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An Act To Improve Maine's Juvenile Justice System
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 15 MRSA §3301, sub-§5, ¶A, as amended by PL 1999, c. 624, Pt. B, §9, is further amended to read:
 
A. Decide that action requiring ongoing supervision is not required either in the interests of the public or of the juvenile. If the juvenile community corrections officer determines that the facts in the report prepared for the community corrections officer by the referring officer pursuant to section 3203-A, subsection 3 are sufficient to file a petition, but in the community corrections officer's judgment the interest of the juvenile and the public will be served best by providing the juvenile with services voluntarily accepted by the juvenile and the juvenile's parents, guardian or legal custodian if the juvenile is not emancipated, the juvenile community corrections officer may refer the juvenile for that care and treatment and not request that a petition be filed. Whenever possible and appropriate, the juvenile community corrections officer may refer the juvenile to participate in a program intended to increase community safety by reducing the likelihood of future illegal behavior by the juvenile, to hold the juvenile accountable to the juvenile's victims and the community and to assist the juvenile in becoming a responsible and productive member of society;
Sec. 2.  15 MRSA §3306-B  is enacted to read:
§ 3306-B. Physical restraints in the courtroom
 
1.  Physical restraints prohibited.     A juvenile may not be brought before the court wearing any physical restraints, except when ordered by a Juvenile Court Judge during or prior to the hearing.
 
2.  Inquiry regarding restraints.     Prior to the juvenile's appearance in court, the court shall inquire of the transporting agency and the judicial marshal or other designated court security as to whether reasonable grounds exist for the use of physical restraints in a particular situation or for a particular juvenile. If the State, the transporting agency, the judicial marshal or other designated court security raises a concern that reasonable grounds exist for the use of physical restraints, the burden at hearing is on the juvenile to show by a preponderance of the evidence that reasonable grounds for use of physical restraints do not exist or that a less restrictive alternative that will alleviate the need for physical restraints exists. The court shall permit testimony on the issue of whether the use of physical restraints is necessary in a particular situation or for a particular juvenile.
 
3.  Exceptions.     Physical restraints may not be used on a juvenile during a court proceeding and must be removed prior to the juvenile's appearance before the court unless a Juvenile Court Judge finds that:
 
A.  The use of physical restraints is necessary due to one of the following:
 
(1) Present behavior of the juvenile represents a current threat to that juvenile's safety or the safety of others in the courtroom;
 
(2) Recent disruptive courtroom behavior of the juvenile has placed others in potentially harmful situations or presents a substantial risk of inflicting physical harm on that juvenile or others; or
 
(3) Present behavior of the juvenile presents a substantial risk of flight from the courtroom; or
 
B.  There are no less restrictive alternatives to physical restraints that will prevent flight by the juvenile or physical harm to the juvenile or others, including but not limited to the presence of court personnel or law enforcement officers.
Sec. 3. 15 MRSA §3308, sub-§3, as amended by PL 1991, c. 493, §20 and PL 2003, c. 689, Pt. B, §6, is further amended to read:
 
3. Parties.   Records of court proceedings and of the other records described in subsection 5 must be open to inspection by the juvenile, the juvenile's parents, guardian or legal custodian, the juvenile's attorney, the prosecuting attorney and to any agency to which legal custody of the juvenile was transferred as a result of adjudication. These records may also be open to inspection by the Department of Health and Human Services prior to adjudication if commitment to the Department of Health and Human Services is a proposed disposition. Dissemination of any records described in this subsection may be allowed only with the consent of the court, after hearing, taking into consideration the purposes of this Part. The juvenile, the juvenile's counsel and the district attorney must be given notice of the hearing and an opportunity to be heard.
Sec. 4. 15 MRSA §3308, sub-§5, as amended by PL 1999, c. 624, Pt. B, §18, is further amended to read:
 
5. Other records.   Police records, juvenile community corrections officers' records and all other reports of social and clinical studies may not be open to inspection except with consent of the court or except to the extent that such records, reports and studies were made a part of the record of a hearing that was open to the general public under section 3307in cases not open to the general public under section 3307. In cases that are open to the general public under section 3307 those records may be open to inspection by a specific person only with the consent of the court, after hearing, taking into consideration the purposes of this Part and the person's need to access the information through this process. The juvenile, counsel who represented the juvenile at the adjudicatory or dispositional hearing and the district attorney must be given notice of the hearing and an opportunity to be heard.
Sec. 5.  15 MRSA §3314, sub-§1, ¶H-1  is enacted to read:
 
H-1.  Whenever possible and appropriate, the court may require that the juvenile participate in a program intended to increase community safety by reducing the likelihood of future illegal behavior by the juvenile, to hold the juvenile accountable to the juvenile's victims and the community and to assist the juvenile in becoming a responsible and productive member of society.
 
SUMMARY
This bill directs juvenile community corrections officers, when determining alternatives based on preliminary investigations, and the court, when entering a dispositional order for an adjudicated juvenile, to consider that whenever possible and appropriate the juvenile be referred to participate in a program intended to increase community safety by reducing the likelihood of future illegal behavior by the juvenile, to hold the juvenile accountable to the juvenile's victims and the community and to assist the juvenile in becoming a responsible and productive member of society.
The bill prohibits the use of physical restraints on a juvenile during a court proceeding and specifies that restraints must be removed prior to the juvenile's appearance before the court unless a Juvenile Court Judge finds that use of restraints is necessary because the present behavior of the juvenile represents a current threat to that juvenile's safety or the safety of others in the courtroom; recent disruptive courtroom behavior of the juvenile has placed others in potentially harmful situations or presents a substantial risk of inflicting physical harm on that juvenile or others; present behavior of the juvenile presents a substantial risk of flight from the courtroom; or less restrictive restraints are unavailable.
Prior to a juvenile's appearance in court, the court is directed to inquire of the transporting agency and the judicial marshal or other designated court security as to whether reasonable grounds exist for the use of physical restraints in a particular situation or for a particular juvenile. If the transporting agency or the judicial marshal or other designated court security raises a concern that reasonable grounds exist for the use of physical restraints, the burden at hearing is on the juvenile to show by a preponderance of the evidence that reasonable grounds for use of physical restraints do not exist or that a less restrictive alternative that will alleviate the need for physical restraints exists. The court is directed to permit testimony on the issue of whether the use of physical restraints is necessary in a particular situation or for a particular juvenile.
The bill also amends the provisions regarding the dissemination of certain juvenile court records to specify that dissemination may be allowed only with the consent of the court, after hearing, taking into consideration the purposes of the Maine Juvenile Code. The bill specifies that police records, juvenile community corrections officers' records and all other reports of social and clinical studies may not be open to inspection in cases not open to the general public, and in cases that are open to the general public those records may be open to inspection only with the consent of the court, after hearing, taking into consideration the purposes of the Maine Juvenile Code and the need of the person seeking to inspect the records to access the information through this process. The juvenile, counsel who represented the juvenile at the adjudicatory or dispositional hearing and the district attorney must be given notice of the hearing and an opportunity to be heard.