04/27/1998 02:15 PM Senate JUD

            HB  16 - JUVENILE DELINQUENCY PROCEDURES                           
                                                                               
MR. BRUCE CAMPBELL, staff to Representative Pete Kelly, presented              
HB 16 as Rep. Kelly's third substantial bill regarding juvenile                
justice matters. He said Rep. Kelly worked with the Governor as                
well as several departments on this bill.                                      
                                                                               
MR. CAMPBELL said this bill will establish dual sentencing                     
procedures which will give juveniles both a juvenile and an adult              
sentence and allow them to serve the former sentence unless their              
behavior necessitates the latter.                                              
                                                                               
MR. CAMPBELL explained the bill also clearly authorizes                        
municipalities to take minors before civil court and gives the                 
Department of Health, Education and Social Services the ability to             
get involved in the informal adjudication process and encourages               
all involved agencies to resolve problems at the earliest, most                
correctable levels.                                                            
                                                                               
MR. CAMPBELL said the bill also adds secure and semi-secure                    
residential facilities for minors with drug, alcohol and                       
developmental disorders, allowing these offenders to remain in                 
state.                                                                         
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR asked if there was an amendment to the bill and MR.            
CAMPBELL said there was an amendment he hoped the committee would              
consider. The amendment concerned the recent murder of taxi drivers            
in Anchorage, a crime in which a minor offender would be waived                
automatically into adult court. However, in the interpretation of              
the waiver provision, it was ruled that could only happen after an             
"arraignment."  This would require a grand jury indictment, and                
goes against the intent of the bill. The amendment clarifies these             
juveniles could be waived into adult court without a grand jury                
indictment.                                                                    
                                                                               
Number 315                                                                     
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR agreed that was not the intent of the waiver bill              
and expressed his appreciation for this legislation and the fix it             
makes to the juvenile waiver process.                                          
                                                                               
SENATOR ELLIS asked what process the task force used to make                   
recommendations and if there were provisions in the bill that did              
not originate from the task force, or if there were task force                 
recommendations that had not been included in the bill. MR.                    
CAMPBELL noted section six dealing with a witness protection                   
program did not come out of the task force process and he believed             
there were one or two provisions from the task force report that               
were left out. MR. CAMPBELL indicated one of these changes was a               
change in wording that would have made the bill much longer and                
more complex.                                                                  
                                                                               
Number 362                                                                     
                                                                               
MS. MARGO KNUTH, representing the Department of Law, worked with               
the Youth and Justice Forum in 1996 to formulate their lengthy                 
report. MS. KNUTH said this was a bipartisan group that met over               
the course of a year and concerned itself with the increase in                 
youth crime in Alaska. MS. KNUTH said the group discovered that                
part of the problem was a heightened awareness of youth crime                  
created a perception of an increase in juvenile crime.  Alaska is              
a growing state and there are simply more kids living here.                    
                                                                               
MS. KNUTH said the conference came up with two major conclusions.              
First, they decided the "most bang for the buck" would come from               
increased funding for prevention and early intervention. She said              
the smart start program is an outgrowth of that conclusion.                    
                                                                               
MS. KNUTH said the second conclusion the conference reached was                
regarding the importance of civil penalties. She said it is not how            
large or small the consequences are, but how likely they are to  be            
enforced that makes them effective. She suggested consistent small             
consequences are extremely effective for the low level offender and            
there is currently a group of these lower level offenses that are              
drawing no response. MS. KNUTH said this bill will authorize                   
communities to deal with these offenses through civil penalties and            
a community court system.                                                      
                                                                               
On the other end of the spectrum, MS. KNUTH said the conference                
established that there is a small group of serious offenders who               
need to be identified and closely monitored. She said this is where            
the dual sentencing provisions come in. She said those juveniles at            
risk for becoming serious offenders will be given once last chance             
in the form of a dual sentence. If they abide by the provisions set            
out by the court under their juvenile sentence (including                      
drug/alcohol treatment, restitution, etc.) they end up with no                 
adult conviction and no adult record. However, if they fail to                 
abide by the conditions they are waived into their adult sentence.             
MS. KNUTH said this is proving to be effective, and it puts the                
person's future into their own hands and allows them to control                
their fate. MS. KNUTH was "fairly optimistic" this bill would help             
juvenile offenders at both sides of the spectrum.                              
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR asked MS. KNUTH if she had any concerns about the              
amendment. MS. KNUTH said the amendment seemed appropriate with the            
intent of the original legislation and was a good fix to the                   
problem.                                                                       
                                                                               
Number 438                                                                     
                                                                               
MS. BARBARA BRINK, Alaska Public Defender, thanked the sponsor for             
making improvements to the bill but testified that treating more               
kids like adults will not necessarily be a more effective crime                
fighting measure. MS. BRINK suggested we should remember that there            
has not been a great increase in juvenile arrests and we should                
consider that we may be reacting to the perception of a problem                
rather than a problem itself. MS. BRINK reported that Alaska is                
currently rated 37th in the country in the amount of juvenile                  
crime, with only 13 states having less juvenile crime. However, we             
are second in the country in both how many juveniles we lock up and            
how long we lock them up for.                                                  
                                                                               
MS. BRINK said there are still two sections of the bill that should            
be addressed. First, there is a portion of the bill that will treat            
children even more harshly than adults are treated by requiring                
them to serve time in cases where adults would not be required to.             
                                                                               
Second, MS. BRINK said the section that requires the automatic                 
reversion to the adult sentence for a juvenile who violates parole             
is tougher than what is required of adult offenders who violate                
conditions of parole and are allowed to have that violation                    
reviewed by a judge to determine the appropriate course of action.             
                                                                               
MS. BRINK noted that she appreciated having secure psychiatric                 
facilities in state, but she was concerned with the due process                
procedure set out on page four. She specified the provision that               
allows a hearing only after 90 days and contains a standard lower              
than the regular "likely to be a danger to self/others." MS. BRINK             
believes if the system is to be set up to punish juveniles as                  
adults, it should offer them the same protections as well.                     
                                                                               
MS. BRINK also brought up a change to delinquency rule 10c in                  
section 51, saying it allows the use of hearsay in a temporary                 
detention hearing. MS. BRINK said this type of information is not              
generally admissible and she does not think it is a good idea to               
make this change. MS. BRINK urged the committee not to adopt the               
section that permits hearsay to be used in a temporary detention               
hearing.                                                                       
                                                                               
Number 514                                                                     
                                                                               
SENATOR ELLIS asked where the language MS. BRINK referred to came              
from. MARGO KNUTH said it came from the criminal division of the               
Department of Law and is parallel to the process that allows                   
hearsay to be used in a grand jury hearing.                                    
                                                                               
SENATOR PEARCE moved amendment #1 and without objection, it was so             
ordered.                                                                       
                                                                               
SENATOR PEARCE then moved CSHB 16(JUD) out of committee with                   
individual recommendations. Without objection, it was so ordered.