1.This Act may be cited as the
Juvenile Justice Accountability and
Improvement Act of 2011
.
2.Congress finds the following:
(1)Historically, courts in the United States
have recognized the undeniable differences between adult and youth
offenders.
(2)While writing for the majority in Roper v.
Simmons (125 S. Ct. 1183), a recent Supreme Court decision abolishing use of
the death penalty for juveniles, Justice Kennedy declared such differences to
be marked and well understood
.
(3)Notwithstanding
such edicts, many youth are being sentenced in a manner that has typically been
reserved for adults. These sentences include a term of imprisonment of life
without the possibility of parole.
(4)The decision to
sentence youthful offenders to life without parole is an issue of growing
national concern.
(5)On May 17, 2010, the Supreme Court decided
Graham v. Florida, 130 S. Ct. 2011 (2010), which held that Eighth Amendment’s
Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause does not permit a juvenile to be sentenced
to life in prison without parole for a non-homicide crime, and that sentences
of life without parole for such cases is unconstitutional.
(6)While there are no
youth serving such sentences in the rest of the world, research indicates that
there are over 2,500 youth offenders serving life without parole in the United
States.
(7)The estimated rate
at which the sentence of life without parole is imposed on children nationwide
remains at least 3 times higher today than it was 15 years ago.
(8)The majority of
youth sentenced to life without parole are first-time offenders.
(9)Sixteen percent of
these individuals were age 15 or younger when they committed their
crimes.
(10)According to the Bureau of Prisons, the
annual cost of incarcerating an inmate is $28,284. In light of this figure, the
total cost of incarcerating a juvenile for life will be millions of
dollars.
3.Establishing a
meaningful opportunity for parole for child offenders
(a)
(1)For
each fiscal year after the expiration of the period specified in
subsection (d)(1), each State shall have
in effect laws and policies under which each child offender who is serving a
life sentence receives, not less than once during the first 15 years of
incarceration, and not less than once every 3 years of incarceration
thereafter, a meaningful opportunity for parole or other form of supervised
release. This provision shall in no way be construed to limit the access of
child offenders to other programs and appeals which they were rightly due prior
to the enactment of this Act.
(2)Not
later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney
General shall issue guidelines and regulations to interpret and implement this
section.
(b)In
this section and
section 4, the term child offender who is
serving a life sentence means an individual who—
(1)is convicted of one or more offenses where
any act or acts in furtherance of the offense or offenses was committed before
the individual attained the age of 18; and
(2)is sentenced, for such an offense or
offenses, to a term of imprisonment of life, or of any number of years
exceeding 15 years, cumulatively.
(c)This section shall apply to individuals
sentenced before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(d)Compliance and
consequences
(1)Each State shall have
not more than 3 years from the date of enactment of this Act to be in
compliance with this section, except that the Attorney General may grant a
2-year extension to a State that is making a good faith effort to comply with
this section.
(2)Consequence of
noncomplianceFor any fiscal year after the expiration of the
period specified in
paragraph (1), a State that fails to be
in compliance with this section shall not receive 10 percent of the funds that
would otherwise be allocated for that fiscal year to that State under subpart 1
of part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968
(42 U.S.C. 3750 et seq.), whether characterized as the Edward Byrne Memorial
Justice Assistance Grant Program or otherwise.
(3)Amounts
not allocated under a program referred to in
paragraph (2) to a State for failure to
be in compliance with this section shall be reallocated under that program to
States that are in compliance with this section.
4.Each State that has in
effect laws and policies in accordance with the requirements of
section 3 shall, not later than 1 year after
the date of compliance with such section—
(1)provide notice to
the public of such laws and policies, which shall include—
(A)a description of the opportunities for
parole or supervised release available to child offenders who are serving a
life sentence, and how those opportunities differ from the laws and policies in
effect before compliance with
section 3; and
(B)the name and contact information of the
office, agency, or other entity that may be contacted for additional
information about such laws and policies, including the application of such
laws and policies to a child offender who is serving a life sentence, by a
victim who was directly and proximately harmed as a result of an offense
described in
section 3(b) that was committed by such a child
offender; and
(2)provide procedures whereby a victim who was
directly and proximately harmed as a result of an offense described in
section 3(b) that was committed by a child
offender who is serving a life sentence may, upon request, receive information
about the specific opportunities for parole or supervised release to be
provided to such child offender in accordance with such laws and policies,
including dates of parole or supervised release hearings and notice of
decisions granting or denying parole or supervised release.
5.Establishing a
parallel system for child offenders serving life sentences at the Federal
levelSection 3624 of title
18, United States Code, is amended—
(1)in subsection (a)
by striking A prisoner
and inserting Except as otherwise
provided by law, a prisoner
; and
(2)by adding at the
end the following:
(g)Opportunity for
release for child offenders serving a life sentenceNot later than 1 year after the date of the
enactment of this subsection, the Attorney General shall establish and
implement a system of opportunity for release that will apply to child
offenders who are serving a life sentence (as defined in section 3 of the
Juvenile Justice Accountability and Improvement Act of 2009) for Federal
offenses. The system shall conform as nearly as practicable to the laws and
policies required of a State under section 3(a) of such Act and shall include
provision for the same or similar notice to victims as States are required to
provide under section 4 of such Act. The system shall be in addition to any
other method of release that might apply to such an
offender.
.
6.Grants to improve
legal representation of children facing or serving life in prison
(a)The Attorney
General shall, subject to the availability of appropriations, award grants to
States to improve the quality of legal representation of certain child
defendants and child offenders by providing for competent legal representation
for individuals who—
(1)are charged with committing an offense,
before the individual attained the age of 18, that is subject to a sentence
that may include a term of imprisonment of life, or the functional equivalent
in years or more; or
(2)are convicted of an offense committed
before the individual attained the age of 18, and are sentenced to a term of
imprisonment of life, or the functional equivalent in years or more, for that
offense, and who seek appellate or collateral relief, including review in the
Supreme Court of the United States.
(b)In this section, the term legal
representation means legal counsel and investigative, expert, and other
services necessary for competent representation.
(c)Authorization of
appropriationsThere are authorized to be appropriated to carry
out this section such sums as may be necessary.