Requiring a person convicted of an offense that resulted in the incapacitation or death of a victim who is the parent or guardian of a minor child to pay restitution in the form of child support.
Impact
The bill introduces a significant change in criminal restitution practices in the state. It enforces a new responsibility on convicted individuals to care for the victims' dependents financially, which can greatly influence the court's decisions regarding sentencing. Courts will have to take into account various factors when determining the amount of child support, including the children's needs, the financial situation of the surviving parent or guardian, and the victim's previous standard of living. This potentially injects a new layer of complexity into sentencing and restitution processes.
Summary
Senate Bill 94 mandates that individuals convicted of an offense resulting in the incapacitation or death of a victim, who is also a parent or guardian of a minor, must pay restitution in the form of child support. This bill establishes a legal obligation for offenders to provide financial support for the children of the victim until they reach 18 years of age and have graduated from high school. The intention behind the bill is to ensure that children who lose a parent or guardian due to a crime are not left without necessary financial support.
Conclusion
Overall, SB94 seeks to address the well-being of children affected by crime through mandated financial support from offenders. This legislative action reflects a broader recognition of victims' families' needs in the criminal justice system, promoting a perspective that emphasizes accountability while considering the vulnerabilities of dependents left behind.
Contention
While the bill aims to provide necessary support for children of victims, it may raise questions regarding the enforcement of such restitution orders. Critics might argue about the fairness and feasibility of expecting convicted individuals to fulfill these financial obligations, especially if they are facing incarceration or have limited financial means. Furthermore, some may point to the need for safeguards to ensure that payments go directly to the intended beneficiaries and are not subject to the defendant’s financial irresponsibility or changes in circumstance.
Requiring a person convicted of an offense that resulted in the incapacitation or death of a victim who is the parent or guardian of a minor child to pay restitution in the form of child support.
Requiring a person convicted of an offense that resulted in the incapacitation or death of a victim who is the parent or guardian of a minor child to pay restitution in the form of child support and increasing the criminal penalties for repeat violations of a protective order.
Requiring a person convicted of driving under the influence to pay child support for any child of a person killed during the offense giving rise to such conviction.
Requiring custodial and non-custodial parents to cooperate with child support enforcement programs for food assistance eligibility and disqualifying such parents from food assistance for being delinquent in support payments.
Requiring the court to appoint an attorney to represent a child who is the subject of child in need of care proceedings and allowing for the optional appointment of a guardian ad litem.
Requiring certain persons on a third or subsequent conviction of driving under the influence to participate in a multidisciplinary model of services for substance use disorders, removing the requirement that municipal courts collect fingerprints from persons convicted of violating certain municipal ordinance provisions, amending the crime of aggravated endangering a child to increase the criminal penalties when bodily harm to the child results and when a child is in certain environments associated with fentanyl-related controlled substances, increasing the criminal penalties for unlawful distribution of fentanyl-related controlled substances, eliminating the element of concealment from the crime of breach of privacy related to installing or using a device to photograph or record another identifiable person under or through the clothing being worn by that other person or another identifiable person who is nude or in a state of undress, excluding certain types of incarceration time from being included in the allowance for time spent incarcerated when calculating a criminal defendant's sentence and updating the general terms of supervision for offenders on probation and postrelease supervision.
Establishing periods of ineligibility for child care subsidy based on cooperation with child support services and requiring the secretary to conduct reviews of cooperation with child support.
Requiring a referral of an alleged victim of child abuse or neglect for an examination as part of an investigation, creating a program in the department of health and environment to provide training and payment for such examinations.
Requiring work registrants ages 50-59 to complete an employment and training program to receive food assistance, establishing periods of ineligibility for child care subsidy based on cooperation with child support services and requiring the secretary to conduct reviews of cooperation with child support.