Secure youth treatment facilities.

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. If the ward has been committed to a facility based on adjudication for an offense for which they would face an aggregate sentence of 7 or more years if convicted in an adult criminal court, existing law prohibits a ward from being held in secure confinement beyond 25 years of age or 2 years from the date of commitment, whichever occurs later. This bill would prohibit a ward from being held in secure confinement beyond 25 years of age under those provisions. The bill would require, if a ward is committed to a secure youth treatment facility and will attain 25 years of age prior to the completion of the commitment, upon attaining 25 years of age, the ward to serve the remainder of their custodial commitment, not to exceed 2 years from the date of commitment, in the county jail. The bill would require a ward who is 25 years of age or older at the time of commitment to a custodial facility, as specified, to serve no more than two years from the date of commitment in the county jail.