| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to parole for adolescent offenders; |
| 3 | providing a short title; amending s. 947.16, F.S.; |
| 4 | providing that a child younger than a specified age who is |
| 5 | sentenced to life or more than 10 years in prison is eligible |
| 6 | for parole if the child has been incarcerated for a minimum |
| 7 | period and has not previously been adjudicated for certain |
| 8 | offenses; requiring an initial eligibility interview to |
| 9 | determine whether the adolescent offender has been |
| 10 | sufficiently rehabilitated for parole; providing criteria to |
| 11 | determine sufficient rehabilitation; providing that the child |
| 12 | be incarcerated in an adolescent offender facility; providing |
| 13 | that, if the child is not granted parole by a specified age, |
| 14 | the child must be transferred from the adolescent offender |
| 15 | facility to an appropriate adult facility; providing for |
| 16 | retroactive application; providing an effective date. |
| 17 |
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| 18 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 19 |
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| 20 | Section 1. This act may be cited as the "Children in |
| 21 | Prison Rehabilitation Act of 2008." |
| 22 | Section 2. Paragraph (f) is added to subsection (1) of |
| 23 | section 947.16, Florida Statutes, subsections (2) through (6) |
| 24 | are renumbered as subsections (3) through (7), respectively, and |
| 25 | a new subsection (2) is added to that section, to read: |
| 26 | 947.16 Eligibility for parole; initial parole interviews; |
| 27 | powers and duties of commission; adolescent offender |
| 28 | eligibility.-- |
| 29 | (1) Every person who has been convicted of a felony or who |
| 30 | has been convicted of one or more misdemeanors and whose |
| 31 | sentence or cumulative sentences total 12 months or more, who is |
| 32 | confined in execution of the judgment of the court, and whose |
| 33 | record during confinement or while under supervision is good, |
| 34 | shall, unless otherwise provided by law, be eligible for |
| 35 | interview for parole consideration of her or his cumulative |
| 36 | sentence structure as follows: |
| 37 | (f)1. An adolescent offender is an offender who was under |
| 38 | 16 years of age at the time the criminal act was committed, was |
| 39 | sentenced to life, or to a single or cumulative term of |
| 40 | imprisonment of 10 years or more, and has served 8 years of the |
| 41 | sentence. An adolescent offender may be eligible for parole as |
| 42 | provided in this paragraph. An adolescent offender is ineligible |
| 43 | under this subsection if she or he, before the current offense, |
| 44 | which is one or more crimes committed by the child within a 1- |
| 45 | month period of time or for which sentences run concurrent to |
| 46 | each other, pled nolo contendere to or was convicted of any |
| 47 | violation of: |
| 48 | a. Section 784.041, entitled "Felony battery; domestic |
| 49 | battery by strangulation"; |
| 50 | b. Section 784.045, entitled "Aggravated battery"; |
| 51 | c. Section 784.07, entitled "Assault or battery of law |
| 52 | enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical care |
| 53 | providers, public transit employees or agents, or other |
| 54 | specified officers; reclassification of offenses; minimum |
| 55 | sentences"; |
| 56 | d. Section 784.08, entitled "Assault or battery on persons |
| 57 | 65 years of age or older; reclassification of offenses; minimum |
| 58 | sentence"; |
| 59 | e. Section 790.07, entitled "Persons engaged in criminal |
| 60 | offense, having weapons"; |
| 61 | f. Section 794.011, entitled "Sexual battery"; |
| 62 | g. Section 827.03, entitled "Abuse, aggravated abuse, and |
| 63 | neglect of a child; penalties"; or |
| 64 | h. Section 828.12, entitled "Cruelty to animals." |
| 65 | 2. Before an adolescent offender may be granted parole |
| 66 | under this paragraph, she or he must have an initial eligibility |
| 67 | interview to determine whether she or he has been sufficiently |
| 68 | rehabilitated while in the custody of the department to justify |
| 69 | granting parole. In order to determine if the adolescent |
| 70 | offender has been sufficiently rehabilitated, the hearing |
| 71 | examiner must consider whether: |
| 72 | a. The adolescent offender was a principal to the criminal |
| 73 | offense or an accomplice to the offense, a relatively minor |
| 74 | participant in the criminal offense, or acted under extreme |
| 75 | duress or domination of another person. |
| 76 | b. The offense was an isolated incident for which the |
| 77 | adolescent offender has shown remorse. |
| 78 | c. The adolescent offender's age, maturity, and |
| 79 | psychological development at the time of the offense affected |
| 80 | her or his behavior. |
| 81 | d. The adolescent offender, while in the custody of the |
| 82 | department, has aided inmates suffering from catastrophic or |
| 83 | terminal medical, mental, or physical conditions or has |
| 84 | prevented risk or injury to staff, citizens, or other inmates. |
| 85 | e. The adolescent offender has successfully completed |
| 86 | educational and self-rehabilitation programs. |
| 87 | f. The adolescent offender has received no disciplinary |
| 88 | reports for a period of at least 2 years. |
| 89 | g. The adolescent offender was a victim of sexual, |
| 90 | physical, or emotional abuse. |
| 91 | h. The wishes of the victim or the opinions of the |
| 92 | victim's next of kin have been taken into consideration. |
| 93 | (2) Except as otherwise provided in chapter 958, an |
| 94 | adolescent offender must be serving the sentence in a facility |
| 95 | designated for adolescent offenders. If an adolescent offender |
| 96 | has not been granted parole by the time she or he reaches 25 |
| 97 | years of age, the adolescent offender must be transferred from |
| 98 | the adolescent offender facility to an appropriate adult |
| 99 | facility. |
| 100 | Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law |
| 101 | and shall apply retroactively. |