Bill Text: MS SB2162 | 2014 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Youth court; clarify original jurisdiction of certain serious crimes.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2014-02-04 - Died In Committee [SB2162 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2014-SB2162-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2014 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division B
By: Senator(s) Simmons (12th)
Senate Bill 2162
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 43-21-151, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CLARIFY THE ORIGINAL JURISDICTION OF THE YOUTH AND CIRCUIT COURTS OVER CERTAIN SERIOUS CRIMES COMMITTED BY MINORS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 43-21-151, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-21-151. (1) The youth court shall have exclusive original jurisdiction in all proceedings concerning a delinquent child, a child in need of supervision, a neglected child, an abused child or a dependent child except in the following circumstances:
(a) The circuit
court shall have original jurisdiction over any act attempted or committed
by a child who is sixteen (16) years of age or older, which if committed
by * * *
a person over the age of twenty-one (21) would be punishable * * *
solely
by * * * death * * * or life
imprisonment; (b) The circuit court shall have original
jurisdiction over any act attempted or committed by a child who is
sixteen (16) years of age or older with the use of a deadly weapon, the
carrying of which concealed is prohibited by Section 97-37-1, or a shotgun or a
rifle, which would be a felony if committed by * * * a person over the age of twenty-one (21); and
(c) When a charge of abuse of a child first arises in the course of a custody action between the parents of the child already pending in the chancery court and no notice of such abuse was provided prior to such chancery proceedings, the chancery court may proceed with the investigation, hearing and determination of such abuse charge as a part of its hearing and determination of the custody issue as between the parents, notwithstanding the other provisions of the Youth Court Law. The proceedings in chancery court on the abuse charge shall be confidential in the same manner as provided in youth court proceedings.
When a child is expelled from the public schools, the youth court shall be notified of the act of expulsion and the act or acts constituting the basis for expulsion.
(2) Jurisdiction of the child in the cause shall attach at the time of the offense and shall continue thereafter for that offense until the child's twentieth birthday, unless sooner terminated by order of the youth court. The youth court shall not have jurisdiction over offenses committed by a child on or after his eighteenth birthday.
(3) No child who has not reached his thirteenth birthday shall be held criminally responsible or criminally prosecuted for a misdemeanor or felony; however, the parent, guardian or custodian of such child may be civilly liable for any criminal acts of such child. No child under the jurisdiction of the youth court shall be held criminally responsible or criminally prosecuted by any court for any act designated as a delinquent act, unless jurisdiction is transferred to another court under Section 43-21-157.
(4) The youth court shall also have jurisdiction of offenses committed by a child which have been transferred to the youth court by an order of a circuit court of this state having original jurisdiction of the offense, as provided by Section 43-21-159.
(5) The youth court shall regulate and approve the use of teen court as provided in Section 43-21-753.
(6) Nothing in this section shall prevent the circuit court from assuming jurisdiction over a youth who has committed an act of delinquency upon a youth court's ruling that a transfer is appropriate pursuant to Section 43-21-157.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2014.
