BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.S.B. 393 |
By: West |
Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
There is concern that too many juveniles are entering the criminal justice system due to the fact that there are no other alternatives. It is often the case that minors who commit minor fine-only misdemeanors face more stringent fines and court costs than minors who commit more serious offenses. Interested parties contend that additional diversionary measures are needed in order to provide early interventions for minors who commit certain minor offenses to allow more resources to be focused on those minors with the potential to commit more serious acts of violence. Recently, the Texas Judicial Council, the policy-making body of the judiciary in Texas, made several recommendations for statutory updates to provide such diversionary programs prior to the referral to municipal and justice courts. C.S.S.B. 393 seeks to codify these recommendations.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ANALYSIS
C.S.S.B. 393 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to authorize a judge to allow a child defendant who is at least 10 years of age and younger than 17 years of age and who is charged with or convicted of a certain offense over which a justice or municipal court has jurisdiction, to elect at the time of conviction to discharge the fine and costs by performing community service or receiving tutoring prescribed under statutory provisions for juvenile defendants or by paying the fine and costs in the statutorily prescribed manner. The bill requires the election to be made in writing, signed by the defendant, and, if present, signed by the defendant's parent, guardian, or managing conservator and requires the court to maintain the written election as a record of the court and provide a copy to the defendant. The bill establishes that the requirement under provisions relating to community service or tutoring of certain juvenile defendants in satisfaction of a fine or cost that an offense occur in a building or on the grounds of the primary or secondary school at which the defendant was enrolled at the time of the offense does not apply to the performance of community service or the receipt of tutoring to discharge a fine or costs under the bill's provisions.
C.S.S.B. 393 authorizes a court, and specifically a justice or municipal court, to waive payment of a fine or cost imposed on a defendant who defaults in payment if the court determines that the defendant was, at the time the offense was committed, a child and that each alternative method of discharging the fine or cost would impose undue hardship on the defendant. The bill makes this authorization apply to a sentencing proceeding that commences before, on, or after the bill's effective date. The bill, for purposes of statutory provisions regarding appeal and writ of error and procedures for justice and municipal courts, provides for the confidentiality of all records, files, and stored information from which a record or file could be generated, relating to a child who has received a dismissal after deferral of a disposition for a fine-only misdemeanor other than a traffic offense and removes such confidentiality provisions with respect to a child whose conviction for such a misdemeanor is affirmed.
C.S.S.B. 393 expands the types of cases for which a juvenile case manager may be employed by a county court, justice court, municipal court, school district, juvenile probation department, or other appropriate governmental entity to include cases involving juvenile offenders referred to a court by a school administrator or designee for misconduct that would otherwise be within the court's statutory powers prior to a case being filed and conditions the employment of such a case manager on the consent of the juvenile and the juvenile's parents or guardians. The bill authorizes a juvenile case manager employed by a county or justice court to provide prevention services to a child considered at-risk of entering the juvenile justice system and intervention services to juveniles engaged in misconduct prior to cases being filed, excluding traffic offenses.
C.S.S.B. 393 amends the Education Code to require a court to dismiss a truancy-related complaint or juvenile court referral that is not made in compliance with statutory referral and filing requirements. The bill authorizes a peace officer commissioned by the board of trustees of a school district to dispose of cases in the peace officer's jurisdiction in accordance with statutory provisions regarding the disposition of certain cases without juvenile court referral and first offender programs. The bill makes the exception to the application of the offenses of disruption of classes and disruption of the lawful transportation of children to or from school or an activity sponsored by a school apply to a person who, at the time the person engaged in the prohibited conduct, was younger than 12 years of age, rather than a student in the sixth grade or a lower grade level.
C.S.S.B. 393 prohibits a peace officer from issuing a citation to a child who is at least 10 years of age and younger than 17 years of age, who is a student enrolled in public school, and who is alleged to have committed a school offense that is a Class C misdemeanor, other than a traffic offense, committed on property under the control and jurisdiction of a school district. The bill's provisions do not prohibit a child from being taken into custody in accordance with relevant statutory provisions and, to the extent of any conflict, control over any law applied to a school offense alleged to have been committed by a child.
