Juveniles: secure youth treatment facilities: less restrictive programs.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on how existing programs will be affected by the new requirements.

Juveniles: Secure Youth Treatment Facilities: Less Restrictive Programs

This law updates rules for moving young people from secure youth treatment facilities to less restrictive programs and requires the court to follow specific guidelines when making decisions about these placements.

What This Bill Does

• Updates existing laws so that young people in local custody can be moved to state hospitals or developmental centers if needed for their rehabilitation, as certified by a county probation department.
• Requires courts to consider recommendations from the probation department before moving a youth from a secure treatment facility to another program.
• Prohibits courts from transferring youths to less restrictive programs unless those programs meet certain requirements, such as following case plans or being supervised by the state.

Who It Names or Affects

• Young people in secure youth treatment facilities
• Courts that make decisions about where young people are placed
• Probation departments and behavioral health directors

Terms To Know

secure youth treatment facility

A place where young people who have broken the law are kept under strict supervision to help them change their behavior.

less restrictive program

A less controlled environment, like a halfway house or community service program, designed to support young people as they transition back into society.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if a suitable less restrictive program cannot be found for a youth.
• It is unclear how the new guidelines will affect existing programs and their ability to accept youths from secure facilities.

Official Summary Text

SB 1157, as amended, Archuleta.
Juveniles: secure youth treatment
facilities.
facilities: less restrictive programs.
Existing law authorizes a person confined in a state correctional school to be cared for and treated in a state hospital or developmental center if the Chief Deputy Secretary for the Division of Juvenile Justice certifies that, in their opinion, the rehabilitation of the person may be expedited by treatment at one of the state hospitals or developmental centers. Under existing law, the Division of Juvenile Justice closed on June 30, 2023, and youth in the custody of the Division of Juvenile Justice were transferred to local custody.
This bill would update that provision to reflect the realignment of youth custody from the state to local entities by making it applicable to youth confined in a secure youth treatment facility and upon certification of the county probation department, in consultation with the facility’s behavioral health director.
Existing law authorizes a court to order a ward who is 14 years of age or older, and who meets certain criteria, to be committed to a secure youth treatment facility, operated by the county of commitment, for a period of confinement. Existing law authorizes the court, upon a motion from the probation department or the ward, to order that the ward be transferred from a secure youth treatment facility to a less restrictive program, such as a halfway house, a camp or ranch, or a community residential or nonresidential service program if the court determines that the ward has made substantial progress toward the goals of the individual rehabilitation plan. Existing law requires the court to consider the recommendations of the probation department on the proposed change in the placement.
This bill would
prohibit the court from ordering a ward
to be transferred to a less restrictive program unless court determines that the specific less restrictive program satisfies certain requirements, including, among others, that the program provides evidence that it adheres to wards’ case plans, or that the program is exempt from meeting these requirements because it is already subject to oversight by the state or is the home of the ward’s parent or supportive relative, as specified.
require Judicial Council, by January 1, 2028, to develop and adopt guidelines to assist the court in determining whether a particular less restrictive program is an appropriate placement for a ward. The bill would require the guidelines to direct the court to consider specified topics, including, among others, the type of training a program’s staff has received.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF