KY Senate advances bill regarding crimes involving juveniles and firearms

Legislative Research Commission

Sen. Matthew Deneen, R-Elizabethtown, speaks Wednesday on the Senate floor regarding Senate Bill 20.Photo byLRC Public Information

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Feb. 14, 2024) — A much-debated bill calling for older juveniles who use a firearm during certain felonies to stand trial as adults received approval Wednesday from the Senate with a 25-9 vote. One senator cast a pass vote.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Matthew Deneen, R-Elizabethtown, said the bill would put victims before perpetrators and hold the state’s most violent criminals accountable for the crimes they commit through gun violence.

“When you hold a gun to someone’s head, whether that gun is fired or not, the trauma of that victim needs to be considered,” he said.

Deneen said SB 20 would automatically transfer juvenile offenders to circuit court if they are at least 15 years old and have been charged with committing a gun-related felony, Class C or above.

Additionally, the bill would require offenders to serve at least 50% of their sentence before they are eligible for parole if they are convicted of a Class C felony involving the discharge of a weapon, Deneen said. That’s up from the current 20%.

The senator said he worked closely with commonwealth’s attorneys, county attorneys and former police chiefs to craft the measure, and that the bill will ensure the time served fits the crime committed.

“It incentivizes community involvement. Right now, our police officers report to me it’s hard to get someone to be a witness to testify about a crime – gun crime – in their neighborhood because they are fearful,” Deneen said.

Senate Bill 20 would allow cases that are transferred to adult court to receive a reverse waiver after commonwealth’s attorneys and county attorneys review facts and find cases don’t meet specific standards, he said.

The Senate adopted an amendment to the bill on the chamber floor Wednesday. Deneen said it ensures that county attorneys and commonwealth’s attorneys use their discretion to determine whether the case should remain as a transfer case to adult court. It clarifies prosecutorial discretion in advance, he said.

Lawmakers debated the measure for more than an hour.

Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Fruit Hill, said SB 20 would undo legislation adopted three years ago that called on courts to consider 10 factors when adjudicating a juvenile offender – factors such as the maturity of the child, the child’s prior record and the best interest of the child and the community, among others.

“We’re robbing the judges and the prosecutors of the discretion we were allowing them to use every single day,” he said.

Senate Minority Caucus Chair Reginald Thomas, D-Lexington, also voted against the measure and said the idea of “lock ‘em up and throw away the key” mentality is unsuccessful. He pointed to statistics that illustrate that crime has actually gone down.

“Despite all the progress we’ve made through learning from our mistakes in the 80s and 90s, we’ve decided to go back and embrace that,” he said. “That just makes no sense to me in light of all the progress and data that’s out there from over the last 20 years.”

However, Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, said that while it’s not a perfect bill, SB 20 doesn’t go far enough.

“We talk about root problems, but we all know in our hearts is the real problem is our families in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and a fatherhood situation. We all know that. But today, we’re dealing with an immediate crisis,” he said.