An Act To Improve Juvenile Justice
Sec. 1. 15 MRSA §3306-A, first ¶, as amended by PL 2003, c. 706, Pt. A, §4, is further amended to read:
At the juvenile's first appearance or at any a subsequent appearance before the court, the court may order the juvenile's unconditional release, conditional release or detention in accordance with section 3203-A. Unless the court orders otherwise, any a juvenile put on conditional release by a juvenile community corrections officer remains on conditional release until disposition the juvenile commences an informal adjustment pursuant to section 3301, subsection 5, paragraph B, the attorney for the State determines that no petition will be filed or the juvenile court enters a final dispositional order pursuant to section 3314.
Sec. 2. 15 MRSA §3307, sub-§2, ¶A, as amended by PL 2003, c. 180, §8, is further amended to read:
Sec. 3. 15 MRSA §3314, sub-§3-A, as amended by PL 2003, c. 305, §6, is further amended to read:
The court shall give notice of suspension and take physical custody of an operator's license or permit as provided in Title 29-A, section 2434. The court shall immediately forward the operator's license and a certified abstract of suspension to the Secretary of State.
Sec. 4. 15 MRSA §3314, sub-§7 is enacted to read:
A period of confinement imposed as a punitive sanction or coercive confinement ordered as a remedial sanction must be served in a facility approved or operated by the Department of Corrections exclusively for juveniles. If a person has attained 18 years of age, the court may order the period of confinement to be served in the adult section of a jail or other secure detention facility intended or primarily used for the detention of adults. In the case of a person who has attained 21 years of age, the period of confinement must be served in the adult section of a jail or other secure detention facility intended or primarily used for the detention of adults.
Sec. 5. 28-A MRSA §2051, sub-§2, ¶B, as amended by PL 2003, c. 452, Pt. P, §4 and as affected by Pt. X, §2, is further amended to read:
The court shall give notice of suspension and take physical custody of an operator's license or permit as provided in Title 29-A, section 2434. The court shall immediately forward the operator's license and a certified abstract of suspension to the Secretary of State.
summary
This bill amends the Maine Juvenile Code as follows.
1. It provides clarification of when conditions of release imposed by a juvenile community corrections officer terminate.
2. It clarifies that the public may not be excluded from a proceeding involving a juvenile petition alleging a second or subsequent crime that would be a Class D or higher class crime if the juvenile were an adult.
3. It provides explicit authority for the Juvenile Court to invoke contempt powers to enforce dispositional orders and hold accountable juveniles who fail to comply with such orders.
The bill also authorizes the court to suspend for up to 6 months the license, permit or right to operate a motor vehicle of a juvenile adjudicated of illegal possession or consumption of liquor by a minor.