BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 213

By: Moody

Youth Health & Safety, Select

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

There are thousands of juveniles who were tried as adults for capital and first degree felonies and who are currently serving lengthy prison sentences and are ineligible for parole until late adulthood. It has been noted that juveniles do not have the same capacity as adults to appreciate the consequences of their actions and cannot be held accountable in the same manner as adult offenders. Additionally, juveniles are likely to be different people in adulthood, and while paroling a youthful offender who becomes a mature adult equipped to successfully reenter society may be equitable, current law often does not make that an option for decades later than appropriate. C.S.H.B. 213 seeks to address these issues by requiring parole panels to consider certain factors relating to growth and maturity when making release decisions for inmates who were younger than 18 years of age when they committed the applicable offense and by changing parole eligibility for inmates serving a sentence for certain felonies committed when younger than 18 years of age. The bill is named in honor of Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr., who cared deeply about restorative youth justice and sponsored legislation similar to C.S.H.B. 213 during the 87th Legislative Session.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill expressly does one or more of the following: creates a criminal offense, increases the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or changes the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

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.H.B. 213, the Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. Act, amends the Government Code to change parole eligibility for an inmate who is serving a sentence for a felony offense committed when the inmate was younger than 18 years of age. The bill establishes such an inmate is not eligible for release on parole until the inmate's actual calendar time served plus good conduct time equals one-fourth of the sentence or 15 years, whichever is less. Such an inmate who is serving a life sentence for a capital felony in which the state did not seek the death penalty and the individual committed the offense when younger than 18 years of age is not eligible for release on parole until the inmate's actual calendar time served, without consideration of good conduct time, equals 20 years.

C.S.H.B. 213 sets out additional considerations for the parole of an inmate who was younger than 18 years of age at the time the offense for which the inmate is eligible for release on parole was committed. A parole panel must assess the growth and maturity of the inmate, taking into consideration the hallmark features of youth; the diminished culpability of juveniles, as compared to adults; and the greater capacity of juveniles for change, as compared to that of adults. The Board of Pardons and Paroles must adopt a policy establishing factors for a parole panel to consider when reviewing an applicable inmate for release on parole to ensure that the inmate is provided a meaningful opportunity to obtain release. The policy must do the following:

·         consider the age of the inmate at the time of the commission of the offense as a mitigating factor in favor of granting release on parole; and

·         permit persons having knowledge of the inmate before the inmate committed the offense or having knowledge of the inmate's growth and maturity after the offense was committed to submit statements regarding the inmate for consideration by the parole panel.

The bill expressly does not create a legal cause of action and expressly does not affect the general rights to which a crime victim, guardian of a victim, or close relative of a deceased victim is entitled under the Code of Criminal Procedure. These bill provisions apply to any inmate who is confined in a Texas Department of Criminal Justice facility on or after the bill's effective date, regardless of whether the offense for which the inmate is confined occurred before, on, or after the date.

C.S.H.B. 213 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to require the court, in the penalty phase of the trial of a felony or capital felony case in which the punishment is to be assessed by the jury rather than the court for a defendant who was younger than 18 years of age at the time the felony offense was committed, to charge the jury in writing as follows:

·         for a felony case:

o   the length of time for which the defendant is imprisoned may be reduced by the award of parole;

o   the defendant, if sentenced to a term of imprisonment, may earn early parole eligibility through good conduct time, which prison authorities may award to a prisoner who exhibits good behavior and diligence in carrying out prison work assignments and attempting rehabilitation;

o   prison authorities may take away all or part of good conduct time earned by a prisoner who engages in misconduct;

o   if the defendant is sentenced to a term of imprisonment, the defendant will not become eligible for parole until the actual time served plus any good conduct time earned equals one-fourth of the sentence imposed or 15 years, whichever is less;

o   eligibility for parole does not guarantee that parole will be granted;

o   it cannot accurately be predicted how the parole law and good conduct time might be applied to the defendant if sentenced to a term of imprisonment, because the application of that law will depend on decisions made by parole authorities; and

o   the jury may consider the existence of the parole law and good conduct time, but not the extent to which good conduct time may be awarded or forfeited or the manner in which the parole law may be applied to the defendant; and

