You asked us to summarize Proposal 15 (LCO 10020), An Act Concerning the Supervision of Certain Offenders, for the Judiciary Committee public hearing scheduled for November 27, 2007.

SUMMARY

This bill requires that any offender who is under the supervision of an adult probation officer while he is under 21 years old must be supervised by a probation officer who has a caseload of no more than 30 such offenders. The bill requires that each offender remain in school or in an educational program the offender's probation officer approves during the period of the offender's supervision. (Presumably this is until the offender reaches age 21. ) The probation officer must develop a life development plan with the offender that specifies educational, employment, and career goals.

The bill requires that (1) each offender be given a mental health evaluation and (2) the probation officer use the evaluation results to make recommendations that will improve the offender's ability to safely remain in the community and not commit violent acts. It also requires that all such offenders who are enrolled in an accredited secondary or post-secondary educational program must be eligible to participate in an employment program developed and paid for by the Labor Department that provides relevant work experience.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage

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