BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2607|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2607
Author: Skinner (D)
Amended: 6/15/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/10/14
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Knight, Liu, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: De Le�n, Mitchell
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 62-0, 4/21/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Juvenile justice: post-disposition detention
SOURCE : Childrens Advocacy Institute, University of San
Diego
DIGEST : This bill requires that a person be released from
juvenile detention upon an out-of-home placement order unless
the court determines that a delay in the release from detention
is reasonable, as specified, and enumerates specific
circumstances where such a delay is not reasonable.
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
1.Defines the scope and nature of "punishment" in the juvenile
court:
As used in this chapter, "punishment" means the imposition of
sanctions. It shall not include a court order to place a
child in foster care, as specified. Permissible sanctions may
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include the following:
A. Payment of a fine by the minor.
B. Rendering of compulsory service without compensation
performed for the benefit of the community by the minor.
C. Limitations on the minor's liberty imposed as a
condition of probation or parole.
D. Commitment of the minor to a local detention or
treatment facility, such as a juvenile hall, camp, or
ranch.
E. Commitment of the minor to the Department of the Youth
Authority.
"Punishment," for the purposes of this chapter, does not
include retribution.
1.Provides that when a minor is adjudged a delinquent ward of
the court, "the court may make any and all reasonable orders
for the care, supervision, custody, conduct, maintenance, and
support of the minor?," including the following:
A. A ward may be ordered to be on probation without
supervision of the probation officer. The court, in so
ordering, may impose on the ward any and all reasonable
conditions of behavior as may be appropriate, as specified.
B. In cases where the ward is subject to probation
supervision, the court shall order the care, custody, and
control of the minor or nonminor to be under the
supervision of the probation officer who may place the
minor or nonminor in any of the following:
1) The approved home of a relative or the approved home
of a nonrelative, extended family member, as specified;
2) A suitable licensed community care facility, as
specified; and
3) With a foster family agency, as specified.
1.Provides that "whenever a person has been adjudged a ward of
the juvenile court and has been committed or otherwise
disposed of as provided in this chapter for the care of wards
of the juvenile court, the court may order that the ward be
detained in the detention home, or in the case of a ward of
the age of 18 years or more, in the county jail or otherwise
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as the court deems fit until the execution of the order of
commitment or of other disposition.
2.Provides that in "any case in which a minor is detained for
more than 15 days pending the execution of the order of
commitment or of any other disposition, the court shall
periodically review the case to determine whether the delay is
reasonable. These periodic reviews shall be held at least
every 15 days, commencing from the time the minor was
initially detained pending the execution of the order of
commitment or of any other disposition, and during the course
of each review the court shall inquire regarding the action
taken by the probation department to carry out its order, the
reasons for the delay, and the effect of the delay upon the
minor."
This bill:
1.Provides that a minor or nonminor shall be released from
juvenile detention upon an out-of-home placement order unless
the court determines that a delay in the release from
detention is reasonable, as specified.
2.Requires the probation officer, prior to the dispositional
hearing, to contact appropriate placements to identify
specific, appropriate and available placements for the minor
or nonminor.
3.States that a court will not consider any of the following to
be a reasonable delay:
A. The probation officer's inability to identify a
specific, appropriate, and available placement for the
minor or nonminor when the court finds that the probation
officer has not made reasonable efforts to identify a
specific, appropriate, and available placement for the
minor or nonminor.
B. A delay caused by administrative processes, including,
but not limited to, the workload of county personnel,
transfer or reassignment of a case, or the availability of
reports or records.
C. A delay in convening any meetings between agencies, as
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defined.
1.Requires the probation department, at the dispositional
hearing, to explain to the court what steps have been taken to
identify an appropriate placement for the minor or nonminor.
2.Requires the court, if the court finds the delay to be
unreasonable, to issue any necessary orders, sanctions or
relief, pending the execution of the order of commitment or of
any other disposition, which may include, but is not limited
to, releasing the minor or nonminor to be under the
supervision of the probation officer in a temporary nonsecure
setting.
3.Requires the court to periodically review the case, as
specified, until the minor is placed or the court makes
another dispositional order.
