WHB/7/1
Sponsored by Daisy Perez, Kalem Ruiz, Laila Cabrera of Smyrna High School
This legislation was filed in the Correction category
Presented as part of the YIG Volunteer 2024 conference
| 1 | BE IT ENACTED BY THE TENNESSEE YMCA YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT |
| 2 | Section 1: Terms in this act will be defined as follows: |
| 3 | a. Recidivism- The tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend. |
| 4 | b. Assimilate- The process of becoming increasingly familiar with societal customs, values, and |
| 5 | culture. |
| 6 | c. Class A felony- Class A felonies are punishable by 15-60 years and a fine of up to $50,000. An |
| 7 | example of a class A felony is terrorism. |
| 8 | d. Class B felony- Class B felonies are felonies punishable by 8-30 years and a fine of up to |
| 9 | $25000. An example of a class B felony is sex trafficking. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | Section 2: Prisoners in Tennessee can reduce their sentence by participating in community service |
| 12 | while helping local areas. The prisoners' sentences may be reduced by a maximum of 5% based on |
| 13 | the ruling of a judge with information provided by officers who presided over the prisoner’s |
| 14 | service. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | Section 3: Prisoners must participate in at least 500 hours of community service to be considered |
| 17 | for a shorter sentence. As soon as they reach 5% of their sentence, the opportunity will no longer |
| 18 | be available to them. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | Section 4: To ensure public safety, class B offenders or above are not allowed to participate in this |
| 21 | program. Moreover, correctional officers will accompany participants in a 1:7 ratio. The |
| 22 | opportunity would be dependent on a pattern of good behavior. Any abuse of this opportunity |
| 23 | could have a participant's sentence extended in accordance with the law. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | Section 5: Availability of community service would be based on a judge's decision. Services |
| 26 | available to all groups would only consist of cleaning services, production services, and food |
| 27 | services while other services would be up to a judge's interpretation. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | Section 6: The cost for materials to carry out community service would be $70,000 allocated from |
| 30 | the Tennessee Department of Revenue (TNDOR) in partnership with the Tennessee Department of |
| 31 | Corrections (TNDOC). |
| 32 | |
| 33 | Section 7: Participants would be supervised mainly by correctional officers; these officers would be |
| 34 | put on alternating shifts. Shift schedules would be up to the counties and local prisons’ choice. |
| 35 | Police officers would also be able to volunteer to supervise participating offenders. |
| 36 | |
| 37 | Section 8: All laws or parts of laws in conflict are hereby repealed. |
| 38 | Section 9: This act shall take effect July 1, 2024, the public welfare requiring it. |
| 39 |