JUVENILE BOOT CAMPS H.B. 4723 (H-2): FLOOR ANALYSIS
House Bill 4723 (Substitute H-2 as reported without amendment) Sponsor: Representative Michael Nye
House Committee: Judiciary and Civil Rights Senate Committee: Judiciary
The bill would create the “Juvenile Boot Camp Act” to require the Family Independence Agency (FIA) to establish and operate at least one juvenile boot camp. A juvenile boot camp program would have to provide for physically strenuous work and exercise, patterned after military basic training, and other programming, including education and substance abuse programs, and counseling. The program would have to be restricted to juveniles of the same gender.
A juvenile’s placement could be for 90 to 180 days. A juvenile who was medically unable to participate for more than 25 days would have to be returned to the probate court for an alternative order of disposition. After a juvenile’s stay in a boot camp, he or she would be required to complete a period of 120 to 180 days under intensive supervised community reintegration in the local community. A juvenile who failed to perform satisfactorily at a juvenile boot camp program would have to be reported to the juvenile court for an alternative order of disposition.
The bill would take effect on August 1, 1996, and is tie-barred to Senate Bills 681, which would authorize the Department of Corrections to establish a juvenile correctional facility, and 696, which would amend the juvenile code to provide for the placement of a juvenile offender in juvenile boot camp.
Legislative Analyst: P. Affholter
The bill 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 former Department of Social Services (now the Family Independence Agency) 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 juvenile’s length of stay in the camp could not exceed 180 days; in addition, there could be no more than 180 days of intensive community supervision. The average length of stay at the FIA 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 bill would have no fiscal impact on the courts.
Date Completed: 4-23-96 Fiscal Analyst: C. Cole
M. Bain
floor\hb4723
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.