CONNECTICUT, USA — Legislation to help address youth crime have been signed into the books by Gov. Ned Lamont on Tuesday.
The bipartisan law updates the state's criminal justice statutes, enabling law enforcement and courts to provide swifter, more effective responses to youth offenders with repeated motor vehicle theft and other crimes.
At the start of the most recent legislative session, Lamont introduced legislation with several proposals and provisions later incorporated into the final bill.
The law provides provisions to help make a youth arrest and delinquency hearings swifter and more effective. Local officers investigating a crime involving a juvenile will have access to electronic records containing statewide pending charges and 90 days of prior arrest records.
Also in the law is the allowance of courts to formally order that a youth offender be assessed for services.
The law also provides more intensive responses to juveniles with more serious repeated charges by expanding the probation docket to include homicide and firearm charges. It also allows courts to order GPS monitoring for a youth charged with a second or subsequent motor vehicle offense.
“These updates to Connecticut’s criminal justice statutes make juvenile arrest and delinquency proceedings swifter with more information for courts to review, provide more intensive responses to the small number of juveniles with serious and repeated charges, and restructure motor vehicle theft laws to focus on people with prior offenses,” Lamont said about the law. “This bipartisan legislation shows the good that comes when policymakers on both sides of the aisle seek common ground to develop solutions together. Connecticut is a safe state, and keeping it safe requires continuous policy improvements and investments in needed areas.”
In addition to the legislation, the budget adjustment legislation that Lamont signed this spring made several significant investments to increase public safety.
Some of those investments included $11.4 million for law enforcement-led strategies and partnerships to trace recovered guns to their source, reduce stolen cars, and expand support for communities facing an increase in violent crime.
Another $7.5 million was invested in community and public health-led strategies to prevent and reduce gun violence, and $3.3 million to provide at-risk youths with access to services and diversion programs.
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Jennifer Glatz is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jglatz@fox61.com.
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