This bill makes changes to eligibility for the Serious Juvenile Offender Program
(SJOP). Under current law, the juvenile court may order a juvenile to participate in
the SJOP if the juvenile has been adjudicated delinquent for committing certain
felony crimes. The SJOP provides a juvenile with supervision, care, and
rehabilitation that is more restrictive than ordinary supervision in the community
and includes component phases that are intensive, highly structured, and based on
public safety considerations and the participant's need for supervision, care, and
rehabilitation.

Under current law, in order to qualify for the SJOP, a juvenile must meet certain
age limits, must be adjudicated delinquent for the commission or attempted
commission of certain crimes, and must be found to be a danger to the public and to
be in need of restrictive custodial treatment. This bill increases the age limits for
participation in the SJOP.

This bill permits a child to remain in a foster home, group home, or residential
care center for children and youth, in the home of a relative, or in a supervised
independent living arrangement (out-of-home care) until the child attains 21 years
of age if the child 1) is a full-time student at a secondary school or its vocational or
technical equivalent and is reasonably expected to complete the program before
reaching 21 years of age; 2) is enrolled in an institution that provides postsecondary
or vocational education; 3) is participating in a program or activity designed to
promote, or remove barriers to, employment; 4) is employed for at least 80 hours per
month; or 5) is incapable of doing any of those activities due to a medical condition,
which incapacity is supported by regularly updated information in the child's
permanency plan. The bill also permits a relative, guardian, or adoptive parent of

such a child to continue receiving kinship care payments, subsidized guardianship
payments, or adoption assistance for the care and maintenance of such a child until
the child attains 21 years of age.

Under current law, the federal Department of Health and Human Services
provides foster care and adoption assistance under Title IV-E of the Social Security
Act for the care of persons under 18 years of age and, at the option of a state, for
persons under 19, 20, or 21 years of age, as a state may elect, who are 1) completing
secondary education or a program leading to an equivalent credential; 2) enrolled in
an institution that provides postsecondary or vocational education; 3) participating
in a program or activity designed to promote, or remove barriers to, employment; 4)
employed for at least 80 hours per month; or 5) incapable of doing any of those
activities due to a medical condition, which incapacity is supported by regularly
updated information in the child's case plan. Currently, this state permits a person
to remain in out-of-home care until he or she has attained 19 years of age, if he or
she is is a full-time student at a secondary school or its vocational or technical
equivalent and is reasonably expected to complete the program before reaching 19
years of age, and permits a person to remain in out-of-home care until he or she has
attained 21 years of age, if he or she is a full-time student at a secondary school or
its vocational or technical equivalent and if an individualized education program,
which is a program under which special education and related services are provided
to a person with a disability, is in effect for the person.

This bill changes the requirements for conducting a custodial interrogation of
a juvenile and limits the exceptions for admitting statements made during an
improper interrogation into evidence at a hearing. Under current law, when a law
enforcement officer conducts a custodial interrogation of a juvenile, the law
enforcement officer is required to record the interrogation. If the interrogation is not
recorded, a statement made during the interrogation is inadmissible as evidence at
the juvenile's hearing, unless one of the following exceptions applies:

1. The juvenile refused to respond or cooperate in the custodial interrogation
if an audio or audio and visual recording was made of the interrogation so long as a
law enforcement officer or agent of a law enforcement agency made a
contemporaneous audio or audio and visual recording or written record of the
juvenile's refusal.

2. The statement was made in response to a question asked as part of the
routine processing after the juvenile was taken into custody.

3. The law enforcement officer or agent of a law enforcement agency conducting
the interrogation in good faith failed to make an audio or audio and visual recording
of the interrogation because the recording equipment did not function, the officer or
agent inadvertently failed to operate the equipment properly, or, without the officer's
or agent's knowledge, the equipment malfunctioned or stopped operating.

4. The statement was made spontaneously and not in response to a question
by a law enforcement officer or agent of a law enforcement agency.

5. Exigent public safety circumstances existed that prevented the making of
an audio or audio and visual recording or rendered the making of such a recording
infeasible.

