An Act Regarding the Bind-over and Detention of Juveniles
Maine Legislature, Session 132, LD 0042
Sponsors: SALISBURY
Amends: 15 MRSA §3101

Legislative Document
No. 42
H.P. 6
House of Representatives, January 8, 2025
An Act Regarding the Bind-over and Detention of Juveniles
Submitted by the Department of Corrections pursuant to Joint Rule 204.
Received by the Clerk of the House on January 6, 2025.  Referred to the Committee on 
Criminal Justice and Public Safety pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to 
Joint Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative SALISBURY of Westbrook.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  15 MRSA §3101, sub-§4, ¶E-2, as amended by PL 2015, c. 409, §3, is 
further amended to read:
E-2.  If the Juvenile Court binds a juvenile over 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 unless the 
Department of Corrections requests that the juvenile be detained in a detention facility 
approved or operated by the department exclusively for juveniles and the court with 
jurisdiction over the proceedings at the time of the request grants that request.  The 
court may grant a request made pursuant to this paragraph and direct the department to 
detain the juvenile in a detention facility for juveniles as described in this paragraph 
only for the period of time that the juvenile is detained prior to the commencement of 
adult proceedings, including any period of time the juvenile is detained pending an 
appeal of the order binding the juvenile over for prosecution as an adult taken following 
the issuance of the bind-over order but not including any period of time the juvenile is 
detained pending an appeal taken after the juvenile is convicted as an adult.  The 
department may at any time request that the court rescind an order issued pursuant to 
this paragraph that directs the department to detain a juvenile bound over as an adult 
in a detention facility approved or operated by the department exclusively for juveniles. 
If the court grants the request to rescind that order, the juvenile to which the order refers 
must be detained in an adult section of a jail.  A person may not be detained in a 
detention facility approved or operated by the department exclusively for juveniles if 
the person attains 21 years of age.
SUMMARY
This bill amends the law governing detention of juveniles who have been bound over 
for prosecution as an adult. Under current law, when a detained juvenile who has been 
bound over for prosecution as an adult reaches 18 years of age, the juvenile must be 
detained in an adult section of a jail. This bill adds an exception to this provision by 
allowing the Department of Corrections to request and the court to order that the juvenile 
be detained in a department detention facility exclusively for juveniles. The court may grant 
a request made pursuant to this provision only for the period of time that the juvenile is 
detained prior to the commencement of adult proceedings, including while awaiting appeal 
of the order binding the juvenile over for prosecution as an adult but not including any 
period of time pending an appeal taken after the juvenile is convicted as an adult. Once a 
court has granted the department's request made pursuant to this provision, the department 
may at any time request that the court rescind that decision. If the court grants the request 
to rescind, the juvenile must be detained in an adult section of a jail.  The bill also provides 
that a person may not be detained in a detention facility approved or operated by the 
department exclusively for juveniles if the person attains 21 years of age.