SB155 Alabama 2019 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

Cam Ward

Republican

Session

Regular Session 2019

Title

Juvenile Justice, provisions relating to the juvenile justice system substantially revised, adoption of policies for absenteeism and school misconduct required, Juvenile Justice Reinvestment Fund, created, Secs, 12-15-102, 12-15-107, 12-15-119, 12-15-120, 12-15-126, 12-15-127, 12-15-128, 12-15-132, 12-15-207, 12-15-209, 12-15-211, 12-15-215, 12-15-221, 12-15-701, 12-25-9, 15-20A-5, 16-28-2.2, 16-28-8, 16-28-13, 16-28-14, 16-28-16, 16-28-17, 16-28-18, 44-1-24, 44-1-36 am'd.

Summary

SB 155 overhauls Alabama's juvenile justice system with expanded early interventions, new risk assessments, school-based reforms, and a reinvestment fund to support community programs.

What This Bill Does

It expands early interventions before court involvement and requires a statewide detention risk assessment tool for pre-adjudication decisions, plus standards for informal adjustments and video detention hearings. It creates a risk-and-needs assessment to guide custody and supervision decisions, determines which offenses trigger Department of Youth Services placement, and sets presumptions on supervision length. It also establishes a Juvenile Justice Reinvestment Fund and an Oversight Committee to reinvest savings from fewer youth in custody into local, evidence-based programs, and adds duties for schools to address absenteeism and school-based offenses with multi-disciplinary collaboration.

Who It Affects

• Juvenile offenders and at-risk youth (and their families/parents/guardians), who would be affected by new risk assessments, detention decisions, potential placement with the Department of Youth Services, aftercare, and revised school-related interventions.
• Local boards of education, parents, students, and communities, who would be subject to new school-related requirements (informing parents about absenteeism and misconduct, and developing multi-disciplinary agreements and truancy prevention plans) and increased collaboration with law enforcement, courts, and service providers.

Key Provisions

• Create and fund the Juvenile Justice Reinvestment Fund administered by the Department of Youth Services to reinvest costs averted from reduced custody/ Residential placement into local community-based programs.
• Establish the Juvenile Justice Fund Oversight Committee to supervise fund distribution, improve data sharing, and guide program choices; include judges, prosecutors, education, mental health, and other stakeholders.
• Develop statewide detention risk assessment tool by the Administrative Office of Courts to guide pre-adjudication detention decisions, including eligibility for detention, continuation in detention, and non-custodial alternatives; validate the tool by 2022 and create a scoring system.
• Require risk and needs assessments to aid courts in deciding if a child should be placed in Department of Youth Services custody and to determine appropriate supervision length; use these assessments before disposition and placement decisions.
• Move toward non-custodial alternatives to detention with higher reimbursement rates to encourage use of community-based options; make home detention available in every county.
• Limit or remove fines or court costs assessed against children under certain conditions, while allowing such costs to be charged to parents; require cost controls for assessments tied to dispositions.
• Require local school boards to inform parents about absenteeism and school-related misconduct and to annually develop multidisciplinary agreements with community stakeholders to address school offenses, referrals, and accountability.
• Direct the Department of Education to require annual multi-disciplinary plans and to establish minimum standards for responses to school-based offenses, aiming to reduce court referrals while maintaining accountability.
• Provide the option for video detention hearings under specified conditions, with in-person hearings required if any party objects and good cause exists.
• Give courts discretion on whether a juvenile should be subject to sex offender registration in certain circumstances; expand the list of offenses and related provisions to define sex offenses for registration.
• Institute earned discharge credits through a graduated response system to reward compliance with probation or aftercare, and require documentation of behaviors, sanctions, and incentives in case plans.

AI-generated summary using openai/gpt-5-nano on Feb 24, 2026. May contain errors — refer to the official bill text for accuracy.

Subjects

Juvenile Justice