This website will be unavailable from Thursday, May 30, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. through Monday, June 3, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. due to data center maintenance.
By: Hinojosa S.B. No. 1632
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the sentencing of juveniles in juvenile court and the
functions of the Texas Youth Commission.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 54.04(d), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(d) If the court or jury makes the finding specified in
Subsection (c) allowing the court to make a disposition in the case:
(1) the court or jury may, in addition to any order
required or authorized under Section 54.041 or 54.042, place the
child on probation on such reasonable and lawful terms as the court
may determine:
(A) in the child's own home or in the custody of a
relative or other fit person; or
(B) subject to the finding under Subsection (c)
on the placement of the child outside the child's home, in:
(i) a suitable foster home; or
(ii) a suitable public or private
institution or agency, except the Texas Youth Commission;
(2) if the court or jury found at the conclusion of the
adjudication hearing that the child engaged in delinquent conduct
that violates a penal law of this state or the United States of the
grade of felony or, if the requirements of Subsection (s) or (t) are
met, of the grade of misdemeanor, and if the petition was not
approved by the grand jury under Section 53.045, the court may
commit the child to the Texas Youth Commission and specify in that
commitment a date, on or before the child's 21st birthday, no later
than which the commission shall discharge the child from its
custody [without a determinate sentence];
(3) if the court or jury found at the conclusion of the
adjudication hearing that the child engaged in delinquent conduct
that included a violation of a penal law listed in Section 53.045(a)
and if the petition was approved by the grand jury under Section
53.045, the court or jury may sentence the child to commitment in
the Texas Youth Commission with a possible transfer to the
institutional division or the pardons and paroles division of the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice for a term of:
(A) not more than 40 years if the conduct
constitutes:
(i) a capital felony;
(ii) a felony of the first degree; or
(iii) an aggravated controlled substance
felony;
(B) not more than 20 years if the conduct
constitutes a felony of the second degree; or
(C) not more than 10 years if the conduct
constitutes a felony of the third degree;
(4) the court may assign the child an appropriate
sanction level and sanctions as provided by the assignment
guidelines in Section 59.003; or
(5) if applicable, the court or jury may make a
disposition under Subsection (m).
SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Human Resources Code,
is amended by adding Section 61.055 to read as follows:
Sec. 61.055. CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE. The
commission shall incorporate a component of cultural and linguistic
competence into all commission staff training, policies, and
program development.
SECTION 3. Section 61.084(e), Human Resources Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(e) Except as provided by Subsection (f) or (g), the
commission shall discharge from its custody a person not already
discharged on the earlier of the person's 21st birthday or the date
specified by the court committing the person to the commission
under Section 54.04(d)(2), Family Code, by which the commission
must discharge the person.
SECTION 4. (a) Section 54.04, Family Code, as amended by
this Act, applies only to conduct that occurs on or after the
effective date of this Act. Conduct violating the penal law of this
state occurs on or after the effective date of this Act if any
element of the violation occurs on or after that date.
(b) Conduct that occurs before the effective date of this
Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the conduct
occurred, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.