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Committee debates raising minimum juvenile-delinquency age to 11; questions on CHINS and detention process
Summary
Senate Bill 778, which would raise the minimum age at which a child can be adjudicated delinquent to 11, prompted extensive questioning about how CHINS procedures, detention authority and funding would apply to younger children.
Senate Bill 778 returned to the Courts of Justice Committee Wednesday for a lengthy debate over how Virginia would treat alleged delinquent acts by children younger than 11.
Sponsor Senator Locke said this year’s bill is similar to last year’s and includes new language to make services available to children younger than 11. “It amends lines 348 to 350 to provide funding for children under age 11,” a committee counsel summarized during the hearing.
Committee members and witnesses spent much of the discussion on process questions: under the proposed change, how would the system determine whether a child under 11 had committed an act that would be delinquent if committed by an older child, and what detention or protective authority would apply? James Tuohy of the Department of Juvenile Justice warned the bill, as drafted, could create a presumption problem: “It seems to me that the…
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