Bill Text: FL S0184 | 2010 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Adolescent Offenders/Parole [SPSC]

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-04-30 - Died on Calendar [S0184 Detail]

Download: Florida-2010-S0184-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2010                              CS for SB 184 
        
       By the Committee on Criminal Justice; and Senators Joyner and 
       Dockery 
       591-02746-10                                           2010184c1 
    1                        A bill to be entitled                       
    2         An act relating to parole for adolescent offenders; 
    3         providing a short title; amending s. 947.16, F.S.; 
    4         providing definitions; providing that an adolescent 
    5         offender who was 15 years of age or younger at the 
    6         time of commission of an offense and who is sentenced 
    7         to life or a single or cumulative term of 10 years or 
    8         more in prison is eligible for parole if the offender 
    9         has been incarcerated for a minimum period and has not 
   10         previously been convicted of or adjudicated delinquent 
   11         for certain offenses; requiring an initial eligibility 
   12         interview to determine whether the adolescent offender 
   13         has been sufficiently rehabilitated for parole; 
   14         providing criteria to determine sufficient 
   15         rehabilitation; providing eligibility for a 
   16         reinterview after a specified period for adolescent 
   17         offenders denied parole; providing that the adolescent 
   18         offender be incarcerated in a facility that has a GED 
   19         program; providing that if the adolescent offender is 
   20         granted parole, the adolescent offender must 
   21         participate in any available reentry program for 2 
   22         years; defining the term “reentry program”; providing 
   23         priority for certain programs; providing for 
   24         eligibility for an initial eligibility interview for 
   25         offenders in their eighth or subsequent year of 
   26         incarceration on the effective date of the act; 
   27         providing for retroactive application; providing an 
   28         effective date. 
   29   
   30  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
   31   
   32         Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Second Chance for 
   33  Children in Prison Act.” 
   34         Section 2. Present subsections (2) through (6) of section 
   35  947.16, Florida Statutes, are renumbered as subsections (3) 
   36  through (7), respectively, and a new subsection (2) is added to 
   37  that section to read: 
   38         947.16 Eligibility for parole; initial parole interviews; 
   39  powers and duties of commission; adolescent offender 
   40  eligibility.— 
   41         (2)(a) As used in this subsection, the term: 
   42         1. “Adolescent offender” means an offender who was 15 years 
   43  of age or younger at the time the criminal act was committed and 
   44  was sentenced to life or to a single or cumulative term of 
   45  imprisonment of 10 years or more. 
   46         2. “Current offense” means the offense for which the 
   47  adolescent offender is being considered for parole and any other 
   48  crimes committed by the adolescent offender within a 1-month 
   49  period of that offense, or for which sentences run concurrent to 
   50  that offense. 
   51         (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) or of 
   52  any other law to the contrary, an adolescent offender may be 
   53  eligible for parole as provided in this subsection. An 
   54  adolescent offender is ineligible under this subsection if she 
   55  or he, before conviction of the current offense, was convicted 
   56  of or adjudicated delinquent for any violation of: 
   57         1. Section 782.04, entitled “Murder”; 
   58         2. Section 784.041, entitled “Felony battery; domestic 
   59  battery by strangulation”; 
   60         3. Section 784.045, entitled “Aggravated battery”; 
   61         4. Section 784.07, entitled “Assault or battery of law 
   62  enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical care 
   63  providers, public transit employees or agents, or other 
   64  specified officers; reclassification of offenses; minimum 
   65  sentences”; 
   66         5. Section 784.08, entitled “Assault or battery on persons 
   67  65 years of age or older; reclassification of offenses; minimum 
   68  sentence”; 
   69         6. Section 787.01, entitled “Kidnapping; kidnapping of 
   70  child under age 13, aggravating circumstances”; 
   71         7. Section 790.07, entitled “Persons engaged in criminal 
   72  offense, having weapons”; 
   73         8. Section 794.011, entitled “Sexual battery”; 
   74         9. Section 812.133, entitled “Carjacking”; 
   75         10. Section 812.135, entitled “Home-invasion robbery”; 
   76         11. Section 827.03, entitled “Abuse, aggravated abuse, and 
   77  neglect of a child; penalties”; or 
   78         12. Section 828.12(2), entitled “Cruelty to animals.” 
   79         (c) Before an adolescent offender may be granted parole 
   80  under this subsection, she or he must have an initial 
   81  eligibility interview to determine whether she or he has been 
   82  sufficiently rehabilitated while in the custody of the 
   83  department to justify granting parole. The initial eligibility 
   84  interview will occur in the eighth year of incarceration. In 
   85  order to determine if the adolescent offender has been 
   86  sufficiently rehabilitated, she or he must have successfully 
   87  completed the General Educational Development (GED) program 
   88  unless waived based on disability and have received no approved 
   89  disciplinary reports for a period of at least 2 years 
   90  immediately prior to the current eligibility interview. The 
   91  hearing examiner must also take into serious consideration the 
   92  wishes of the victim or the opinions of the victim’s next of kin 
   93  and consider whether: 
   94         1. The adolescent offender was a principal to the criminal 
   95  offense or an accomplice to the offense, a relatively minor 
   96  participant in the criminal offense, or acted under extreme 
   97  duress or domination of another person. 
   98         2. The adolescent offender committed an act of violence or 
   99  threatened to commit an act of violence during the commission of 
  100  the criminal offense. 
  101         3. The adolescent offender has shown remorse for the 
  102  criminal offense. 
  103         4. The adolescent offender’s age, maturity, and 
  104  psychological development at the time of the offense affected 
  105  her or his behavior. 
  106         5. The adolescent offender, while in the custody of the 
  107  department, has aided inmates suffering from catastrophic or 
  108  terminal medical, mental, or physical conditions or has 
  109  prevented risk or injury to staff, citizens, or other inmates. 
  110         6. The adolescent offender has successfully completed 
  111  educational, technical, or vocational programs and any available 
  112  self-rehabilitation programs. 
  113         7. The adolescent offender was a victim of sexual, 
  114  physical, or emotional abuse. 
  115         8. The results of any mental health assessment or 
  116  evaluation that has been performed on the adolescent offender. 
  117         (d) An adolescent offender who is not granted parole under 
  118  this subsection after an initial eligibility interview shall be 
  119  eligible for a reinterview 7 years after the date of the denial 
  120  of the grant of parole and every 7 years thereafter. 
  121         (e) An adolescent offender must serve her or his sentence 
  122  in a facility that has a General Educational Development (GED) 
  123  program unless the adolescent offender has already successfully 
  124  completed a GED program. 
  125         (f) If the adolescent offender is granted parole, the 
  126  adolescent offender must participate in any available reentry 
  127  program for 2 years. As used in this paragraph, the term 
  128  “reentry program” means a program that promotes effective 
  129  reintegration of adolescent offenders back into communities upon 
  130  release and provides one or more of the following: vocational 
  131  training, placement services, transitional housing, mentoring, 
  132  or drug rehabilitation. Priority shall be given to those reentry 
  133  programs that are residential, highly structured, self-reliant, 
  134  and therapeutic communities. 
  135         Section 3. An adolescent offender, as defined in s. 
  136  947.16(2)(a), Florida Statutes, as created by this act, who is 
  137  in her or his eighth or subsequent year of incarceration on the 
  138  effective date of this act must receive an initial eligibility 
  139  interview as provided in s. 947.16(2)(c), Florida Statutes, as 
  140  created by this act, if she or he is otherwise eligible. 
  141         Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law, 
  142  and applies to offenses committed before, on, or after that 
  143  date.