House Bill 1236

AN ACT TO CREATE AN INTENSIVE SUPERVISION PROGRAM TO BE KNOWN AS THE "HOME DETENTION FOR JUVENILES PROGRAM" FOR THE PLACEMENT OF JUVENILES UNDER HOUSE ARREST; TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO ESTABLISH THE PROGRAM AS A DISPOSITIONAL ALTERNATIVE IN DELINQUENCY CASES AND TO PROMULGATE RULES FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE PROGRAM; TO REQUIRE PARTICIPANTS TO PAY A MONTHLY FEE TO HELP DEFRAY THE COSTS OF THE PROGRAM; TO AMEND SECTION 43-21-605, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ESTABLISH PLACEMENT IN THE INTENSIVE SUPERVISION PROGRAM AS A DISPOSITIONAL ALTERNATIVE IN DELINQUENCY CASES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. (1) For purposes of this section, the following words and phrases shall have the meaning ascribed in this subsection unless the context requires otherwise:

(a) "Approved electronic monitoring device" means a device approved by the department which is primarily intended to record and transmit information regarding the child's presence or nonpresence in the home.

(b) "Court" means any court of this state having jurisdiction to place a juvenile offender in the Home Detention for Juveniles Program.

(d) "Home Detention for Juveniles Program" means the intensive supervision program operated by the department for the placement of certain juveniles under house arrest.

(e) "House arrest" means the confinement of a juvenile, as a dispositional alternative in a delinquency case, to his place of residence under the terms and conditions established by the department or court.

(f) "Participant" means a juvenile placed into the Home Detention for Juveniles Program.

(2) The Department of Human Services, Division of Youth Services, shall establish an intensive supervision program that may be used as a dispositional alternative in delinquency cases for children who are low risk and nonviolent as selected by the department or court. The program shall accommodate no less than one thousand five hundred (1,500) children. Any child convicted of a sex crime may not be placed in the program.

(3) The department shall promulgate rules that participants enrolled in the intensive supervision program shall be required to follow. The rules shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

(a) Each child referred to the program must take an alcohol and drug test before being placed in the program. The department shall assess the child or the child's legal guardian a fee of Ten Dollars ($10.00) to apply toward the cost of the test. If the test results are positive, the child must receive alcohol and drug treatment during his participation in the program.

(b) A participant must remain within the interior premises or within the property boundaries of his or her residence at all time during the hours designated by the department.

(i) Attendance on a full-time basis at an approved school or in an alternative school program;

(ii) Attendance at an inpatient or outpatient treatment facility for alcohol and drug dependence; and

(iii) Attendance at an educational facility for the purpose of preparing to take the General Educational Development (GED) test.

(d) No child shall be placed in the program for a period of less than six (6) months.

(e) A participant must meet any other condition imposed by the court to meet the needs of the participant and to limit the risks to the community.

(4) The department shall select and approve all electronic monitoring devices used under this section. The department may lease the equipment necessary to implement the intensive supervision program and may contract for the monitoring of such devices. The department shall select the best source and price in contracting for such services.

(5) Each participant in the intensive supervision program shall pay a monthly fee to the department for each month such person is enrolled in the program. The fee shall be no less than Ten Dollars ($10.00) and not more than Fifty Dollars ($50.00) per month, as determined by the department on a sliding scale using the standard of need for each family that is used to calculate TANF benefits. The fee shall be in addition to any criminal or civil fines assessed against the offender. Money received by the department from participants shall be used for the purpose of helping to defray the costs involved in administering and supervising the program.

(6) If any participant violates the terms or conditions of his or her participation in the intensive supervision program, the court may amend the disposition order to impose any disposition alternative under Section 43-21-605 which the court could have originally ordered.

