FINAL BILL REPORT

HB 1019

                                  C 394 L 89

BYRepresentatives P. King and Scott

Allowing home detention for certain burglars.

House Committe on Judiciary

Senate Committee on Law & Justice

SYNOPSIS AS ENACTED

BACKGROUND:

Home detention is a program of partial confinement of an offender in a private residence subject to electronic surveillance.  Part of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1981 sets out a list of felony offenders who are not eligible for the home detention program.  Among those who are not eligible are offenders convicted of second degree burglary.  Participation in the home detention program requires an offender to obtain or maintain employment or be enrolled in school.

SUMMARY:

Offenders convicted of second degree burglary are no longer ineligible for home detention.  Offenders convicted of second degree burglary are eligible for home detention if the offender:  (1) has successfully completed 21 days in a work release facility; (2) has had no burglary convictions during the preceding two years and not more than two prior convictions for burglary; (3) has had no violent felony convictions during the preceding two years and not more than two prior convictions for a violent felony offense, and (4) has had no prior convictions for escape.

Offenders convicted of any drug offense are not eligible for home detention.  An exception is created for offenders convicted of possession of a controlled substance or a forged prescription for a controlled substance if the offender meets the program's other requirements and is monitored for drug use by Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime (TASC) or a comparable program.

The home detention program is expanded to include those persons who are otherwise eligible for the program and who comply with program rules but are unemployed or not in school if (a) the person has to perform parental duties to minors in the person's custody or (b) the person is ill and the health of the person, other inmates, or the custodial staff would be jeopardized by the offender's incarceration.

VOTES ON FINAL PASSAGE:

      House 75  19

      Senate    43     3 (Senate amended)

      House 87   7 (House concurred)

EFFECTIVE:July 23, 1989