Juvenile code rewrite moves forward
2:56 pm, February 20th, 2013
The combined juvenile code rewrite and juvenile justice reform bill has cleared its first hurdle.
The House Judiciary Committee, whose chairman is sponsoring House Bill 242, approved the bill on Tuesday. It will now go to the House Rules Committee, which will decide when it comes up for a full vote by the chamber.
HB 242 is the marriage of previous efforts to overhaul the state’s 42-year-old juvenile code and recommendations by the governor’s criminal justice reform council aimed at curbing youth offender recidivism and how much the state pays to house them in detention centers.
The bill was filed Feb. 7, the same day state Supreme Court Chief Justice Carol Hunstein used her last State of the Judiciary address to push for juvenile justice reform.
The bill sponsor, Rep. Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs, says the bill addresses “troubled children and children in trouble.”
Some of its provisions include a two-tiered scheme for designated felonies and the creation of community-based treatment programs for juveniles.
For more information on the bill, go to the Daily Report’s archives: http://www.dailyreportonline.com/PubArticleDRO.jsp?id=1202588653795.
Contributor: Kathleen Baydala Joyner in Juvenile justice and courts, Legislation, Legislature 2013 | subscribe to rss | 
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