From the initial point of questioning to whether there is a possibility of parole, the California State Legislature has passed new laws will affect the two crucial beginning and end points in the juvenile court process. For minors who were acquitted or had their cases dismissed, an additional bill allows for the sealing of their juvenile records. Governor Brown has signed six of these bills into new law, effective January 1, 2018. While none of the changes in the law will affect actual sentencing, each of these bills recognizes that juvenile offenders are children, with children’s levels of understanding, and that each has entire lives and potentials ahead of them.

Interrogation and arrest stage for juveniles age 14 and younger

SB 395 (Lara)

First, at the interrogation and arrest stages, children under the age of 15 years old will now be required to consult with an attorney before waiving their rights and before any custodial interrogation. This law is crucial in that children are taught from very young ages to trust the police and to always be completely forthcoming and submissive to authority figures- and especially to the police. Many adults, and most or all children, do not understand the full impact of their Miranda rights, or that the police are trained in sophisticated interrogation techniques- including lying to suspects- in their interrogation training courses. Sadly, many children, in order to please the questioner, to cover up for a friend, to feel important, or merely from stress and hoping to avoid further questions, will falsely confess to crimes they did not commit when they are subjected to interrogation from authority figures. These children do not understand the serious legal consequences of their confessions.

This new law will help children ages 15 or younger receive professional legal guidance before giving up their rights, and before the police interrogate them. These young minors will consult with legal counsel in person, by telephone, or by video conference prior to a custodial interrogation or waiver of the right to remain silent. There are particular nuances and limits to this new legislation, including an exception when necessary to protect life or property from imminent threat, but this could be a good start in the right direction. The new law requires that a small panel reports to the Legislature the relevant data on the effects and outcomes associated with its provisions, and further: the law automatically self- repeals on January 1, 2025.

Fees waived for juveniles under age 21

SB 190 (Mitchell)

Currently, correctional administrators (authorized by Counties) may assess administrative fees and charge application fees to participants in home detention programs or work furlough programs, whether the participants volunteered for the programs or not. Further, probationers must pay for any required drug testing when ordered. Also currently, parents of children accused of crimes must pay for the transportation, food, shelter, and care at juvenile facilities, and for the costs of required programs, such as alcohol or drug programs. Parents must also pay for the costs of probation supervision, home supervision, or electronic surveillance of the minor.

Effective January 1, 2018, the parents of accused and offending minors will no longer be liable for these fees and costs, which will be absorbed by the Counties for juveniles under the age of 21. Juveniles with “dual ward status” will not be affected.

While it seems rational that parents should be required to pay for the costs of their children, one result of juvenile justice’s cost-shifting burden to parents is that charging and incarcerating youths suddenly becomes virtually free for the government- it transfers all of the direct rearing and upbringing of the youth to the government, away from the parents, without any of the associated costs. This means that when considering whether to take and incarcerate a child, the government no longer has to be concerned with the costs of doing so, because the parents pay, which creates a disturbing imbalance of judicial considerations.

Parole processes for Juvenile offenders

AB 1308 (Stone)

SB 394 (Lara and Mitchell)

Two pieces of newly enacted legislation will affect parole processes for juvenile offenders. First, the Board of Parole Hearings generally is required to conduct youth offender parole hearings to consider the release of offenders who committed specified crimes when they were under 23 years of age and who were sentenced to state prison. Beginning in 2018, the Board of Parole Hearings must conduct youth offender parole hearings for those juveniles sentences to state prison who were under 25 years of age at the time they committed those crimes. Because there will be a sudden backlog of necessary hearings, the new law does make time provisions to allow the Board to catch up, and sets deadlines for those hearings that will now be required.

Second, SB 394 requires that children who have been sentenced to life without parole (LWOP) be given a parole hearing after 25 years of incarceration. Thus, a 15-year-old juvenile offender who was sentenced with LWOP will receive a parole hearing when he or she is 40 years old. This law brings California in line with recent Supreme Court decisions. For example, in 2005, the United States Supreme Court held that juveniles have lessened culpability than adults because of the “fundamental differences between juvenile and adult offenders” (Roper v. Simmons (2005) 543 U.S. 551). Then in 2010, it ruled that it is unconstitutional to sentence a youth who did not commit homicide to a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. The Court explained that the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, “does not foreclose the possibility that persons convicted of non-homicide crimes committed before adulthood will remain behind bars for life. It does forbid States from making the judgment at the outset that those offenders never will be fit to reenter society” (Graham v. Florida (2010) 540 U.S. 48, 51-52). Again, because this new legislation will require new, necessary hearings, it also makes time provisions to allow the Parole Board to catch up, and sets deadlines for the newly required hearings.

Honorable discharge program re-instated for juvenile offenders

SB 625 (Atkins)

Up until a budget bill was enacted in 2011, there was an honorable discharge program for juvenile offenders under the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s (CCDCR) Division of Juvenile Facilities. This program allowed juveniles who successfully completed parole after custody, and who demonstrated their ‘ability for honorable self-support,’ to clear their records and to qualify for employment or professional licensure.

Under the budget bill (AB 1628) passed in 2010, and effective 2011, the responsibility of supervision of offenders shifted from the state Juvenile Parole Board to county probation department. Due to a completely and admittedly inadvertent oversight, the new law failed to authorize anyone at the local level to issue honorable discharges. With no one authorized to issue the honorable discharges, the entire program was effectively removed.

This program was crucial for juvenile offenders to be able to make better decisions by pursuing employment and professional license educations. Without the ability to earn a dishonorable discharge, these youths were prevented from earning occupational degrees and licenses, including: barbering, cosmetology, tattoo artists, contractor’s licenses, law degrees, teaching degrees, and many other vital public service career options.

Senator Atkins authored this legislation, which was passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Brown, that reinstates this vital program by authorizing the Board of Juvenile Hearings to grant honorable discharges to those who have proven their ability to desist from criminal behavior and to initiate a successful transition into adulthood.

Sealing of juvenile records

AB 529 (2017) (Stone)

SB 312 (2017) (Skinner)

Two bills passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Brown relating to sealing juvenile records will go into effect on January 1, 2018. Together, they will help youths move forward in positive ways- pursuing education and employment- without the ongoing stigma of having a juvenile record hindering their progress.

Currently, a juvenile who has been arrested or who has had his or her case dismissed must petition the court within 5 years to seal those juvenile records. Under AB 529, the court will be required to automatically seal the records of minors who were either acquitted or had their cases dismissed. If, however, within six months of a dismissal, new evidence is found, or if a witness becomes available, the prosecution may ask to refile those dismissed cases.

Also, existing law bans juvenile offenders who have been convicted of serious crimes from sealing their juvenile records. Beginning January 1, 2018, according to SB 312, this ban will be slightly less strict. In 2018, a person will be able to petition the court to seal their juvenile records after they have completed any period of probation supervision at age 21 (if the juvenile offender was committed to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Facilities) or at age 18 (if he or she was not committed to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Facilities). Certain serious violent or sexual crimes will not be affected.

Whether it’s automatic sealing by the court or allowing youths to have their own juvenile records sealed, young people merely accused of crimes as well as young convicted offenders will all be able to move forward into productive, valuable lives- without the lifetime barriers to jobs, education, housing, military service and other barriers that criminal records create.