This bill requires a person who is conducting a custodial interrogation of a
juvenile, in addition to recording the interrogation, to notify the juvenile's parent,
guardian, legal custodian, or Indian custodian before conducting the interrogation,
to notify a juvenile who is being interrogated that the interrogation is being recorded,
and to notify a juvenile who is under the age of 16 that he or she is being interrogated.
Under the bill, if the parent, guardian, legal custodian or Indian custodian did not
receive notice of the interrogation, the juvenile did not receive the appropriate notice,
or the interrogation was not recorded, a statement made during the interrogation is
inadmissible as evidence at the juvenile's hearing, unless one of the following
exceptions applies:

1. The statement was made spontaneously and not in response to a question
by a law enforcement officer or agent of a law enforcement agency.

2. Exigent public safety circumstances existed that prevented the notification
of the parent, guardian, legal custodian, or Indian custodian or prevented the
making of an audio or audio and visual recording or rendered the making of such a
recording infeasible.

This bill also changes the definition of “custodial interrogation” for the purposes
of interrogating a juvenile to refer to a “reasonable juvenile of a similar age” instead
of a “reasonable person.”

Under current law, DCF, in consultation with the Department of Corrections,
must make available to all counties a juvenile classification system that includes a
risk assessment instrument for determining the probability that a juvenile who has
committed an offense will commit another offense, a needs assessment instrument
for determining the service needs of a juvenile who has committed an offense, and
a services and placement guide for integrating the risk and needs of a juvenile who
has committed an offense with other factors to determine an appropriate placement
and level of services for the juvenile. Under current law, a county may use the
juvenile classification system to determine, at the time of an intake inquiry, whether
to close a case, enter into a deferred prosecution agreement, or refer the case to the
district attorney; recommend, at the time of disposition, a placement and a plan of
rehabilitation, treatment, and care for the juvenile; and determine, after disposition,
the level or intensity of supervisory contacts required for a juvenile under county
supervision.

This bill requires an intake worker to use the juvenile classification system as
part of the intake inquiry with a juvenile after providing notice to the juvenile,
parent, guardian, and legal custodian, but only if the juvenile has not refused to
participate.

Under current law, when a juvenile is alleged to have violated a law or
municipal ordinance, he or she may be referred to the juvenile court for intake and
a determination of whether a petition should be filed in that court. An intake worker

provides intake services to the juvenile, such as screening and interviewing the
juvenile, determining whether and where the juvenile should be held, and whether
to close the case or request that a petition for delinquency be filed.

Under current law, as an alternative to closing a case or referring it to a district
attorney to file a petition, an intake worker may enter into a written deferred
prosecution agreement (DPA) with all parties if the intake worker has determined
that neither the interests of the juvenile nor of the public require the filing of a
delinquency petition; if the facts persuade the intake worker that the jurisdiction of
the juvenile court, if sought, would exist; and if the juvenile and his or her parent,
guardian, and legal custodian consent. The DPA may impose obligations on the
juvenile, parent, guardian, or legal custodian, such as treatment, counseling,
restitution, or a teen court program. If at any time during the period of a DPA the
intake worker determines that the obligations imposed under it are not being met,
the intake worker may cancel the agreement and request that a delinquency petition
be filed. If the obligations under the DPA are met, then no petition may be filed or
citation issued on the charges that brought about the agreement.

Under this bill, unless an intake worker decides to close a case, the intake
worker must enter into a DPA with all parties if all of the following apply:

1. The juvenile is referred because he or she is alleged to have committed a
status offense or an act that would be a misdemeanor if committed by an adult or
violated a civil law punishable by forfeiture or a county, town, or other municipal
ordinance.

2. The juvenile has no more than two prior adjudications.

3. The juvenile has no more than three prior unsuccessful deferred prosecution
agreement attempts.

4. The juvenile, parent, guardian, and legal custodian consent.

An exception to this requirement to enter into a DPA is that the intake worker
may instead refer the case to the district attorney if the results of the juvenile
classification system indicate the juvenile is high risk, or the results indicate the
juvenile is a moderate risk and the case arises out of an alleged act that would be a
Class A misdemeanor in violation of laws prohibiting crimes against life and bodily
security or crimes against health and safety if committed by an adult.