Reduce Justice-involvement For Young Children

Under current law, counties are permitted to form a local collaborative management program to provide services to youth. The bill requires every county to participate in a local collaborative management program and requires the local collaborative management program to serve children 10 to 12 years of age and to form a service and support team to create service and support plans for children 10 to 12 years of age.

The bill provides an appropriation for local collaborative management programs and requires the department of human services to provide technical assistance to the programs.

The bill changes the minimum age of a child who is subject to the juvenile court's jurisdiction. Under current law, children who are 10 years of age or older can be prosecuted in juvenile court. The bill removes children who are 10 to 12 years of age from the juvenile court's jurisdiction and increases the age for prosecution in juvenile court to 13 years of age, except in the case of a homicide, then the juvenile court's jurisdiction extends to children who are 10 to 12 years of age.

The bill clarifies that children who are 10 to12 years of age may be taken into temporary custody by law enforcement for safety.

The bill provides that when children who are 10 to 12 years of age have contact with law enforcement, law enforcement will complete a form to refer the child to the local collaborative management program. The local collaborative management program's individualized service and support team is required to complete an initial plan for every child who is referred, which may find that no services are needed, that one or more specific services are needed and can be provided without an individualized service and support team meeting, or that an individualized service and support team meeting is required to develop a service and support plan for the child and family. Victims have the right to be informed and provide input to the plan. Reasonable effort must be made to contact the victim, and the victim must be provided with any applicable information in a timely manner.

The individualized service and support team is required to hold a meeting and develop an individualized service and support plan for every child who is 10 to 12 years of age who allegedly engaged in behavior that would constitute a crime of violence or felony sex offense. The county department of human or social services is required to attend the meeting if the behavior would constitute a felony sex offense. The county department of human or social services is required to make a determination as to whether the department of human services will provide prevention and intervention services or conduct a formal assessment, investigate, provide services, or open a case.

If law enforcement notifies the individualized service and support team that there is probably cause to believe that a child who is 10-12 years of age committed an act that would constitute a felony sexual assault or felony unlawful sexual contact if committed by an adult and the child used force, intimidation, or threat in conducting the act, the individualized service and support team must refer the child for an evaluation by a treatment provider who specializes in children who display problematic sexual behavior.

The bill clarifies that victims of actions by children who are 10 to 12 years of age are still able to access existing victim services and compensation. The bill provides that victims shall receive a free copy of the form completed by law enforcement, which can be used to request victim's compensation. The bill provides that victims must be informed of available services, including assistance with filing a civil protection order.

The bill provides that a minor child, or a parent or guardian seeking relief on behalf of a minor child, shall not pay a fee to seek a protection order. Courts that issue protection orders shall provide assistance to individuals in completing judicial forms to obtain a protection order. The bill changes the minimum age that a person can be held in custody for contempt of court for failing to comply with a protection order to a person who is 13 years of age. A child who is 10 to 12 years of age who fails to comply with a protection order may be court ordered to participate in a collaborative management program.

The bill changes the minimum age of a county court's concurrent original jurisdiction with the district court in criminal actions that constitute misdemeanors or petty offenses to 13 years of age.

The bill changes the minimum age to be charged by a municipal court for a municipal offense to 13 years of age.

Under current law, a juvenile court may transfer a child to district court for adult criminal proceedings under certain conditions. The bill eliminates the ability for the juvenile court to transfer children who are 12 or 13 years of age to the district court. For a child who is 14 years of age or older, the bill changes the current authority of the juvenile court to transfer the child's case for any delinquent act that constitutes any felony to only any delinquent act that constitutes a class 1 or class 2 felony or a crime of violence.

The bill extends certain sentencing protections that are currently provided to children who are 10 or 11 years of age to children who are 13 or 14 years of age.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)