4.States that it is the intent of the Legislature that minors
and non-minors are to be released to their court-ordered
dispositions expeditiously and that unreasonable periods of
detention must be eliminated because they are not in the best
interests of the minor or nonminor.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/13/14)
Children's Advocacy Institute, University of San Diego (source)
AFSCME
California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
California Police Chiefs Association
California Probation, Parole and Correctional Association
Children Now
East Bay Children's Law Offices
John Burton Foundation for Children without Homes
Juvenile Court Judges of California
Legal Advocates for Children and Youth
National Association of Social Workers
PORAC
Youth Law Center
OPPOSITION : (Verified 6/13/14)
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Chief Probation Officers of California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The East Bay Children's Law Offices
states:
AB 2607 addresses the inequity faced by foster youth who
are detained in juvenile hall in part because they have no
homes to return to. Many foster youth are held in juvenile
hall for less serious, non-violent offenses, although other
youth who commit the same offenses are released to their
parents. Studies show that incarceration, especially
extended incarceration, can be harmful to youth.
Existing law requires early consideration of appropriate
placements for youth who are at-risk of entering foster
care through the juvenile justice system. Youth who are
already in foster care as dependents of the court clearly
fall under this requirement. Unfortunately, the reality is
that appropriate placements for foster youth in the
juvenile justice system are not identified early in the
process and foster youth remain locked up until a suitable
placement is found. AB 2607 will protect the rights of
foster youth and reduce unnecessary detention.
AB 2607 will also benefit all youth who require out-of-home
placement as wards in the juvenile justice system. Case
processing placement delays occur routinely, resulting in
youth doing "dead time" in custody. During this "dead
time," youth are not able to participate in the programs
designed to facilitate their rehabilitation and successful
reunification with their families. The time spent in
juvenile hall awaiting placement is not credited to their
placement programs, further extending the length of time
that youth spend away from their homes and communities.
AB 2607 emphasizes the importance of timely consideration
of appropriate placements, clarifies the role of the court
in ensuring that unreasonable delays do not occur, and
promotes the public policy of rehabilitating youth through
the provision of appropriate services and family
reunification.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The Chief Probation Officers of
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California write, "There are many complexities involved in
placing these youth in out of home placements; specifically,
finding placements that are not only appropriate and available,
but ones in which the placement will accept the youth. As you
know, while we strongly share your intent with this bill, there
are factors involved in placement that we believe this bill does
not take into account and may inadvertently result in the
inappropriate placement of youth. For example, placing a minor
in need of sex offender treatment or mental health treatment can
be very challenging as a result of limited placement options
that are suitable for their specific and very acute needs. This
bill may prioritize the speed in which placement happens over
the appropriate placement to meet the needs of the youth in a
manner that protects public safety. We do not want to get in a
position whereby we are expediting the release of a youth with
no appropriate place for them to go.
"Pending amendments will add subsection (d) which seeks to set
forth actions a court must take upon determining a release of a
minor pursuant to this section. As proposed, the language would
require a court to issue any necessary orders, sanctions or
relief which may include releasing the minor to the supervision
of a probation officer in a temporary nonsecure setting. This
section ignores the fact that if probation had identified an
appropriate temporary nonsecure setting, we would have already
placed the youth there. Therefore, while this section seeks to
remedy where a youth will go upon release, it doesn't
unfortunately present a set of realistic alternatives for where
to send the youth that doesn't compromise their safety or that
of others.
"Further, existing rules of court, 5.790(h), govern orders of
the court and specifically wardship orders which says that 'the
court may make any reasonable order for the care, supervision,
custody, conduct, maintenance, support, and medical treatment of
a child adjudged a ward of the court.' We do not see any a
reason to add subsection (d) as it will only further complicate
the process of a court making a determination on how to address
the youth in these cases upon release pursuant to the bill."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 62-0, 4/21/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Bocanegra,
Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon,
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Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Cooley, Dababneh, Daly,
Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia,
Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hall, Roger Hern�ndez,
Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Medina,
Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V.
Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas,
Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Weber, Wieckowski,
Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Allen, Bigelow, Conway, Dahle, Beth Gaines,
Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones, Linder, Logue, Mansoor,
Melendez, Patterson, Wagner, Waldron, Vacancy
JG:nl 6/15/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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