Bills rework sentencing procedures for juveniles.

Florida would get new procedures for sentencing juveniles convicted of murder and other serious crimes under proposed House and Senate bills, but critics said the measures failed to provide a review for young offenders after they have grown up.

SB 1350, sponsored by Sen. Ron Bradley, R-Orange Park, passed the Senate Criminal Justice Committee on April 8. HB 7137, sponsored by Rep. Ray Pilon, R-Sarasota, passed the House Justice Appropriations Sub committee the next day after earlier clearing the Criminal Justice Subcommittee.

The bills address two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that called into question life sentences without parole that are given to juveniles tried as adults.

In 2010, the court, in Graham v. Florida, held that juveniles could not receive life sentences without the possibility of parole for non-homicide offenses. Then, last summer, the court in Miller v. Alabama ruled that juveniles convicted of murder could not automatically be sentenced to life without parole.

"They've said that our method of punishing juvenile offenders is unconstitutional. Therefore, we have an obligation to modify our juvenile statutes so they are consistent with the dictates of Graham and Miller" Bradley said. "What this bill does is conform our criminal statutes to the dictates of Miller and to the dictates of Graham."

He said the bill requires that the judge in each type of case conduct a hearing after conviction and before sentencing to consider a variety of factors based on Miller and Graham. After that hearing, the judge could impose a non-life sentence in a capital murder case, but in no instance could the sentence be less than 50 years. In non-homicide cases and life felony cases, including felony murder, the judge could impose a sentence of up to 50 years.

Pilon's bill had similar language.

Neither bill provides for any review of that sentence after a period of years to consider how the juvenile might have changed when he or she finished maturing.

"I think that the state of Florida very wisely a long time ago did away with parole. One of the reasons that policy decision was made, and I think that reason holds true today, is it's unimaginable to lose a family member to a violent criminal act," Bradley said.

"I consider it continued victimization to a family who has lost a loved one, or has been impacted by criminal activity, to continue to come back for hearings or to continue to relive the crime."

In the House Committee, Rep. Darryl Rouson...