Youth courts would use broader offense categories for serious and youthful offenders

The bill would define a serious youthful offender as a child ages 14 through 18 charged with at least one listed serious crime. The listed crimes include murder, certain sexual offenses, armed robbery, and shootings that cause great bodily harm. The child must be charged and indicted or bound over for trial. The child would not be treated as a delinquent child under this definition.

The bill would define a youthful offender using a list of specified charges or a felony conviction with three prior separate felony adjudications. The definition covers children ages 14 through 18 at the time of the offense who may face adult or juvenile sanctions. The listed charges include violent offenses, some vehicle-related offenses, and certain firearm offenses. The prior felony adjudications must have occurred within the three years immediately before the current offense and must come from separate events. A successfully completed consent decree would not count as a prior adjudication.

The bill would state that delinquent acts include several listed offenses involving vehicles, substances, graffiti, cannabis, escape, alcohol, and protection orders. These rules apply to acts committed by children, including conduct involving alcohol or cannabis and violations of specified state laws. The cannabis rule would not apply to a child participating in the medical cannabis program. Alcohol and cannabis offenses would generally include conduct outside the presence of a parent, guardian, custodian, or adult spouse. The listed offenses must be acts that would qualify under the referenced criminal or regulatory laws.

The bill would send these cases to the youthful offender or delinquency disposition rules based on the offense the child was found to have committed. The rule covers children age 14 or older who were charged as serious youthful offenders but were not found to have committed the serious youthful offender offense. A child found to have committed a youthful offender offense would be subject to the youthful offender disposition rules. A child found to have committed another delinquent act would be adjudicated as a delinquent and handled under the delinquency disposition rules. The case would be transferred to the children's court for disposition.