Senate Bill No. 331
(By Senator White)
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[Introduced January 26, 2007; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §25-4-6 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to assignment of youthful offenders
to the custody of the Division of Corrections; providing that
where an offender has completed the treatment program and is
returned to court for sentencing but commits a crime between
the time of release from the youthful offender center and the
sentencing hearing, the judge has the discretion to impose the
original sentence instead of releasing the offender on
probation.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §25-4-6 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, 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 felony
offense, other than an offense punishable by life imprisonment,
including, but not limited to, felony violations of the provisions
of chapter seventeen-c of this code, who has attained his or her
eighteenth birthday but has not reached his or her twenty-third
birthday at the time of the 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 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 is 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. The offender is entitled to a hearing
before the committing court to review the warden?s determination. The standard for review is whether the warden, considering the
offender?s overall record at the center and the offender?s
compliance with the center?s rules, regulations, programs and
services, abused his or her discretion in determining that the
offender is an unfit person to remain in the center. At the
hearing before the committing court, the state need not offer
independent proof of the offender?s disciplinary infractions
contained in the record of the center when opportunity for an
administrative hearing on those infractions was previously made
available at the institution. In the event that the court upholds
the warden?s determination, 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:
Provided, That if the offender engages in
new criminal conduct between his or her release from the center and
the sentencing hearing, the judge may, in his or her discretion,
sentence the offender for the crime for which the offender was
convicted, giving the offender credit for the time he or she spent at the center. 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.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to give a circuit judge
discretion to impose the original sentence on a youthful offender
who has successfully completed a youthful offender training program
but who has been charged with committing another crime between his
or her release from the youthful offender center and the sentencing
hearing.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)