An Act To Improve Maine's Juvenile Justice System

Sec. 1. 15 MRSA §3301, sub-§5, ¶A,  as amended by PL 1999, c. 624, Pt. B, §9, is further amended to read:

Sec. 2. 15 MRSA §3306-B  is enacted to read:

§ 3306-B.  Physical restraints in the courtroom

Sec. 3. 15 MRSA §3308, sub-§3,  as amended by PL 1991, c. 493, §20 and PL 2003, c. 689, Pt. B, §6, is further amended to read:

Sec. 4. 15 MRSA §3308, sub-§5,  as amended by PL 1999, c. 624, Pt. B, §18, is further amended to read:

Sec. 5. 15 MRSA §3314, sub-§1, ¶H-1  is enacted to read:

summary

This bill directs juvenile community corrections officers, when determining alternatives based on preliminary investigations, and the court, when entering a dispositional order for an adjudicated juvenile, to consider that whenever possible and appropriate the juvenile be referred to participate in a program intended to increase community safety by reducing the likelihood of future illegal behavior by the juvenile, to hold the juvenile accountable to the juvenile's victims and the community and to assist the juvenile in becoming a responsible and productive member of society.

The bill prohibits the use of physical restraints on a juvenile during a court proceeding and specifies that restraints must be removed prior to the juvenile's appearance before the court unless a Juvenile Court Judge finds that use of restraints is necessary because the present behavior of the juvenile represents a current threat to that juvenile's safety or the safety of others in the courtroom; recent disruptive courtroom behavior of the juvenile has placed others in potentially harmful situations or presents a substantial risk of inflicting physical harm on that juvenile or others; present behavior of the juvenile presents a substantial risk of flight from the courtroom; or less restrictive restraints are unavailable.

Prior to a juvenile's appearance in court, the court is directed to inquire of the transporting agency and the judicial marshal or other designated court security as to whether reasonable grounds exist for the use of physical restraints in a particular situation or for a particular juvenile. If the transporting agency or the judicial marshal or other designated court security raises a concern that reasonable grounds exist for the use of physical restraints, the burden at hearing is on the juvenile to show by a preponderance of the evidence that reasonable grounds for use of physical restraints do not exist or that a less restrictive alternative that will alleviate the need for physical restraints exists. The court is directed to permit testimony on the issue of whether the use of physical restraints is necessary in a particular situation or for a particular juvenile.

The bill also amends the provisions regarding the dissemination of certain juvenile court records to specify that dissemination may be allowed only with the consent of the court, after hearing, taking into consideration the purposes of the Maine Juvenile Code. The bill specifies that police records, juvenile community corrections officers' records and all other reports of social and clinical studies may not be open to inspection in cases not open to the general public, and in cases that are open to the general public those records may be open to inspection only with the consent of the court, after hearing, taking into consideration the purposes of the Maine Juvenile Code and the need of the person seeking to inspect the records to access the information through this process. The juvenile, counsel who represented the juvenile at the adjudicatory or dispositional hearing and the district attorney must be given notice of the hearing and an opportunity to be heard.