South Carolina General Assembly
105th Session, 1983-1984

Bill 116

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               116
Ratification Number:       514
Act Number:                439
Introducing Body:          Senate
Subject:                   Provide that no juvenile may appear
                           before the board until an appropriate period
                           of time has elapsed since his commitment
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(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

(A439, R514, S116)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 20-7-2095, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE BOARD OF JUVENILE PAROLE, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT NO JUVENILE MAY APPEAR BEFORE THE BOARD UNTIL AN APPROPRIATE PERIOD OF TIME HAS ELAPSED SINCE HIS COMMITMENT.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

Board of Juvenile Patrol

SECTION 1. Section 20-7-2095 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 398 of 1982, is further amended to read:

"Section 20-7-2095. The Board of Juvenile Parole (Parole Board) shall meet monthly, and at other times as may be necessary, to review the records and progress of children committed to the custody of the Board or Department of Youth Services (Department) for the purpose of deciding the release or revocation of release of such children. The Parole Board shall make periodic inspections, at least quarterly, of the records of persons committed to the custody of the Board of Youth Services and may, in its discretion, issue temporary and final discharges or release such persons conditionally and prescribe conditions for such release into aftercare. It shall be the right of any such juvenile to personally appear before the Parole Board every three months for the purpose of parole consideration, but no such appearance shall begin until the Parole Board determines that an appropriate period of time has elapsed since the juvenile's commitment. In order to allow such reviews and personal appearances by children, the chairman of the Parole Board may assign the members to meet in panels of not less than three members to receive progress reports and recommendations, review cases, meet with children, meet with counselors, and to hear matters and consider cases for release, parole, and parole revocation. Membership on such panels shall be periodically rotated on a random basis by the chairman. At the meetings of the panels, any unanimous vote shall be considered the final decision of the Parole Board. Any panel vote that is not unanimous shall not be considered as a final decision of the Parole Board and the matter shall be referred to the full Parole Board, which shall determine the matter by a majority vote of its membership.

In the determination of the type of discharges or conditional releases granted, the Parole Board shall consider the interests of the person involved and the interests of society and shall employ the services of and consult with the personnel of the Reception and Evaluation Center. The Parole Board may from time to time modify the conditions of discharges or conditional releases previously granted.

The Parole Board shall develop written guidelines for the consideration of juveniles' releases on parole. Such guidelines shall be given to juveniles upon commitment and periodically reviewed with each juvenile to assess the progress made toward achieving release on parole."

Time effective

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon approval by the Governor.