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Regular Session, 2010
SENATE BILL NO. 55
BY SENATOR MORRELL
JUVENILE JUSTICE. Provides for prosecution of nonviolent offenses by persons age 17
or under by juvenile court unless judicial waiver is granted to be tried as an adult. (8/15/10)
AN ACT1
To amend and reenact the Children's Code Article 857 (B) and (C) and to enact (D), relative2
to transfers for criminal prosecution; to provide for the authority to transfer a child3
for prosecution; to provide for certain procedures; and to provide for related matters.4
Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:5
Section 1. Children's Code Article 857 (B) and (C) are amended and reenacted and6
(D) is enacted to read as follows: 7
Art. 857. Transfers for criminal prosecution; authority8
* * *9
B. The court on its own motion or on motion of the district attorney may10
conduct a hearing to consider whether to transfer a child for prosecution to the11
appropriate court exercising criminal jurisdiction if a delinquency petition has12
been filed which alleges that a child who is seventeen years of age or younger at13
the time of the commission of the alleged offense but is not otherwise subject to14
the original jurisdiction of a court exercising criminal jurisdiction has15
committed a crime other than those listed in Paragraph A of this Section.16
B C. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a fourteen-17 SB NO. 55
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year-old who is transferred pursuant to this Article Paragraph A of this Section and1
subsequently convicted shall not be confined for such conviction beyond his thirty-2
first birthday.3
C D.(1) An adult who is charged with an offense committed at the time he4
was a child for which the time limitation for the institution of prosecution pursuant5
to Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 571 has not lapsed and for which he was subject6
to prosecution as an adult due to his age at the time the offense was committed may7
be prosecuted as an adult in the appropriate court exercising criminal jurisdiction. If8
convicted, he shall be punished as an adult as provided by law.9
(2) An adult who is charged with an offense committed at the time he was a10
child for which the time limitation for the institution of prosecution pursuant to Code11
of Criminal Procedure Art. 571 has not lapsed and for which he was not subject to12
prosecution as an adult due to his age at the time the offense was committed may be13
prosecuted as an adult in the appropriate court exercising criminal jurisdiction. If14
convicted, he shall be committed to the custody of the Department of Public Safety15
and Corrections to be confined in secure placement for a period of time as16
determined by the court not to exceed the maximum amount of confinement he could17
have been ordered to serve had he been adjudicated for the offense as a child at the18
time the offense was committed.19
Section 2. This Act shall become effective on August 15, 2010; if vetoed by the20
governor and subsequently approved by the legislature, this Act shall become effective on21
August 15, 2010, or on the day following such approval by the legislature, whichever is22
later.23 SB NO. 55
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The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Michael Bell.
DIGEST
Proposed law maintains present law and provides for the prosecution of nonviolent offense
by persons age 17 or younger by juvenile courts unless judicial waiver is granted to be tried
as an adult.
Effective August 15, 2010.
(Amends Ch.C.Art. 857(B) and (C); adds Ch.C.Art. 857(D))