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S.F. No. 2273 - Miscellaneous Juvenile Law Changes (First Engrossment)
 
Author: Senator Ron Latz
 
Prepared By: Kenneth P. Backhus, Senate Counsel (651/296-4396)
 
Date: March 10, 2014



 

Article 1

Juvenile Detention and Noncustodial Supervision; Risk Assessments; Consultations Required

Section 1 requires specified criminal justice stakeholders to meet and confer on issues related to risk assessment instruments and their use to determine juvenile detention and noncustodial supervision. Requires a report to the legislature.

Article 2

Continuances and  Diversion

Section 1 authorizes peace officers to refer a child who is arrested or subject to arrest to a diversion program. Applies only to nonviolent offenses and those for which the officer is not acting pursuant to a warrant or court order to take the child into custody.

Section 2 amends the law on continuances without adjudication of delinquency.  Under current law, a judge can order a continuance without adjudication of delinquency for up to 90 days (with a single 90 day extension) when the continuance is in the best interests of the child and the allegations in the delinquency petition are not in dispute (i.e., the child has already admitted them or they have already been proven). This section extends the continuance periods to 180 days. The 180 day extension may only be granted with the prosecutor’s approval. Also requires that a continuance not be inimical to public safety and broadens the conditions of the continuance to include any of the authorized disposition options for adjudicated delinquents, except a transfer of legal custody of the child to the commissioner of corrections. Authorizes a prosecutor to appeal a continuance ordered in contravention of this section.

Section 3 amends the county attorney juvenile diversion statute to add petty misdemeanor, juvenile petty, and juvenile traffic offenses to the list of offenses that diversion programs must address.

Article 3

Expungement

Section 1 amends the juvenile records expungement statute to give courts authority to expunge all records relating to the arrest and delinquency proceedings, rather than just the adjudication of delinquency. This is in response to the decision of the Minnesota Supreme Court in the J.J.P. case, 831 N.W.2d 260 (Minn. 2013), in which it interpreted the statute as applicable only to the adjudication record and not additional documents, such as arrest and investigative records. The most significant effect of this amendment would be to give courts authority to expunge these delinquency records when held by executive branch entities. In addition, the standard to be applied by the court is more clearly delineated and a list of factors to be considered is included. Sharing of expunged juvenile records between criminal justice agencies is authorized, and the statute governing appeals of adult expungements would apply.

Section 2 amends the law governing business screening services to require a business screening service that knows a criminal record has been sealed, expunged, or is the subject of a pardon to promptly delete the record.  While this may be implied under current law, it is not explicitly stated (in contrast, there is specific language in Minnesota Statutes, section 504B.241, subdivision 4, governing residential tenant screening services).

Article 4

Juvenile Life Sentences

This article amends current law to eliminate the possibility that children who commit crimes before turning 18 could be sentenced to a life without release sentence (under current statute, children who are certified as an adult or convicted under the extended jurisdiction juvenile law for certain first degree murder offenses or certain heinous sex offenses are subject to mandatory life without release sentences). Under this article, those offenders would receive a mandatory life sentence but be eligible for release in 20 years. In  addition, offenders serving life (with release) sentences for a crime committed as a juvenile would be eligible for release after having served a minimum of 20 years. These changes are effective immediately and are applied retroactively to persons currently subject to life without release sentences.

This article addresses the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Miller v. Alabama. The Supreme Court held unconstitutional sentencing schemes that mandate life without the possibility of release for juvenile offenders where mitigating factors are not considered at sentencing. A court may still sentence a juvenile to life without possibility of release, but only if the court reviews mitigating factors (such as maturity and rehabilitation) at post-trial sentencing (not at the certification stage).

Article 5

Predatory Offender Registration

This article amends the predatory offender registration law to provide that juvenile delinquency adjudications do not trigger an automatic duty to register as a predatory offender. Children certified as adults continue to have to register.  A noncertified child would have to register if:

  1. the child committed a registerable offense after reaching the age of 14;
  2. the child was adjudicated delinquent or convicted as an extended jurisdiction juvenile for the offense;
  3. the court, in its discretion, and upon a motion by the prosecutor, finds that the circumstances of the offense require the child to register; and
  4. the court considers certain specified factors when determining if the child should register.

Authorizes the prosecutor to file a motion seeking registration at any time when the child is under the court’s jurisdiction for the underlying offense.

 

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