MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2016 Regular Session
To: Public Health and Welfare
By: Senator(s) Burton
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 43-21-115, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CLARIFY THAT THE YOUTH COURT INTAKE OFFICER IS AN EMPLOYEE OF THE COUNTY OR MUNICIPALITY WITH JURISDICTION; TO AMEND SECTION 43-21-257, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT THE ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF COURTS SHALL MAINTAIN THE STATE CENTRAL REGISTRY OF YOUTH COURT CASES THROUGH THE MYCIDS DOCUMENTATION SYSTEM; TO AMEND SECTION 43-27-201, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DELETE OBSOLETE PROVISIONS REGARDING CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES FOR JUVENILES AND TO AUTHORIZE A NEW STATE ADOLESCENT OPPORTUNITY PROGRAM (AOP) AS ALTERNATIVES TO EXISTING COMMUNITY-BASED PROGRAMS FOR USE BY THE YOUTH COURTS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 43-21-115, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-21-115. In every youth court division, the judge shall appoint as provided in Section 43-21-123 one or more persons to function as the intake unit for the youth court division. This appointee shall be employed by the county or municipality and as such an employee of the jurisdiction assigned. The youth court intake unit shall perform all duties specified by this chapter. If the person serving as the youth court intake unit is not already a salaried public employee, the salary for such person shall be fixed on order of the judge as provided in Section 43-21-123 and shall be paid by the county or municipality, as the case may be, out of any available funds budgeted for the youth court by the board of supervisors.
SECTION 2. Section 43-21-257, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-21-257. (1) Unless otherwise provided in this section, any record involving children, including valid and invalid complaints, and the contents thereof maintained by the Department of Human Services, or any other state agency, shall be kept confidential and shall not be disclosed except as provided in Section 43-21-261.
(2) The * * * Administrative
Office of Courts shall maintain a state central registry containing the
number and disposition of all cases together with such other useful information
regarding those cases as may be requested and is obtainable from the records of
the youth court. * * *
The central registry files and the contents thereof shall be confidential and
shall not be open to public inspection. Any person who discloses or encourages
the disclosure of any record involving children from the central registry shall
be subject to the penalty in Section 43-21-267. The youth court shall furnish * * * the necessary information needed by the
Administrative Office of Courts, through the Mississippi Youth Court
Information Delivery System (MYCIDS) or other forms, and these completed forms
shall be forwarded to the Administrative Office of Courts.
(3) The Department of Human Services shall maintain a state central registry on neglect and abuse cases containing (a) the name, address and age of each child, (b) the nature of the harm reported, (c) the name and address of the person responsible for the care of the child, and (d) the name and address of the substantiated perpetrator of the harm reported. "Substantiated perpetrator" shall be defined as an individual who has committed an act(s) of sexual abuse or physical abuse that would otherwise be deemed as a felony or any child neglect that would be deemed as a threat to life, as determined upon investigation by the Office of Family and Children's Services. "Substantiation" for the purposes of the Mississippi Department of Human Services Central Registry shall require a criminal conviction or an adjudication by a youth court judge or court of competent jurisdiction, ordering that the name of the perpetrator be listed on the central registry, pending due process. The Department of Human Services shall adopt such rules and administrative procedures, especially those procedures to afford due process to individuals who have been named as substantiated perpetrators before the release of their name from the central registry, as may be necessary to carry out this subsection. The central registry shall be confidential and shall not be open to public inspection. Any person who discloses or encourages the disclosure of any record involving children from the central registry without following the rules and administrative procedures of the department shall be subject to the penalty in Section 43-21-267. The Department of Human Services and its employees are exempt from any civil liability as a result of any action taken pursuant to the compilation and/or release of information on the central registry under this section and any other applicable section of the code, unless determined that an employee has willfully and maliciously violated the rules and administrative procedures of the department, pertaining to the central registry or any section of this code. If an employee is determined to have willfully and maliciously performed such a violation, said employee shall not be exempt from civil liability in this regard.
(4) The Mississippi State Department of Health may release the findings of investigations into allegations of abuse within licensed day care centers made under the provisions of Section 43-21-353(8) to any parent of a child who is enrolled in the day care center at the time of the alleged abuse or at the time the request for information is made. The findings of any such investigation may also be released to parents who are considering placing children in the day care center. No information concerning those investigations may contain the names or identifying information of individual children.
The Department of Health shall not be held civilly liable for the release of information on any findings, recommendations or actions taken pursuant to investigations of abuse that have been conducted under Section 43-21-353(8).
SECTION 3. Section 43-27-201, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-27-201. (1) The purpose of this section is to outline and structure a long-range proposal in addition to certain immediate objectives for improvements in the juvenile facilities of the Division of Youth Services of the Mississippi Department of Human Services in order to provide modern and efficient rehabilitation facilities for juvenile offenders in Mississippi, who are committing an increasing percentage of serious and violent crimes.
(2) The Division of Youth Services shall establish, maintain and operate an Adolescent Opportunity Program (AOP) throughout the state, which may include non-Medicaid assistance eligible juveniles. Beginning July 1, 2016, subject to availability of funds appropriated therefor by the Legislature, AOP professional services, salaries, facility offices, meeting rooms and related supplies and equipment may be provided through contract with local mental health or other nonprofit community organizations. Each AOP must incorporate evidence-based practices and positive behavioral intervention that includes two (2) or more of the following elements: academic, tutoring, literacy, mentoring, vocational training, substance abuse treatment, family counseling and anger management. Programs may include, but shall not be limited to, after school and weekend programs, job readiness programs, home detention programs, community service conflict resolution programs, restitution and community service.
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2016.