An Act to Amend the Laws Governing the Right to Counsel for Juveniles and Due Process for Juveniles
Maine Legislature, Session 131, LD 0140
Committee: Judiciary
Sponsors: RUDNICKI, CYRWAY, DRINKWATER, JAVNER
Amends: 15 MRSA §3003, 15 MRSA §3203-A, 15 MRSA §3301, 15 MRSA §3306, 15 MRSA §3313, 15 MRSA §3314, 15 MRSA §3315, 15 MRSA §3316, 15 MRSA §3317, 15 MRSA §3402, 15 MRSA §3405, 34-A MRSA §3805

Legislative Document
No. 140
H.P. 86
House of Representatives, January 10, 2023
An Act to Amend the Laws Governing the Right to Counsel for 
Juveniles and Due Process for Juveniles
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative RUDNICKI of Fairfield.
Cosponsored by Representatives: CYRWAY of Albion, DRINKWATER of Milford, JAVNER 
of Chester.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  15 MRSA §3003, sub-§14, as amended by PL 2021, c. 326, §1, is further 
amended to read:
14.  Juvenile.  "Juvenile" means a person who has not attained 18 years of age and a 
person 18 years of age or older during the period of a disposition that includes probation or 
commitment to a Department of Corrections juvenile facility who was adjudicated before 
years of age.  This definition does not apply to a person whose disposition includes 
probation or commitment to a Department of Corrections juvenile correctional facility 
when that person engages in new criminal conduct and is 18 years of age or older at the 
time of the new criminal conduct.
Sec. 2.  15 MRSA §3203-A, sub-§4, ¶G, as enacted by PL 2021, c. 326, §2, is 
repealed.
Sec. 3.  15 MRSA §3203-A, sub-§5, as amended by PL 2021, c. 326, §3, is further 
amended to read:
5.  Detention hearing.  Upon petition by a juvenile community corrections officer who 
ordered the detention or an attorney for the State who ordered the detention, the Juvenile 
Court shall review the decision to detain a juvenile within 48 hours following the detention, 
excluding Saturday, Sunday and legal holidays, except that if a juvenile is detained 
pursuant to subsection 7, paragraph B‑5, the Juvenile Court shall review the decision to 
detain the juvenile within 24 hours following the detention, excluding Saturday, Sunday 
and legal holidays.  When a petition to review detention is filed, the Juvenile Court shall 
assign counsel to represent the juvenile.  The assignment must be reviewed at the juvenile's 
first appearance before the Juvenile Court.  If a juvenile petition with charges based on the 
conduct at issue in the detention hearing is filed, the assignment continues with respect to 
the petition to review detention but must be reviewed at the juvenile's first appearance on 
the juvenile petition.
A.  A detention hearing must precede and must be separate from a bind-over or 
adjudicatory hearing.  Evidence presented at a detention hearing may include 
testimony, affidavits and other reliable hearsay evidence as permitted by the Juvenile 
Court and may be considered in making any determination in that hearing.
B.  Following a detention hearing, the Juvenile Court shall order a juvenile's release, 
in accordance with subsection 4, unless it finds, by a preponderance of the evidence, 
that continued detention is necessary to meet one of the purposes of detention provided 
in that subsection.  The Juvenile Court shall ensure, by appropriate order, that any such 
continued detention is otherwise in accordance with the requirements of subsection 4.  
The Juvenile Court may order that detention be continued pending further appearances 
before the Juvenile Court or pending conditional release to a setting satisfactory to the 
juvenile community corrections officer.
C.  Continued detention or conditional release may not be ordered unless a Juvenile 
Court Judge or justice of the peace has determined pursuant to subsection 4‑A or the 
Juvenile Court determines at the detention hearing that there is probable cause to 
believe that the juvenile has committed a juvenile crime.
D.  When the Juvenile Court orders detention or a conditional release that authorizes, 
even temporarily, the juvenile's removal from the juvenile's home, the Juvenile Court 
shall determine whether reasonable efforts have been made to prevent or eliminate the 
need for removal of the juvenile from the juvenile's home or that no reasonable efforts 
are necessary because of the existence of an aggravating factor as defined in Title 22, 
section 4002, subsection 1‑B, and whether continuation in the juvenile's home would 
be contrary to the welfare of the juvenile.  This determination does not affect whether 
the Juvenile Court orders detention or a conditional release, which continues to be 
governed by the other provisions of this section.
Sec. 4.  15 MRSA §3301, sub-§6, as amended by PL 2021, c. 326, §4, is further 
amended by repealing the 3rd blocked paragraph.
Sec. 5.  15 MRSA §3306, sub-§1, ¶D, as enacted by PL 2021, c. 326, §5, is 
repealed.
