Opinion ID: 1722433
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Pre-1994 Version of Statute

Text: Appellants were transferred to circuit court pursuant to the 1994 version of KRS 635.020(4). The pre-1994 version of KRS 635.020 permitted the county attorney to move for a hearing to determine whether the child should be transferred to circuit court and be dealt with as a youthful offender rather than merely as a public offender in district court. The decision whether to transfer the child was left to the discretion of the juvenile court judge after considering a number of factors set out in KRS 640.010(2)(b). If a child was transferred to circuit court, the juvenile was then proceeded against in the Circuit Court as an adult. KRS 640.010(2)(c). This meant that the juvenile was proceeded against pursuant to the Rules of Criminal Procedure and the Rules of Evidence rather than under the special adjudicatory procedures set out in Chapters 610 and 635 of the Juvenile Code. Because only circuit courts may impose a term of years for a felony, KRS 640.010(2)(c) was designed to permit transfer of certain juvenile felony offenders from district court to circuit court. Upon conviction of a qualifying offense, however, the juvenile was dealt with as a youthful offender. Thus, the purpose of KRS 635.020 and KRS 640.010(2) was to permit the court to impose the same term of years upon a juvenile for which an adult would be liable, but to otherwise leave the circuit judge discretion to probate or conditionally discharge the juvenile, send the child for treatment, or send the child to the adult correctional system upon majority.