PIERRE, S.D. – The South Dakota House Judiciary Committee this morning (Wednesday) passes two bills dealing with possible criminal justice reforms.
South Dakota Supreme Court Justice Steven Jensen requested both measures.
House Bill 1063 would set up a task force to look into ways to assist young adult offenders ages 18 to 25.
Uniform Judicial System administrator Gregory Sattizahn says the biggest single group of offenders and prisoners are in the 18 to 25 age group.
He says because of brain development, they are no longer kids but also not yet adults.
The task force would look at different ways to engage the age group, which also has a high rate of returning to prison.
The measure passed 12 to 0 and moves on to the House of Representatives.
Another Chief Justice-proposed bill would form a different task force to examine the growing costs of providing legal representation to indigent defendants.
He says in a decade, counties have seen their costs for court-appointed attorneys go from nearly $11 million to nearly $21 million. Though defendants are supposed to pay back the costs to the county, Sattizahn says counties typically only see about 8% of that money repaid.
Sattizahn says lawyers are turning down cases because of the low hourly rate–$107 an hour and $1 per mile. He says the federal courts pay $50 more an hour for appointed lawyers. Counties are also having difficulties, he said, in keeping up with the growing expenses.
House Bill 1064 passed the committee 10 to 0 and moves to the House of Representatives.
