Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that reduces the age at which juveniles can be sent to jail.

Highlights:

• Defines “young offender” as an offender who (Sec. 2):

• Is less than 21 years of age; and

• Has been sentenced by a court of criminal jurisdiction.

• Prohibits the department from housing a young offender in a facility that is part of the general population (Sec. 2).

• Prohibits an individual child who is less than 18 years old from being held in the same housing as an adult even if they are being charged as an adult or having been already convicted of a crime as an adult (Sec. 4).

• Amends the juvenile court definition of a delinquent child to include a child 12 years old and less than 16 years old (Sec. 7).

• Specifies that the longest the department of corrections can keep a child charged in juvenile court is 6 years and requires the department to submit a progress report to the court that will review and determine whether the release of the child is appropriate (Sec. 7).

Full Bill Text