BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2390
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 5, 2016
Consultant: Matt Dean
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr., Chair
AB
2390 (Brown) - As Introduced February 18, 2016
SUMMARY: Clarifies that juveniles eligible for an honorable
discharge would be automatically released from all penalties and
disabilities resulting from their commitment, for the Department
of Corrections and Rehabilitations, Division of Juvenile Justice
(DJJ) to certify a finding the juvenile deserves an honorable
discharge. Specifically, this bill:
1)States that each person honorably discharged from the control
of either DJJ or from the control of the county probation
department by the juvenile court shall be released from all
penalties or disabilities resulting from the offenses for
which they were committed.
2)Prohibits honorably discharged individuals from being either
admitted to take a peace officer examination or becoming peace
officers if, unless otherwise prohibited by law, less than
five years have passed since the individual was discharged,
the individual has been convicted of a non-traffic misdemeanor
or any felony, or the individual is currently under the
control of DJJ or a county probation department.
3)Requires DJJ, upon final discharge, to immediately certify the
discharge or dismissal in writing and transmit the certificate
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to the court by which the person was committed.
4)Requires the court with jurisdiction over a discharged
juvenile to dismiss the accusation and pending action against
the discharged juvenile upon receipt of the DJJ's certificate.
5)Lists the penalties and disabilities from which the honorably
discharged individual as including but not limited to any
disqualification for any employment or occupational license,
or both, unless otherwise prohibited.
6)Entitles every person honorably discharged to petition the
court to set aside the verdict of guilty.
7)States that honorably discharged individuals are subject to
prohibitions on ownership of firearms for specified offenses,
including but not limited to violent offenses and drug crimes.
8)Allows convictions pursuant to specified serious juvenile
offenses to be admissible as evidence if: the individual was
16 years of age or older at the time they committed the
offense, the person was found unfit to be dealt with under
juvenile court law, and the person was committed to DJJ for
the offense for which they were found unfit.
9)States that a conviction for which an individual received an
honorable discharge may still be used as a punishment
enhancement for a subsequent offense.
10)States that a conviction of a person who is 18 years of age
or older at the time he or she committed the offense is
admissible in a subsequent civil, criminal or juvenile
proceeding, if otherwise admissible.
11)Requires every person discharged from control of the DJJ or
county probation department by the juvenile court to be
informed of the provisions of this section in writing.
12)Defines "honorably discharged" as meaning and including every
person whose discharged is based upon a good record on
supervised release.
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EXISTING LAW:
1)Defines "honorable discharge" as meaning and including "every
person whose discharge is based upon a good record on parole."
(Welf. & Inst. Code, §§ 1772, subd. (b), 1176, 1177, 1178 and
1179.)
2)States that juveniles committed for certain specified offenses
are not eligible for honorable discharge. These offenses
include all of the following:
a) Murder;
b) Arson, as specified;
c) Robbery;
d) Rape with force, violence, or threat of great bodily
harm;
e) Sodomy by force, violence, duress, menace, or threat of
great bodily harm;
f) A lewd or lascivious act on a child;
g) Oral copulation by force, violence, duress, menace, or
threat of great bodily harm;
h) Sexual penetration;
i) Kidnapping for ransom, purposes of robbery, or with
bodily harm;
j) Attempted murder;
aa) Assault with a firearm or destructive device or by any
means of force likely to produce great bodily injury;
bb) Discharge of a firearm into an inhabited or occupied
building;
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cc) Specified crimes against persons over 60 years of age;
dd) Specified firearms offenses in commission of a felony;
ee) Dissuading a witness;
ff) Manufacturing, compounding, or selling one-half ounce or
more of a salt or solution of a controlled substance;
gg) A violent felony;
hh) Escape, by the use of force or violence, from a county
juvenile hall, home, ranch, camp, or forestry camp if great
bodily injury is intentionally inflicted upon an employee
of the juvenile facility during the commission of the
escape;
ii) Torture as described;
jj) Aggravated mayhem, as described;
aaa) Carjacking, as described, while armed with a dangerous
or deadly weapon;
bbb) Kidnapping for purposes of sexual assault;
ccc) Kidnapping;
ddd) Permitting a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle;
eee) Igniting an explosive device, as specified; or
fff) Voluntary manslaughter. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 1772;
Pen. Code, § 707, subd. (b).)
3)Requires the Youth Advisory Board to discharge juveniles from
their control, to certify the discharge and to notify the
court in writing of the discharge. (Welf. & Inst. Code, §§
1179, 1772.)
4)Transfers jurisdiction over juveniles on supervised release
from the Youth Advisory Board to county probation departments
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and local juvenile courts. (Welf. & Inst. Code, §§ 607.1,
1766 and 1766.01.)
