By: Whitmire S.B. No. 1839
(Bonnen of Brazoria)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the detention of certain juvenile offenders.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsections (c-1) and (f), Section 51.12, Family
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(c-1) The Texas Juvenile Justice Department [Probation
Commission] shall annually inspect each public or private juvenile
pre-adjudication secure detention facility. The department [Texas
Juvenile Probation Commission] shall provide a report to each
juvenile court judge presiding in the same county as an inspected
facility indicating whether the facility is suitable or unsuitable
for the detention of children in accordance with:
(1) the requirements of Subsections (a) and[,] (f)[,
and (g)]; and
(2) minimum professional standards for the detention
of children in pre-adjudication secure confinement promulgated by
the Texas Juvenile Justice Board [Probation Commission] or, at the
election of the juvenile board of the county in which the facility
is located, the current standards promulgated by the American
Correctional Association.
(f) A child detained in a building that contains a jail,
lockup, or other place of secure confinement, including an alcohol
or other drug treatment facility, shall be separated by sight and
sound from adults detained in the same building. Children and
adults are separated by sight and sound only if they are unable to
see each other and conversation between them is not possible. The
separation must extend to all areas of the facility, including
sally ports and passageways, and those areas used for admission,
counseling, sleeping, toileting, showering, dining, recreational,
educational, or vocational activities, and health care. The
separation may be accomplished through architectural design. If
incidental contact between the child and detained adults is
possible at the facility, staff must directly supervise the child
during all times incidental contact is possible. A person who has
been transferred for prosecution in criminal court under Section
54.02 and is under 17 years of age is considered a child for the
purposes of this subsection.
SECTION 2. Subsection (h), Section 54.02, Family Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(h) If the juvenile court waives jurisdiction, it shall
state specifically in the order its reasons for waiver and certify
its action, including the written order and findings of the court,
and shall transfer the person to the appropriate court for criminal
proceedings and cause the results of the diagnostic study of the
person ordered under Subsection (d), including psychological
information, to be transferred to the appropriate criminal
prosecutor. On transfer of the person for criminal proceedings,
the person shall be dealt with as an adult and in accordance with
the Code of Criminal Procedure, except that if detention in a
certified juvenile detention facility is authorized under Section
152.0015, Human Resources Code, the juvenile court may order the
person to be detained in the facility pending trial or until the
criminal court enters an order under Article 4.19, Code of Criminal
Procedure. A person who is ordered to be detained in a juvenile
detention facility and who is under 17 years of age is considered a
child for purposes of Section 51.12. A transfer of custody made
under this subsection is an arrest.
SECTION 3. Subsection (g), Section 51.12, Family Code, is
repealed.
SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act applies to a
child detained on or after the effective date of this Act,
regardless of whether the conduct for which the child was detained
occurred before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.