SENATE BILL 718
By Taylor
HOUSE BILL 797
By Vaughan
HB0797
002332
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AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 37,
relative to juveniles.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 37, Chapter 1, Part 1, is amended by
adding the following as a new section:
(a) As used in this section, "approved detention facility" means a detention
facility used for detention of juveniles, including a detention home or center for
delinquent children that is under the control, direction, or supervision of the court or other
public authority or private agency approved by the court. Any such detention center and
operator must be approved, certified, or licensed by the department of children's
services, including a youth development center.
(b) In a county that has provided an approved detention facility to meet the
needs for care of children under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court or detained by order
of the juvenile court pending an investigation or hearing and disposition, the juvenile
court is required to use and assume direct supervision, control, and direction of the
approved detention facility as the primary detention facility for detention of juveniles
under the court's jurisdiction or arrange with a licensed institution, agency, or the
department of children's services to manage the facility or to receive temporary care and
custody of children within the jurisdiction of the court.
(c) Consistent with the public purposes set forth in ยง 37-1-101, if a juvenile court
conducts a child custody, detention, or adjudicatory proceeding, then the court must use
for the proceeding a dedicated courtroom provided by the county that is closest in
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proximity to the approved detention facility provided by the county, as long as the
courtroom substantially complies with the administrative office of the courts' minimum
courtroom security requirements. It is the purpose of this section to minimize the
humiliation of a child in custody or detention from public exposure and the use of
restraints that may occur from unnecessary vehicular transportation of the child. This
section does not replace the provisions in the Tennessee Rules of Juvenile Procedure
pertaining to confidentiality of proceedings and the use of contemporaneous audio-visual
transmissions.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.