SECTION 2. Section 43-21-605, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

43-21-605. (1) In delinquency cases, the disposition order may include any of the following alternatives:

(a) Release the child without further action;

(b) Place the child in the custody of the parents, a relative or other persons subject to any conditions and limitations, including restitution, as the youth court may prescribe;

(c) Place the child on probation subject to any reasonable and appropriate conditions and limitations, including restitution, as the youth court may prescribe;

(d) Order terms of treatment calculated to assist the child and the child's parents or guardian which are within the ability of the parent or guardian to perform;

(e) Order terms of supervision which may include participation in a constructive program of service or education or civil fines not in excess of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), or restitution not in excess of actual damages caused by the child to be paid out of his own assets or by performance of services acceptable to the victims and approved by the youth court and reasonably capable of performance within one (1) year;

(f) Suspend the child's driver's license by taking and keeping it in custody of the court for not more than one (1) year;

(g) Give legal custody of the child to any of the following:

(i) The Department of Human Services for appropriate placement; or

(ii) Any public or private organization, preferably community-based, able to assume the education, care and maintenance of the child, which has been found suitable by the court; or

(iii) The Department of Human Services for placement in a wilderness training program or a state-supported training school, except that no child under the age of ten (10) years shall be committed to a state training school. The training school may retain custody of the child until the child's twentieth birthday but for no longer. The superintendent of a state training school may parole a child at any time he may deem it in the best interest and welfare of such child. Twenty (20) days prior to such parole, the training school shall notify the committing court of the pending release. The youth court may then arrange subsequent placement after a reconvened disposition hearing except that the youth court may not recommit the child to the training school or any other secure facility without an adjudication of a new offense or probation or parole violation. Prior to assigning the custody of any child to any private institution or agency, the youth court through its designee shall first inspect the physical facilities to determine that they provide a reasonable standard of health and safety for the child. The youth court shall not place a child in the custody of a state training school for truancy, unless such child has been adjudicated to have committed an act of delinquency in addition to truancy; or

(iv) The Department of Human Services for placement in the Home Detention for Juveniles Program created under Section 1 of House Bill NO._____, 2003 Regular Session;

(h) Recommend to the child and the child's parents or guardian that the child attend and participate in the Youth Challenge Program under the Mississippi National Guard, as created in Section 43-27-203, subject to the selection of the child for the program by the National Guard; however, the child must volunteer to participate in the program. The youth court may not order any child to apply or attend the program;

(i) (i) Adjudicate the juvenile to the Statewide Juvenile Work Program if the program is established in the court's jurisdiction. The juvenile and his parents or guardians must sign a waiver of liability in order to participate in the work program. The judge will coordinate with the youth services counselors as to placing participants in the work program;

(ii) The severity of the crime, whether or not the juvenile is a repeat offender or is a felony offender will be taken into consideration by the judge when adjudicating a juvenile to the work program. The juveniles adjudicated to the work program will be supervised by police officers or reserve officers. The term of service will be from twenty-four (24) to one hundred twenty (120) hours of community service. A juvenile will work the hours to which he was adjudicated on the weekends during school and week days during the summer. Parents are responsible for a juvenile reporting for work. Noncompliance with an order to perform community service will result in a heavier adjudication. A juvenile may be adjudicated to the community service program only two (2) times;

(iii) The judge shall assess an additional fine on the juvenile which will be used to pay the costs of implementation of the program and to pay for supervision by police officers and reserve officers. The amount of the fine will be based on the number of hours to which the juvenile has been adjudicated;

(j) Order the child to participate in a youth court work program as provided in Section 43-21-627; or

(k) Order the child into a juvenile detention center operated by the county or into a juvenile detention center operated by any county with which the county in which the court is located has entered into a contract for the purpose of housing delinquents. The time period for such detention cannot exceed ninety (90) days. The youth court judge may order that the number of days specified in the detention order be served either throughout the week or on weekends only.

(2) In addition to any of the disposition alternatives authorized under subsection (1) of this section, the disposition order in any case in which the child is adjudicated delinquent for an offense under Section 63-11-30 shall include an order denying the driver's license and driving privileges of the child as required under subsection (8) of Section 63-11-30.

(3) Fines levied under this chapter shall be paid into the general fund of the county but, in those counties wherein the youth court is a branch of the municipal government, it shall be paid into the municipal treasury.

(4) Any institution or agency to which a child has been committed shall give to the youth court any information concerning the child as the youth court may at any time require.

(5) The youth court shall not place a child in another school district who has been expelled from a school district for the commission of a violent act. For the purpose of this subsection, "violent act" means any action which results in death or physical harm to another or an attempt to cause death or physical harm to another.

(6) The youth court may require drug testing as part of a disposition order. If a child tests positive, the court may require treatment, counseling and random testing, as it deems appropriate. The costs of such tests shall be paid by the parent, guardian or custodian of the child unless the court specifically finds that the parent, guardian or custodian is unable to pay.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2003.