An Act To Make Technical Amendments to the Maine Juvenile Code
Maine Legislature, Session 127, LD 1575
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Amends: 15 MRSA §3101, 15 MRSA §3103, 15 MRSA §3105-A, 15 MRSA §3311-D, 15 MRSA §3318-A

Legislative Document 
No. 1575 
H.P. 1067 
House of Representatives, January 26, 2016 
An Act To Make Technical Amendments to the Maine Juvenile 
Code 
Reported by Representative FOWLE of Vassalboro for the Criminal Law Advisory 
Commission pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 17-A, section 1354, subsection 2. 
Reference to the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety suggested and ordered 
printed pursuant to Joint Rule 218. 
ROBERT B. HUNT 
Clerk 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  15 MRSA §3101, sub-§4, ¶D, as repealed and replaced by PL 1997, c. 
645, §3, is amended to read: 
D.  The Juvenile Court shall consider the following factors in deciding whether to 
bind a juvenile over to Superior Court for prosecution as an adult: 
(1)  Seriousness of the crime: the nature and seriousness of the offense with 
greater weight being given to offenses against the person than against property; 
whether the offense was committed in an aggressive, violent, premeditated or 
intentional manner;  
(2)  Characteristics of the juvenile: the record and previous history of the 
juvenile; the age of the juvenile; the juvenile's emotional attitude and pattern of 
living; 
(3)  Public safety: whether the protection of the community requires commitment 
of the juvenile for a period longer than the greatest commitment authorized; 
whether the protection of the community requires commitment of the juvenile to 
a facility that is more secure than any dispositional alternative under section 
3314; and  
(4)  Dispositional alternatives: whether future criminal conduct by the juvenile 
will be deterred by the dispositional alternatives available; whether the 
dispositional alternatives would diminish the gravity of the offense. 
Sec. 2.  15 MRSA §3101, sub-§4, ¶E, as amended by PL 1997, c. 645, §4, is 
further amended to read: 
E.    The Juvenile Court shall bind a juvenile over to the Superior Court for 
prosecution as an adult if it finds: 
(1)  That there is probable cause to believe that a juvenile crime has been 
committed that would constitute murder or a Class A, Class B or Class C crime if 
the juvenile involved were an adult and that the juvenile to be bound over 
committed it; and  
(2)  After a consideration of the seriousness of the crime, the characteristics of 
the juvenile, the public safety and the dispositional alternatives in paragraph D, 
that: 
(a)  If the State has the burden of proof, the State has established by a 
preponderance of the evidence that it is appropriate to prosecute the juvenile 
as if the juvenile were an adult; or 
(b)  If the juvenile has the burden of proof, the juvenile has failed to establish 
by a preponderance of the evidence that it is not appropriate to prosecute the 
juvenile as if the juvenile were an adult. 
Sec. 3.  15 MRSA §3101, sub-§4, ¶E-2, as amended by PL 2013, c. 28, §2, is 
further amended to read: 
E-2.  If the Juvenile Court binds a juvenile over to Superior Court for prosecution as 
an adult and has directed the detention of the juvenile, if the juvenile attains 18 years 
of age and is being detained, the juvenile must be detained in an adult section of a 
jail. 
Sec. 4.  15 MRSA §3101, sub-§4, ¶F, as amended by PL 1979, c. 681, §38, is 
further amended to read: 
F.  The Juvenile Court shall bind over a child by entering an order finding probable 
cause, waiving jurisdiction and certifying the case for proceedings before the grand 
jury. The Juvenile Court shall enter written findings supporting its order finding 
probable cause and waiving jurisdiction. Proceedings concerning a juvenile who has 
been bound over to the Superior Court shall for prosecution as an adult must be 
conducted in the same manner and with the same powers and duties as if the juvenile 
were an adult. 
Sec. 5.  15 MRSA §3103, sub-§1, ¶E, as amended by PL 2003, c. 414, Pt. B, §29 
and affected by c. 614, §9, is further amended to read: 
E.  Offenses involving hunting or the operation or attempted operation of a 
watercraft, ATV or snowmobile while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or 
drugs, as defined in Title 12, section 10701, subsection 1 1-A, and offenses involving 
failing to aid an injured person or to report a hunting accident as defined in Title 12, 
section 11223; 
Sec. 6.  15 MRSA §3105-A, sub-§6, as enacted by PL 1987, c. 222, §2, is 
amended to read: 
6.  Lesser included juvenile crime; effect.  The defense established by this section 
does not bar a conviction an adjudication of a juvenile crime included in the juvenile 
crime charged, notwithstanding that the period of limitation has expired for the included 
juvenile crime, if, as to the juvenile crime charged, the period of limitation has not 
expired or there is no such period, and there is evidence which that sustains an 
adjudication for the juvenile crime charged. 
Sec. 7.  15 MRSA §3311-D, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 384, §4, is amended to 
read: 
§3311-D.  Limited review by appeal 
A juvenile is precluded from seeking to attack the legality of a deferred disposition, 
including a final disposition, except that a juvenile who has been determined by a court to 
have inexcusably failed to comply with a court-imposed deferment requirement and 
thereafter has had imposed a dispositional alternative authorized for the juvenile crime 
may appeal to the Superior Supreme Judicial Court, but not as of right.  The time for 
taking the appeal and the manner and any conditions for the taking of the appeal are as 
the Supreme Judicial Court provides by rule. 
Sec. 8.  15 MRSA §3318-A, sub-§10, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 282, §4, is 
amended to read: 
10.  Competency to proceed after bind over.  Notwithstanding a finding by the 
Juvenile Court that the juvenile is competent to proceed in a juvenile proceeding, if the 
juvenile is subsequently bound over for prosecution in the Superior Court or a court with 
a unified criminal docket as an adult pursuant to section 3101, subsection 4, the issue of 
the juvenile's competency may be revisited. 
SUMMARY 
This bill implements the recommendations of the Criminal Law Advisory 
Commission to make technical amendments to the Maine Juvenile Code.  Specifically, 
the bill makes changes to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 15, Part 6 as follows. 
1.  It amends references in the Maine Juvenile Code to the Superior Court to more 
accurately identify that, following a bind-over hearing, a juvenile is prosecuted as an 
adult. 
2.  It corrects a cross-reference in the laws concerning hunting and operating under 
the influence. 
3.  It corrects a headnote and the term "conviction" in reference to the disposition of a 
juvenile crime. 
4.  It changes a reference to the Superior Court to the Supreme Judicial Court to 
reflect that juvenile appeals are to the Supreme Judicial Court. 
5.  It establishes that if a juvenile is bound over for prosecution as an adult the issue 
of the juvenile's competency may be revisited.