—enacted bills safeguarding a young person’s rights during the legal process.
In New Hampshire, a new law changes the definition of “child” to include individuals under 18 and provides that a young person who has not yet attained age 18 cannot, without parental consent, plead guilty or be put on trial prior to being appointed legal counsel. Under previous law, the term “child” included youth up to age 17.
When a minor is taken into custody and questioned by law enforcement in Tennessee, the custodial interrogation must now be recorded either on video or audio.
Similarly, in Utah, policymakers amended existing law to include that when a young person is being questioned, he or she has the right to have a parent or other trusted adult present. Additionally, youth undergoing custodial interrogation in a detention or secure facility must have legal counsel present and regardless of where questioning is taking place, law enforcement must record the process on audio or video.
Diversion
Certain youth in Colorado, Georgia and South Dakota will be provided alternatives to formal court processing under recent legislative enactments.
For example, if a young person in Colorado demonstrates behaviors or symptoms consistent with a behavioral or mental health condition, district attorneys are required to consider the use of diversion to keep the individual out of the juvenile justice system.
In Georgia, new law allows any of the state’s juvenile courts to develop a treatment court division as way of steering young people away from the judicial system. Treatment courts can address substance use disorder, mental and behavioral health needs as well as increasing personal accountability in the realms of educational, familial and societal engagement.
South Dakota lawmakers increased the fiscal incentive available to counties from $250 to $750 per young person who successfully completes a court-approved diversion program. The funds are allocated by the state’s department of corrections and data related to participating counties is to be reported to the Juvenile Justice Oversight Council.
Clearing Criminal Records
A handful of states—Alabama, California, Illinois, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Vermont—codified laws making it easier for certain eligible youth to clear their criminal record.
Young people who are deemed a youthful offender under Alabama law, can now petition the court to have misdemeanor offenses removed from their records as long as all monetary sanctions have been paid and three years have passed since the conviction.
California passed two bills modifying the circumstances under which young people can have their records sealed. Under Assembly Bill 1877, probation officers are now required to petition the court to seal certain juvenile records if the young person has reached age 18 and has not been convicted of certain offenses. The new legislation also mandates that the state’s department of justice identify arrest records of young people who were under 18 at the time of the encounter with law enforcement and were not subsequently charged with an offense. Qualifying records are to be sealed by the arresting agency and the justice department.
California’s Senate Bill 1161 allows minors who were arrested for certain felony offenses to petition to the court for record relief as long as the charges were dismissed, the young person was not convicted, or the case resulted in acquittal. The new law will apply retroactively.
The Illinois Legislature streamlined and expanded the circumstances under which juvenile records can be expunged. While a young person must still wait two years following the date his or her case is closed, Senate Bill 3463 will shift the responsibility from the young person to the court to schedule an expungement hearing. Another law, House Bill 5465, allows young people who were victims of human trafficking and charged with a crime to petition the court for immediate record relief.
In Louisiana, record expungement will now be expedited at no cost to17-year-olds who are arrested or charged with a criminal offense but not prosecuted.
Policymakers in Pennsylvania changed the waiting period from five to two years for youth adjudicated delinquent for certain misdemeanors to have their records expunged; more serious misdemeanors and certain felony offenses can be expunged after five years. The new state law also creates automatic record clearance provisions and requires the development of case management tools that will alert chief juvenile probation officers and courts of eligible records that can be expunged. For more information on Automatic and Automated Record Expungement Click Here.
Youth in Vermont who successfully complete pre- or post-charge diversion will be eligible for automatic record expungement if certain criteria is met.
Legal Financial Obligations
Three states—California, Delaware and Washington—removed requirements that some young people pay certain monetary sanctions. In California, restitution can no longer be assessed against a young person and any outstanding restitution will be uncollectable 10 years after the imposition of the order.
Certain fees that youth could once be ordered to pay, were repealed in Delaware based on recommendations from the state’s Criminal Legal System Imposed Debut Study Group.
Washington lawmakers enacted a bill making most legal financial obligations against minors null and void by July 1, 2027. (This does not include restitution) Applying retroactively, the bill recalls any previously assessed, outstanding monetary sanctions from collection agencies and prohibits this debt from appearing on a background check or affecting an individual’s credit.
Reentry
Six states enacted legislation in 2024 that eased the transition back into the community for youth who were involved with the justice system.
In Connecticut, youth in facilities falling under the purview of the state’s judicial department will be provided opportunities to engage in job readiness or career training programs as well as given assistance finding employment prior to transitioning back into the community. Lawmakers in Kansas and Louisiana likewise codified opportunities for young people to have greater access to educational and vocational training. Eligible youth in Kansas will now be able to leave out-of-home-placement to participate in various learning programs. In Louisiana, vocational training services must be offered to young people at least six months before their release from a facility.
Prior to reentering the community from a facility, young people in Louisiana and Ohio will now be provided with identification and other critical documents. In Louisiana, the department of public safety must ensure that youth are released from placement with a birth certificate and identification card. The department of youth services in Ohio must provide a young person with a state identification card or driver’s license.
Regarding Medicaid, in Utah, secure facilities operated by the Division of Juvenile Justice and Youth Services will now be on the state’s waiver for coverage. Qualified young people will be provided with services including reentry case management as well as physical and mental health treatment—including medications and medication administration.
Restorative Justice
Legislators in Kentucky, New Hampshire and Vermont have enacted bills either incorporating or exploring the application of restorative justice practices into their state’s youth justice systems.
In Kentucky, the department of juvenile justice is required to establish a juvenile restorative justice advisory committee in each of the state’s counties. The committees will be tasked with developing and implementing restorative justice programs that will serve youth and their families through referrals from the court or department of juvenile justice, social workers, other social service agencies or schools.
Likewise, a committee has been created in New Hampshire to examine best practices for a restorative justice framework that will address misdemeanor-level offenses and hate crimes committed by youth under 18.
In Vermont, participation in a restorative justice program can now be used as a pre- or post-adjudication diversion option; the new state law also mandates that the attorney general’s office allocate grant funding to support counties in contracting with community-based restorative justice providers.
Juvenile Court Jurisdiction
The trend in state legislatures in the last 15 years has been to pass measures that expanded jurisdiction of the juvenile court, allowing more cases to start in juvenile court and placing decisions about rehabilitation, appropriate treatment and sentencing in the hands of the juvenile court.
However, in 2024, a handful of states enacted laws that limited juvenile court jurisdiction. Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, and Vermont changed their laws to require young people charged with certain felony offenses to have their cases start in adult criminal court.
Appendix of Bills
- Due Process Protections and Police Interrogation
- Diversion
- Record Expungement
- Legal Financial Obligations
- Reentry
- Restorative Justice
- Age of Juvenile Court Jurisdiction