Sec. 6.  15 MRSA §3306, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2021, c. 326, §5, is further 
amended by repealing the first blocked paragraph.
Sec. 7.  15 MRSA §3313, sub-§2, ¶J, as amended by PL 2021, c. 326, §7, is further 
amended to read:
J.  The juvenile is particularly likely to respond affirmatively to probation; and
Sec. 8.  15 MRSA §3313, sub-§2, ¶K, as amended by PL 2021, c. 326, §8, is further 
amended to read:
K.  The confinement of the juvenile would entail excessive hardship to the juvenile or 
the juvenile's dependents;.
Sec. 9.  15 MRSA §3313, sub-§2, ¶L, as enacted by PL 2021, c. 326, §9, is 
repealed.
Sec. 10.  15 MRSA §3313, sub-§2, ¶M, as enacted by PL 2021, c. 326, §10, is 
repealed.
Sec. 11.  15 MRSA §3314, sub-§1, ¶F, as amended by PL 2021, c. 326, §11, is 
further amended to read:
F.  The court may commit the juvenile to a Department of Corrections juvenile 
correctional facility, except that, beginning October 1, 2021, the juvenile must be at 
least 12 years of age at the time of commitment to be committed to such a facility.  
Whenever a juvenile is committed to a Department of Corrections juvenile correctional 
facility, the court shall determine whether reasonable efforts have been made to prevent 
or eliminate the need for removal of the juvenile from the juvenile's home or that no 
reasonable efforts are necessary because of the existence of an aggravating factor as 
defined in Title 22, section 4002, subsection 1‑B and whether continuation in the 
juvenile's home would be contrary to the welfare of the juvenile.  This determination 
does not affect whether the court orders a commitment to a Department of Corrections 
juvenile correctional facility, which continues to be governed by section 3313.
Sec. 12.  15 MRSA §3315, sub-§3, as amended by PL 2021, c. 326, §12, is further 
amended to read:
3.  Court review of determination.  Whenever a court makes a determination pursuant 
to section 3314, subsection 1, paragraph F or section 3314, subsection 2 that reasonable 
efforts have been made to prevent or eliminate the need for removal of the juvenile from 
the juvenile's home or that no reasonable efforts are necessary because of the existence of 
an aggravating factor as defined in Title 22, section 4002, subsection 1‑B and that 
continuation in the juvenile's home would be contrary to the welfare of the juvenile, that 
determination must be reviewed by the court not less than once every 12 months until the 
juvenile is discharged or, no longer residing resides outside the juvenile's home or attains 
years of age.  This review does not affect a juvenile's commitment to a Department of 
Corrections juvenile correctional facility.
A.  A juvenile who has not attained 21 years of age must be represented by counsel at 
this review.
B.  If an appropriate treatment or appropriate and less restrictive placement is not being 
provided or offered to the juvenile, the court may order the Department of Corrections 
or the Department of Health and Human Services, or both, to demonstrate the 
reasonableness of the current treatment or placement provided or offered.
Sec. 13.  15 MRSA §3316, sub-§2, ¶A, as amended by PL 2021, c. 326, §13, is 
further amended to read:
A.  A commitment of a juvenile to a Department of Corrections juvenile correctional 
facility pursuant to section 3314 must be for an indeterminate period not to extend 
beyond the juvenile's 18th birthday unless the court expressly further limits or extends 
the indeterminate commitment, as long as the court does not limit the commitment to 
less than one year or extend the commitment beyond a juvenile's 21st birthday and as 
long as an order does not result in a commitment of less than one year, unless the 
commitment is for an indeterminate period not to extend beyond the juvenile's 21st 
birthday.  Nothing in this Part may be construed to prohibit the provision to a juvenile 
following the expiration of the juvenile's term of commitment of services voluntarily 
accepted by the juvenile and the juvenile's parent or parents, guardian or legal custodian 
if the juvenile is not emancipated; except that these services may not be extended 
beyond the juvenile's 21st birthday.
Sec. 14.  15 MRSA §3317, as amended by PL 2021, c. 326, §14, is further amended 
to read:
§3317.  Disposition after return to Juvenile Court
In instances of commitment of a juvenile to the Department of Health and Human 
Services or a Department of Corrections juvenile correctional facility or when the juvenile 
is under a specified period of probation, the Commissioner of Health and Human Services 
or the commissioner's designee or the Commissioner of Corrections or the commissioner's 
designee, or the juvenile following the disposition may for good cause petition the Juvenile 
Court having original jurisdiction in the case for a judicial review of the disposition, 
including extension of the period of commitment or period of probation.  For a petition 
initiated by the juvenile, the Department of Health and Human Services or the Department 
of Corrections shall provide information including, but not limited to, the information in 
reports required for periodic review pursuant to section 3315.  In all cases in which the 
juvenile is returned to a Juvenile Court, the Juvenile Court may make any of the 
dispositions otherwise provided in section 3314 and Title 34‑A, section 3805, subsection 
2.  When reviewing a commitment to the Department of Health and Human Services, the 
court shall consider efforts made by the Department of Corrections and the Department of 
Health and Human Services to reunify the juvenile with the juvenile's parents or custodians, 
shall make a finding regarding those efforts and shall return custody of the juvenile to a 
parent or legal custodian if the return of the juvenile is not contrary to the welfare of the 
juvenile.  A petition for judicial review of a disposition committing the juvenile to the 
Department of Health and Human Services must be served on the parents at least 7 days 
prior to the hearing.  Absent extraordinary circumstances, the juvenile may file a petition 
no more than once every 180 days.  A juvenile who has not attained 21 years of age must 
be represented by counsel at this review.