5)Holds that the current law provides no mechanism by which the
DJJ may find and certify an honorable discharge for juveniles
under the control of local probation departments and the local
juvenile court. (In re J.S., 237 (2015) Cal.App.4th 452.)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
1)Author's Statement: According to the author, "AB 2390 would
re-establish the 'honorable discharge' program that was
inadvertently eliminated by 2010 Budget Trailer Bill language.
The inability to earn an honorable discharge means these
youths' criminal record stays with them, disqualifying them
from employment opportunities and occupational licensing
requirements. The inadvertent elimination of this program
also has removed a valuable anti-recidivism tool and incentive
to keep youth crime-free while on probation. Without honorable
discharge status, the record of even rehabilitated youth will
follow them as they try to make it in the outside world."
2)Corrects an Inadvertent Error in 2010 DJJ Realignment: In a
2010, most of the authority for the discharge of juveniles was
transferred from DJJ to local juvenile courts. Local juvenile
courts now release juveniles from the control of the county
probation department except in the limited instances where the
DJJ maintains this responsibility. Either the juvenile court
or DJJ can find the juvenile eligible for honorable, general
or dishonorable discharge, depending on their behavior while
incarcerated.
Prior to DJJ realignment, DJJ could find the juvenile eligible
for an honorable discharge, releasing the juvenile from any
penalties and disabilities resulting from their conviction.
Upon DJJ making an honorable discharge determination, courts
were required to automatically release the juvenile from the
penalties and disabilities resulting from their conviction.
After realignment, the court found the statutory scheme was
missing a mechanism for local probation departments or the
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courts to make an honorable discharge finding, although the
court admitted this was likely an inadvertent error by the
Legislature.
Specifically, in In re J.S., 237 (2015) Cal.App.4th 452, the
California Court of Appeal for the Sixth District found that
courts have the discretion to release juveniles from all
penalties and disabilities resulting from their conviction.
As a result, the court thought the remedy of fixing the
Legislature's mistake would be improper, due to the
availability of multiple mechanisms for fixing this oversight
and the ability for juveniles to apply to the court for the
same relief they were previously granted automatically.
This bill fixes the Legislature's inadvertent omission by
providing a mechanism by which an honorable discharge may be
determined and then requiring the courts to once again
automatically release juveniles from all penalties and
disabilities resulting from their conviction upon such a
determination.
3)Argument in Support: According to the California Conference
of Bar Associations, "AB 2390 will enable juvenile offenders
with good records on supervised probation to once again obtain
honorable discharge status, enabling them to clear their
records. This authority was inadvertently eliminated by the
Legislature in 2010, and must be restored by statutory
amendment.
"Prior to 2011, youthful offenders committed to the California
Youth Authority could earn an honorable discharge by meeting
behavioral and treatment program expectations, including
paying off court-ordered restitution. Under this system, a
juvenile who successfully completed parole after custody, and
had shown an 'ability for honorable self-support' in the view
of the Youthful Offender parole board, received an 'honorable
discharge' that removed all future penalties attached to the
crimes. If youths do not have access to honorable discharge,
their criminal record stays with them and they may be
disqualified from employment opportunities and occupational
licensing requirements.
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"In 2010, the Legislature enacted AB 1628, the Corrections
Budget Trailer Bill for that year. Among the bill's many
provisions were those establishing "Juvenile Parole
Realignment." Like regular Realignment, which shifted
responsibility for incarcerating lower-level felons in county
jails, Juvenile Parole Realignment shifted responsibility for
the supervision of offenders released from state juvenile
facilities from the state Juvenile Parole Board to county
probation departments. However, the amended law failed to
authorize anyone at the local level to issue honorable
discharges pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code §1772 and
§1179. This oversight effectively rendered the honorable
discharge program de facto inoperable.
"Courts that have confronted the issue have acknowledged that
the removal of this authority was inadvertent, but have stated
that the problem must be fixed by corrective statutory
amendment (see In re J.S., 237 Cal.App.4th 452 (2015).
"The inability to earn an honorable discharge prevents
rehabilitated youth from obtaining the necessary employment
they need to earn a living and a valuable anti-recidivism tool
has been removed as an incentive to keep youth crime free
while on probation. Without honorable discharge status, the
record of even rehabilitated youth will follow them as they
try to make it in the outside world."
4)Prior Legislation: AB 1628 (Committee on Budget), Chapter
729, Statutes of 2010, transferred the majority of
responsibility for supervised release of juveniles from DJJ to
local courts and county probation departments.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Conference of California Bar Associations (Sponsor)
Anti-Recidivism Coalition
California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
California Public Defenders Association
Opposition
AB 2390
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None
Analysis Prepared
by: Matt Dean / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744