C.S.S.B. 393 requires a school district that commissions peace officers to develop a system of graduated sanctions, including multiple graduated sanctions, that must be imposed on a child before a complaint is filed against the child for a school offense that is an offense of disruption of classes or school-related transportation or certain types of disorderly conduct. The bill requires the system to require a warning letter to be issued to the child and the child's parent or guardian that specifically states the child's alleged school offense and explains the consequences if the child engages in additional misconduct; a behavior contract with the child that must be signed by the child, the child's parent or guardian, and an employee of the school and that includes a specific description of the behavior that is required or prohibited for the child and the penalties for additional alleged school offenses, including additional disciplinary action or the filing of a complaint in a criminal court; the performance of school-based community service by the child; and the referral of the child to counseling, community-based services, or other in-school or out-of-school services aimed at addressing the child's behavioral problems, which may include participation by the child's parent or guardian if necessary. The bill authorizes the school to file a complaint against a child with a criminal court in accordance with the bill's provisions if the child fails to comply with or complete the graduated sanctions.
C.S.S.B. 393 requires a complaint alleging the commission of a school offense, in addition to the statutory requirements for complaints filed in a justice or municipal court, to be sworn to by a person who has personal knowledge of the underlying facts giving rise to probable cause to believe that an offense has been committed, and to be accompanied by a statement from a school employee stating whether the child is eligible for or receives special services under the special education program and the graduated sanctions, if required, that were imposed on the child before the complaint was filed. The bill authorizes a summons to be issued under applicable statutory provisions after a complaint has been filed.
C.S.S.B. 393 authorizes an attorney representing the state in a court with jurisdiction to adopt rules pertaining to the filing of a complaint against a child by a school that the state considers necessary in order to determine whether there is probable cause to believe that the child committed the alleged offense, to review the circumstances and allegations in the complaint for legal sufficiency, and to see that justice is done.
C.S.S.B. 393 amends the Family Code to require a criminal court to waive original jurisdiction for a complaint against a child alleging a violation of a misdemeanor offense punishable by fine only, other than a traffic offense, and refer the child to juvenile court if the court or another court has previously dismissed a complaint against the child because of a determination relating to the child's mental illness, disability, or lack of capacity.
C.S.S.B. 393 authorizes a law-enforcement officer authorized to take a child into custody to dispose of the case of a child accused of a Class C misdemeanor, other than a traffic offense, without charging the child in a court of competent criminal jurisdiction under certain conditions. The bill expands the children eligible for a first offender program established by a juvenile board to include a child accused of a Class C misdemeanor, other than a traffic offense, prior to the filing of a criminal charge and updates statutory provisions regarding disposition procedures and requirements under the program to reflect that expansion.
C.S.S.B. 393 amends the Penal Code to prohibit a person from being prosecuted for or convicted of a misdemeanor punishable by fine only or a violation of a penal ordinance of a political subdivision that the person committed when younger than 10 years of age. The bill establishes that a person who is at least 10 years of age but younger than 15 years of age is presumed incapable of committing such offenses, other than an offense under a juvenile curfew ordinance or order, and authorizes the presumption to be refuted if the prosecution proves to the court by a preponderance of the evidence that the actor had sufficient capacity to understand that the conduct engaged in was wrong at the time the conduct was engaged in. The bill specifies that the prosecution is not required to prove that the actor at the time of engaging in the conduct knew that the act was a criminal offense or knew the legal consequences of the offense.
C.S.S.B. 393 requires a court with jurisdiction of a misdemeanor punishable by fine only or a violation of a penal ordinance of a political subdivision, on motion by the state, the defendant, or a person standing in parental relation to the defendant, or on the court's own motion, to determine whether probable cause exists to believe that a child, including a child with a mental illness or developmental disability, lacks the capacity to understand the proceedings in criminal court or to assist in the child's own defense and is unfit to proceed, or lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of the child's own conduct or to conform the child's conduct to the requirement of the law. The bill authorizes the court, if the court determines that probable cause exists for such a finding, to dismiss the complaint after providing notice to the state and authorizes such a dismissal to be appealed. The bill defines a child, for purposes of its provisions regarding a child with mental illness, disability, or lack of capacity, as a person who is at least 10 years of age and younger than 17 years of age and who is charged with or convicted of a certain offense of which a justice or municipal court has jurisdiction.
C.S.S.B. 393 makes certain conduct constituting disorderly conduct inapplicable to a person who, at the time the person engaged in the prohibited conduct at a public school campus during regular hours, was a student younger than 12 years of age, rather than a student in the sixth grade or a lower grade level.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2013.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.S.B. 393 may differ from the engrossed version in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and highlighted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the engrossed and committee substitute versions of the bill.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|