JUVENILE BOOT CAMPS S.B. 695: FLOOR ANALYSIS
Senate Bill 695 (as reported without amendment) Sponsor: Senator Mike Rogers
Committee: Judiciary
The bill would create the “Juvenile Boot Camp Act” to require the Department of Social Services (DSS) to establish one or more juvenile boot camps to house and train juveniles ordered by a disposition entered by the juvenile court to participate in a juvenile boot camp program. The DSS would have to develop one or more juvenile boot camp programs for juveniles ordered to participate. A juvenile boot camp program would have to provide for physically strenuous work and exercise, patterned after military basic training, and other programming as determined by the DSS.
The DSS would have to establish that a juvenile placed in a juvenile boot camp program met the requirements for boot camp participation outlined in Senate Bill 696. A juvenile who did not meet those requirements would have to be returned to the juvenile court for an alternative order of disposition. A juvenile’s detention in a boot camp could not exceed 120 days, although that period could be extended in some cases for medical reasons. After a juvenile’s stay in a boot camp, he or she would have to complete at least 120 days of intensive supervision by the DSS in the local community. At any time during a juvenile’s stay in a boot camp, but at least five days before his or her expected release date, the DSS would have to certify to the juvenile court whether the juvenile had satisfactorily completed the course of training at the juvenile boot camp. A juvenile who failed to work diligently and productively at a juvenile boot camp program, or who failed to obey the behavior rules of the boot camp, could be reported to the juvenile court for an alternative order of disposition.
The bill would take effect on April 1, 1996, and is tie-barred to Senate Bill 696.
Legislative Analyst: P. Affholter
Senate Bills 695 and 696 (S-2) would have an indeterminate impact on State funds due to the following reasons. First, the development of a boot camp would have an initial start-up cost. The DSS received for FY 1995-96 a $37,500 matching Federal grant (General Fund match of $12,500) for the purpose of planning boot camp services. Second, any comparison between the cost of boot camp and the cost of residential services (incarceration) must take into account the average length of stay and the population served, such as the crimes the detainees committed, whether they are male or female, and the services to be included. The average annual cost for boot camp and related services, developed specifically for nonviolent offenders, could be less because a child’s length of stay in the camp could not exceed 120 days; in addition, there could be no more than 120 days of intensive community supervision. The average length of stay at the DSS training schools for all crimes committed is 365 to 548 days at an average daily cost of $216. Therefore, even at the same average daily cost rate of juvenile training schools, the cost of boot camp placement would be less. The bills would have no fiscal impact on the courts.
Date Completed: 12-4-95 Fiscal Analyst: C. Cole & M. Bain
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This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.