Bill Text: HI HB792 | 2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relating To Minors.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2023-12-11 - Carried over to 2024 Regular Session. [HB792 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2024-HB792-Amended.html
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
792 |
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023 |
H.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO MINORS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature recognizes that minors differ from adults in a number of ways, and that these differences must be taken into account when minors or adults convicted of a felony offense that was committed before reaching the age of majority are sentenced after being convicted in the same circuit courts in which adults are tried. As noted by the Supreme Court of the United States in Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012), "[o]nly a relatively small proportion of adolescents who engage in illegal activity develop entrenched patterns of problem behavior", and "developments in psychology and brain science continue to show fundamental differences between juvenile and adult minds", including "parts of the brain involved in behavior control" (internal quotation marks omitted).
The legislature also finds that minors are more vulnerable to negative influences and outside pressures from their family, peers, and others. Minors also have limited control over their environment and lack the ability to extricate themselves from horrific and crime-producing settings. The Miller decision noted that, in Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005), and Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48 (2010), the Supreme Court "emphasized that the distinctive attributes of youth diminish the penological justifications for imposing the harshest sentences on juvenile offenders, even when they commit terrible crimes".
The legislature further acknowledges that the recent trend in the United States has been to allow greater judicial discretion when sentencing minors, even allowing judges to depart from mandatory minimum sentences in appropriate cases.
The purpose of this Act is to grant a circuit court, when sentencing a minor for a criminal offense or adult convicted of a felony criminal offense that was committed before reaching the age of majority, the discretion to:
(1) Impose a sentence that includes a period of incarceration that is as much as fifty per cent shorter than any mandatory minimum; and
(2) In certain cases, decline to impose a mandatory enhanced sentence.
SECTION 2. Chapter 706, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to part I to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"§706- Sentencing of minors or adults
convicted of a felony offense that was committed before reaching the age of
majority. (1) In a case in which the family court has
waived jurisdiction over a minor or adult convicted of
a felony offense that was committed before reaching the age of majority
pursuant to section 571-22 and the minor or adult is convicted of a criminal
offense in circuit court, the circuit court shall consider, in addition to any
other factor that the court is required to consider, the differences between
minor and adult offenders, including the diminished culpability of minors as
compared to that of adults, and the typical characteristics of youth.
(2) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary,
after considering the factors set forth in subsection (1), the circuit court,
in its discretion:
(a) May impose a sentence that includes a period of incarceration that is shorter than any mandatory minimum otherwise required by law; provided that the period of incarceration shall not be shorter than one-half of the mandatory minimum otherwise required by law; and
(b) When imposing any sentence that includes a period of incarceration of five years or more, may decline to impose a mandatory sentencing enhancement otherwise required by law."
SECTION 3. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date.
SECTION 4. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2023.
Report Title:
Minors; Circuit Courts; Criminal Proceedings; Sentencing
Description:
Grants a circuit court, when sentencing a minor for a criminal offense or adult convicted of a felony criminal offense that was committed before reaching the age of majority, the discretion to impose a sentence that includes a period of incarceration that is as much as fifty per cent shorter than any mandatory minimum and, in certain cases, decline to impose a mandatory enhanced sentence. (HD1)
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.