Senate Bill No. 579
(By Senators Love and Hunter)
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[Introduced March 23, 2001; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section six, article four, chapter
twenty-five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to assignment of
offenders to center; period of center confinement; return to
court; sentence or probation; revocation of probation; and
transfer of youths by commissioner of corrections.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section six, article four, chapter twenty-five of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. CENTERS FOR HOUSING YOUNG ADULT OFFENDERS.
§25-4-6. Assignment of offenders to center; period of center
confinement; return to court; sentence or probation; revocation of probation.
The judge of any court with original criminal jurisdiction may
suspend the imposition of sentence of any young adult, as defined
in this section, convicted of or pleading guilty to a criminal
felony offense, other than an offense punishable by life
imprisonment, who has attained his or her eighteenth birthday but
has not reached his or her twenty-first twenty-third birthday at
the time of the commission of the crime sentencing by the court,
and commit the young adult to the custody of the West Virginia
commissioner of corrections to be assigned to a center. Young
adult offenders who have previously been committed to a young adult
offender center are not eligible for commitment to this program.
The period of confinement in the center shall be for a period of
not less than six months, or longer if it is deemed advisable by
the center warden to successfully complete the program requirements
set by the warden, but in any event the period of confinement may
not exceed two years. The court shall order a presentence
investigation to be conducted and provide the warden with a copy of
the presentence investigation report, along with the commitment
order.
If, in the opinion of the warden, the young adult offender proves to be an unfit person to remain in the center, the offender
shall be returned to the committing court to be dealt with further
according to law. In that event, the court may sentence the
offender for the crime for which the offender was convicted. In
his or her discretion, the judge may allow the defendant credit on
the sentence for time the offender spent in the center.
A young adult offender shall be returned to the jurisdiction
of the court which originally committed the offender when, in the
opinion of the warden, the young adult offender has satisfactorily
completed the center training program. The offender is then
eligible for probation for the offense with which the offender is
charged, and the judge of the court shall immediately place the
offender on probation. In the event the offender's probation is
subsequently revoked, the judge shall impose the sentence the young
adult offender would have originally received had the offender not
been committed to the center and subsequently placed on probation.
The court shall, however, give the offender credit on his or her
sentence for the time spent in the center.
NOTE:
The purpose of this bill is to
extend the age limit
before which a judge may suspend sentence of a young adult and
commit the offender to custody of the corrections Commissioner for assignment to a center. The bill clarifies that a court is to
order a presentence investigation report.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.