Bill Text: TX HB2931 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the secure confinement of certain children.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-16 - Referred to Juvenile Justice & Family Issues [HB2931 Detail]
Download: Texas-2015-HB2931-Introduced.html
84R12114 LEH-F | ||
By: Wu | H.B. No. 2931 |
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relating to the secure confinement of certain children. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Section 51.12(j), Family Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(j) After being taken into custody, a child who is at least | ||
14 years of age may be detained in a secure detention facility until | ||
the child is released under Section 53.01, 53.012, or 53.02 or until | ||
a detention hearing is held under Section 54.01(a), regardless of | ||
whether the facility has been certified under Subsection (c), if: | ||
(1) a certified juvenile detention facility is not | ||
available in the county in which the child is taken into custody; | ||
(2) the detention facility complies with: | ||
(A) the short-term detention standards adopted | ||
by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department [ |
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and | ||
(B) the requirements of Subsection (f); and | ||
(3) the detention facility has been designated by the | ||
county juvenile board for the county in which the facility is | ||
located. | ||
SECTION 2. Section 54.04(o), Family Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(o) In a disposition under this title: | ||
(1) a status offender may not, under any | ||
circumstances, be committed to the Texas Juvenile Justice | ||
Department [ |
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not, under state or local law, be a crime if committed by an adult; | ||
(2) a status offender may not, under any circumstances | ||
other than as provided under Subsection (n), be placed in a | ||
post-adjudication secure correctional facility; [ |
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(3) a child adjudicated for contempt of a county, | ||
justice, or municipal court order may not, under any circumstances, | ||
be placed in a post-adjudication secure correctional facility or | ||
committed to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department [ |
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(4) a child younger than 14 years of age may not, under | ||
any circumstances, be placed in a post-adjudication secure | ||
correctional facility or committed to the Texas Juvenile Justice | ||
Department. | ||
SECTION 3. Section 54.04011(c), Family Code, as added by | ||
Chapter 1323 (S.B. 511), Acts of the 83rd Legislature, Regular | ||
Session, 2013, is amended to read as follows: | ||
(c) After a disposition hearing held in accordance with | ||
Section 54.04, the juvenile court of a county to which this section | ||
applies may commit a child who is at least 14 years of age and who is | ||
found to have engaged in delinquent conduct that constitutes a | ||
felony to a post-adjudication secure correctional facility: | ||
(1) without a determinate sentence, if: | ||
(A) the child is found to have engaged in conduct | ||
that violates a penal law of the grade of felony and the petition | ||
was not approved by the grand jury under Section 53.045; | ||
(B) the child is found to have engaged in conduct | ||
that violates a penal law of the grade of felony and the petition | ||
was approved by the grand jury under Section 53.045 but the court or | ||
jury does not make the finding described by Section 54.04(m)(2); or | ||
(C) the disposition is modified under Section | ||
54.05(f); or | ||
(2) with a determinate sentence, if: | ||
(A) the child is found to have engaged in conduct | ||
that included a violation of a penal law listed in Section 53.045 or | ||
that is considered habitual felony conduct as described by Section | ||
51.031, the petition was approved by the grand jury under Section | ||
53.045, and, if applicable, the court or jury makes the finding | ||
described by Section 54.04(m)(2); or | ||
(B) the disposition is modified under Section | ||
54.05(f). | ||
SECTION 4. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies to | ||
a child who: | ||
(1) is detained or confined on or after the effective | ||
date of this Act; or | ||
(2) on the effective date of this Act is in detention | ||
or confinement. | ||
(b) Subsection (a) of this section applies regardless of | ||
whether the conduct for which the child was detained or confined | ||
occurred before, on, or after the effective date of this Act. | ||
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015. |