By: Whitmire S.B. No. 1839

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the detention of certain juvenile offenders.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subsections (c-1) and (f), Section 51.12, Family Code, are amended to read as follows:

(c-1) The Texas Juvenile Justice Department [Probation Commission] shall annually inspect each public or private juvenile pre-adjudication secure detention facility. The department [Texas Juvenile Probation Commission] shall provide a report to each juvenile court judge presiding in the same county as an inspected facility indicating whether the facility is suitable or unsuitable for the detention of children in accordance with:

(1) the requirements of Subsections (a) and[,] (f)[, and (g)]; and

(2) minimum professional standards for the detention of children in pre-adjudication secure confinement promulgated by the Texas Juvenile Justice Board [Probation Commission] or, at the election of the juvenile board of the county in which the facility is located, the current standards promulgated by the American Correctional Association.

(f) A child detained in a building that contains a jail, lockup, or other place of secure confinement, including an alcohol or other drug treatment facility, shall be separated by sight and sound from adults detained in the same building. Children and adults are separated by sight and sound only if they are unable to see each other and conversation between them is not possible. The separation must extend to all areas of the facility, including sally ports and passageways, and those areas used for admission, counseling, sleeping, toileting, showering, dining, recreational, educational, or vocational activities, and health care. The separation may be accomplished through architectural design. If incidental contact between the child and detained adults is possible at the facility, staff must directly supervise the child during all times incidental contact is possible. A person who has been transferred for prosecution in criminal court under Section 54.02 and is under 17 years of age is considered a child for the purposes of this subsection.

SECTION 2. Subsection (h), Section 54.02, Family Code, is amended to read as follows:

(h) If the juvenile court waives jurisdiction, it shall state specifically in the order its reasons for waiver and certify its action, including the written order and findings of the court, and shall transfer the person to the appropriate court for criminal proceedings and cause the results of the diagnostic study of the person ordered under Subsection (d), including psychological information, to be transferred to the appropriate criminal prosecutor. On transfer of the person for criminal proceedings, the person shall be dealt with as an adult and in accordance with the Code of Criminal Procedure, except that if detention in a certified juvenile detention facility is authorized under Section 152.0015, Human Resources Code, the juvenile court may order the person to be detained in the facility pending trial or until the criminal court enters an order under Article 4.19, Code of Criminal Procedure. A person who is ordered to be detained in a juvenile detention facility and who is under 17 years of age is considered a child for purposes of Section 51.12. A transfer of custody made under this subsection is an arrest.

SECTION 3. Subsection (g), Section 51.12, Family Code, is repealed.

SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act applies to a child detained on or after the effective date of this Act, regardless of whether the conduct for which the child was detained occurred before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.

SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.