SB 801

This bill creates a sentence adjustment procedure for a “youthful offender,”

defined under the bill as an individual who committed the crime for which the

individual is being sentenced before he or she turned 18 years old. This bill also

prohibits a court from sentencing a youthful offender to life imprisonment without

the possibility of parole or release to extended supervision, and creates new

mitigating factors that a court must consider when sentencing a youthful offender.

Finally, this bill eliminates statutory mandatory life sentences without parole or

release to extended supervision for youthful offenders in order to align with federal

constitutional law.

Sentence adjustment procedure for youthful offenders

This bill creates a new procedure for an incarcerated youthful offender to

petition the sentencing court for a sentence adjustment after serving 15 years of his

or her sentence in prison, or, if the person is serving a sentence for a crime that is a

felony that caused the death of a person or is a felony sexual assault of a child, after

serving 20 years in prison. Under the bill, one year before the youthful offender is

eligible to petition for the sentence adjustment, the Department of Corrections is

required to notify the youthful offender of his or her eligibility. If the youthful

offender files a petition, the court is required to hold a hearing on the petition and

is required to consider the sentencing factors on mitigation for youth created under

the bill in determining whether to adjust the youthful offender's sentence. Notice of

the youthful offender's eligibility for a sentence adjustment hearing, of the petition,

and of the hearing must be sent to the district attorney and the crime victim. The

youthful offender has the right to present evidence and cross-examine witnesses at

the hearing and the crime victim has the right to be heard.

If the court finds that the interests of justice warrant a sentence adjustment,

the court may reduce the term of confinement in prison for the youthful offender and

may modify the conditions of extended supervision. If the youthful offender is

serving an indeterminate sentence or a life sentence without parole or release to

extended supervision, the court may convert the sentence to a bifurcated sentence

and set a date on which the petitioner will be eligible for release to extended

supervision. Under the bill, the sentencing court may reduce the overall sentence

length, but may not impose a term of extended supervision that is less than three

years. Under the bill, if the youthful offender is serving multiple sentences

concurrently or consecutively, the concurrent or consecutive sentences are treated as

a single sentence for the purposes of the sentence adjustment procedure.

If the court denies the petition under the bill, or adjusts the sentence to provide

a date for release to extended supervision that is more than three years after the

hearing, the court must provide in writing the reasons for the denial or the delayed

release eligibility date. A youthful offender may petition again after three years.

Under the bill, DOC is required to send a notice regarding the petition process to all