Kansas Legislature Approves Juvenile Justice Reform Package

On April 1, 2016, the Kansas Legislature passed a juvenile justice reform bill that calls for a statewide system of structured community-based graduated responses for technical probation violations, conditional release violations, and sentence condition violations to be used by community supervision officers. The Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) will consult with the Supreme Court in adopting rules and regulations by January 1, 2017.

Further, effective July 1, 2017, the bill establishes overall case length limits for juvenile offenders to remain under the jurisdiction of the court. For misdemeanors, court jurisdiction can last up to 12 months. For low-risk . . .