ENROLLED
H. B. 2691
(By Delegates Brown and Douglas)
[Passed April 9, 1993; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact section six-a, article five-a,
chapter forty-nine of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend
and reenact section seven, article five-b of said chapter,
all relating to maintaining a unified state system of
predispositional detention for juveniles; including the
juvenile justice committee, the state board of education,
detention center personnel, juvenile probation officers in
those groups giving input for the plan; requiring the
development of policy and program goals for secure licensed
facilities; requiring identification of operational problems
of secure detention centers, establishment of policies
regarding overcrowding, security, violence, health needs,
educational needs, transportation problems, staff problems
and time limitations; requiring inclusion of statement of
policies and goals regarding licensing, placement criteria,
alternative placement, allocation of fiscal resources,
information and referral services and educational
regulations; requiring oversight by the legislative
commission on juvenile law or their subcommittee and
periodic review and updating of the plan; requiring the
department of health and human resources to make a
descriptive catalogue of its juvenile programs and services
available to local communities; and requiring periodic
updating of the catalogue.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section six-a, article five-a, chapter forty-nine of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section seven,
article five-b of said chapter be amended and reenacted, all to
read as follows:
ARTICLE 5A. JUVENILE REFEREE SYSTEM.
§49-5A-6a. State plan for predisposition detention of juveniles.
(a) The secretary of the department of health and human
resources and the legislative commission on juvenile law shall
develop a comprehensive plan to maintain and improve a unified
state system of predispositional detention for juveniles. The
secretary and the commission plan shall consider recommendations
from the division of corrections, the governor's committee on
crime, delinquency and correction, the juvenile justice
committee, the state board of education, detention center
personnel, juvenile probation officers of the department of
health and human resources and judicial and law-enforcement
officials from throughout the state.
The principal purpose of the plan shall be, through
statements of policy and program goals, to provide for the
effective and efficient use of juvenile detention facilitieslicensed or operated by local units of government and the state,
including those operated regionally by the department of health
and human resources.
(b) The plan shall identify operational problems of secure
detention centers, including, but not limited to, overcrowding,
security and violence within centers, difficulties in moving
juveniles through the centers within required time periods,
health needs, educational needs, transportation problems, staff
turnover and morale and other perceived problem areas. The plan
shall further provide recommendations directed to alleviate the
problems.
(c) The plan shall include, but not be limited to,
statements of policies and goals in the following areas:
(1) Licensing of secure detention centers;
(2) Criteria for placing juveniles in detention;
(3) Alternatives to secure detention;
(4) Allocation of fiscal resources to the costs of secure
detention facilities;
(5) Information and referral services; and
(6) Educational regulations developed and approved by the
West Virginia board of education.
(d) The legislative commission on juvenile law, or a
designated subcommittee or task force thereof, shall act in a
continuing capacity as an oversight committee, and shall assist
the secretary of the department of health and human resources in
the periodic review and update of the state plan for the
predisposition detention of juveniles.
ARTICLE 5B. WEST VIRGINIA JUVENILE OFFENDER REHABILITATION ACT.
§49-5B-7. Reporting requirements; cataloguing of services.
(a) The department of health and human resources shall from
time to time, but not less often than annually, review its
programs and services and submit a report to the governor, the
Legislature and the supreme court of appeals, analyzing and
evaluating the effectiveness of the programs and services being
carried out by the department. Such report shall include, but
not be limited to, an analysis and evaluation of programs and
services continued, established and discontinued during the
period covered by the report, and shall further describe programs
and services which should be implemented to further the purposes
of this article. Such report shall also include, but not be
limited to, relevant information concerning the number of
children comprising the population of any rehabilitative facility
during the period covered by the report, the length of residence,
the nature of the problems of each child, the child's response to
programs and services and such other information as will enable
a user of the report to ascertain the effectiveness of the
facility as a rehabilitative facility.
(b) The department of health and human resources shall
prepare a descriptive catalogue of its juvenile programs and
services available in local communities throughout this state and
shall distribute copies of the same to every juvenile court in
the state and, at the direction of the juvenile court, such
catalogue shall be distributed to attorneys practicing before
such court. Such catalogue shall also be made available to
members of the general public upon request. The catalogue shall
contain sufficient information as to particular programs andservices so as to enable a user of the catalogue to make
inquiries and referrals. The catalogue shall be constructed so
as to meaningfully identify and describe programs and services.
The requirements of this section are not satisfied by a simple
listing of specific agencies or the individuals in charge of
programs at a given time. The catalogue shall be updated and
republished or supplemented from time to time as may be required
to maintain its usefulness as a resource manual.