Secure youth treatment facilities.

(1) Existing law authorizes a court to order a ward who is 14 years of age or older to be committed to a secure youth treatment facility, operated by the county of commitment, for a period of confinement if the ward is adjudicated and found to be a ward based on the commitment of a specified serious offense committed when the juvenile was 14 years or older, that adjudication is the most recent offense for which the ward has been adjudicated, and the court has made a finding on the record that a less restrictive, alternative disposition for the ward is unsuitable. Existing law requires the baseline term of confinement to be determined according to offense-based classifications, as specified. This bill would prohibit a youth, following a youth's commitment to a secure youth facility, from being found ineligible for continued commitment to a secure youth treatment facility as a result of subsequent adjudicated petitions. The bill would prohibit a court from increasing a youth's current baseline term of confinement based on subsequent adjudications. Prior to filing a criminal charge based on in-custody conduct, the bill would authorize the prosecution to consider the interests of the rehabilitation of the ward, including, among other things, the extent to which the conduct is a manifestation of the needs for which the ward is receiving programming, treatment, and education pursuant to an individual rehabilitation plan and the impact on a potential baseline term reduction at a 6-month review hearing, as specified. (2) Existing law requires a court to schedule and hold a progress review hearing for a ward not less frequently than once every 6 months to evaluate the ward's progress in relation to the rehabilitation plan, as specified. Upon a motion from the probation department or the ward, existing law authorizes a court to order that the ward be transferred from a secure youth treatment facility to a less restrictive program, as specified. This bill would, upon request of the minor, require a hearing under these provisions to be conducted as expeditiously as possible once commenced.