Sec. 15.  15 MRSA §3402, sub-§1, ¶D, as amended by PL 2021, c. 326, §15, is 
further amended to read:
D.  A detention order entered pursuant to section 3203‑A, subsection 5 or any refusal 
to alter a detention order upon petition of the juvenile pursuant to section 3203‑A, 
subsection 11, for abuse of discretion. The appeal must be handled expeditiously; and
Sec. 16.  15 MRSA §3402, sub-§1, ¶H, as amended by PL 2021, c. 326, §15, is 
further amended to read:
H.  An order binding a juvenile over for prosecution as an adult, which may be taken 
following issuance of the bind-over order, or, at the election of the appellant, following 
a judgment of conviction as an adult, but not both; and.
Sec. 17.  15 MRSA §3402, sub-§1, ¶I, as enacted by PL 2021, c. 326, §15, is 
repealed.
Sec. 18.  15 MRSA §3405, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2021, c. 326, §16, is further 
amended to read:
2.  Record on appeals.  In appeals taken pursuant to section 3402, subsection 1, 
paragraphs A, and B and H, review must be on the basis of the record of the proceedings 
in the Juvenile Court. In the interest of justice, the Supreme Judicial Court may order that 
the record consist of:
A.  The untranscribed sound recording of the proceedings; or
B.  An agreed or settled statement of facts with the consent of the parties.
Sec. 19.  34-A MRSA §3805, sub-§1-A, as enacted by PL 2021, c. 326, §18, is 
repealed.
Sec. 20.  34-A MRSA §3805, sub-§1-B is enacted to read:
1-B.  Eligibility.  Only a juvenile, as defined in Title 15, section 3003, subsection 14, 
who is 11 years of age or older at the time of commitment may be committed to the facility 
pursuant to this subchapter and Title 15, Part 6.
SUMMARY
This bill reverses the changes in law made by Public Law 2021, chapter 326. 
The bill removes the provision specifying that the right to counsel for a juvenile 
attaches at the juvenile's initial appearance and continues until the court no longer has 
jurisdiction over the juvenile, including all post-dispositional hearings and during the time 
of commitment.  The bill also removes a requirement that counsel appointed by the court 
continue to represent the juvenile throughout all proceedings concerning the juvenile, 
unless relieved by the court.  The bill removes a requirement that the Juvenile Court assign 
counsel to a juvenile when a detention order is reviewed.
The bill amends the definition of "juvenile" as used in the Maine Juvenile Code.
The bill removes a provision establishing the Juvenile Court's jurisdiction over 
proceedings in which a juvenile had attained 12 years of age at the time of the offense.
The bill removes the authority of the Juvenile Court to appoint counsel for a juvenile 
upon the filing of a petition.  The bill removes the requirement that the Juvenile Court 
appoint counsel upon a disposition ordering a juvenile to the Department of Corrections 
juvenile correctional facility.
The bill removes 2 considerations that must be accorded weight against ordering 
placement in a secure facility.
The bill removes provisions in the law governing a juvenile's right to periodic review 
relating to a requirement that the juvenile have counsel.  It removes the provision that 
allows courts to require the Department of Corrections, the Department of Health and 
Human Services, or both, to demonstrate the reasonableness of the current treatment or 
placement provided or offered if an appropriate treatment or an appropriate less restrictive 
alternative placement is not being provided.  It also removes the provision that allows 
judicial reviews for individuals who are 18 to 20 years of age.
The bill removes a provision that allows a juvenile to request a hearing under the Maine 
Revised Statutes, Title 15, section 3317 and to petition for a reduction of a period of 
commitment. The bill also removes the authorization of the court to reduce the period of 
commitment or probation.  
The bill removes a provision that allows a court to limit commitment to less than one 
year.
The bill removes a provision that allows for appeal of hearings pursuant to Title 15, 
section 3317.
The bill lowers the age at which a juvenile may be committed to Long Creek Youth 
Development Center to 11 years of age.