·         for a capital felony case:

o   the length of time for which the defendant is imprisoned may be reduced by the award of parole;

o   if the defendant is sentenced to a term of imprisonment, the defendant will not become eligible for parole until the actual time served equals 20 years;

o   eligibility for parole does not guarantee that parole will be granted;

o   it cannot accurately be predicted how the parole law might be applied to the defendant if sentenced to a term of imprisonment, because the application of that law will depend on decisions made by parole authorities; and

o   the jury may consider the existence of the parole law, but not the manner in which the parole law may be applied to the defendant.

These provisions regarding jury instructions apply to a defendant sentenced for an offense on or after the bill's effective date, regardless of when the offense was committed.

C.S.H.B. 213 repeals Sections 499.053(d) and 508.145(b), Government Code.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2023.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 213 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute includes provisions that were not in the introduced prescribing specific jury instructions that must be given by the court in the penalty phase of the trial of a felony or capital felony case in which the punishment is to be assessed by the jury rather than the court for a defendant who was younger than 18 years of age at the time the felony offense was committed.

Both the introduced and the substitute require the Board of Pardons and Paroles to adopt a policy establishing additional factors for a parole panel to consider in order to ensure the inmate is provided a meaningful opportunity to obtain release. However, the substitute does not contain a requirement that was in the introduced for such a policy to establish a mechanism for the outcome of a comprehensive mental health evaluation conducted by an expert qualified by education and clinical training in adolescent mental health issues to be considered.

Both the introduced and the substitute provide for the applicability of their provisions regarding eligibility for parole and the computation of a parole release date to an inmate who was younger than 18 years of age at the time the relevant offense was committed, but those provisions differ as follows:

·         with respect to eligibility of such an inmate for parole:

o   the introduced conditioned that eligibility on the inmate serving a sentence for a capital or first degree felony to which judge-ordered community supervision does not apply, for a continuous trafficking of persons offense, for an offense of directing activities of a criminal street gang, or for a first degree felony offense of engaging in organized criminal activity; but

o   the substitute conditions such eligibility on the inmate serving a sentence for a felony offense, without specification as to the type of felony or the nature of the offense;

·         with respect to the computation of a parole release date for such an inmate:

o   the introduced established that an applicable inmate eligible for release under its provision specifying the qualifying felonies is not eligible for release until the inmate's actual calendar time served, without consideration of good conduct time, equals 20 calendar years or one-half of the applicable time otherwise provided under current law governing the computation of a parole eligibility date, whichever is less, but in no event in less than four calendar years, unless the inmate would otherwise be eligible for release under another applicable provision of current law; but

o   the substitute establishes that an applicable inmate serving a sentence for a felony offense, without specification as to the type of felony or the nature of the offense, is not eligible for release on parole until the inmate's actual calendar time served plus good conduct time equals one-fourth of the sentence or 15 years, whichever is less, and does not provide for the conditional four-year minimum confinement as set out in the introduced; and

·         with respect to the computation of a parole release date for an applicable inmate serving a life sentence for a capital felony:

o   the introduced established that an applicable inmate serving a sentence for the specified felonies is not eligible for release until the inmate's actual calendar time served, without consideration of good conduct time, equals 40 calendar years, if the applicable inmate is serving a sentence for a capital felony for murdering more than one person during the same criminal transaction or during different criminal transactions but the murders are committed pursuant to the same scheme or course of conduct, excluding an inmate found guilty only as a party under the law of parties; but

o   the substitute establishes that an applicable inmate who is serving a life sentence in a capital felony case in which the state does not seek the death penalty and the individual committed the offense when younger than 18 years of age is not eligible for release until the inmate's actual calendar time served, without consideration of good conduct time, equals 20 years.

The substitute includes a short title absent from the introduced establishing that the bill may be cited as the Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. Act.

The substitute changes the bill's effective date from January 1, 2024, to September 1, 2023.