16.1-330.1 - Serious or Habitual Offender Comprehensive Action Program; definition; disclosure of information; penalty.
§ 16.1-330.1. Serious or Habitual Offender Comprehensive Action Program;definition; disclosure of information; penalty.
A. For purposes of this article, a serious or habitual juvenile offender is aminor who has been (i) adjudicated delinquent or convicted of murder orattempted murder, armed robbery, any felony sexual assault or maliciouswounding, or a felony violation of a gang-related crime pursuant to Article2.1 (§ 18.2-46.1 et seq.) of Chapter 4 of Title 18.2, or (ii) convicted atleast three times for offenses which would be felonies or Class 1misdemeanors if committed by an adult. Qualifying convictions oradjudications shall include only those for offenses occurring after July 1,1993. However, any Serious or Habitual Offender Comprehensive Action Program(SHOCAP) in existence on July 1, 1993, shall be deemed to have beenestablished pursuant to this article and, notwithstanding the limitations ofthis subsection, may continue to supervise persons who were being supervisedon July 1, 1993. Juvenile offenders under SHOCAP supervision at the time oftheir eighteenth birthday who have been committed to state care pursuant tosubdivision A 14 of § 16.1-278.8 or § 16.1-285.1 may continue to besupervised by SHOCAP until their twenty-first birthday.
B. The Serious or Habitual Offender Comprehensive Action Program (SHOCAP) isa multidisciplinary interagency case management and information sharingsystem which enables the juvenile and criminal justice system, schools, andsocial service agencies to make more informed decisions regarding juvenileswho repeatedly commit serious criminal and delinquent acts. Each SHOCAP shallsupervise serious or habitual juvenile offenders in the community as well asthose under probation or parole supervision and enhance current conductcontrol, supervision and treatment efforts to provide a more coordinatedpublic safety approach to serious juvenile crime, increase the opportunityfor success with juvenile offenders and assist in the development of earlyintervention strategies.
C. Any county or city in the Commonwealth may by action of its governing bodyestablish a SHOCAP committee. The committee shall consist of representativesfrom local law enforcement, schools, attorneys for the Commonwealth, juvenilecourt services, juvenile detention centers or group homes, mental and medicalhealth agencies, state and local children and family service agencies, andthe Department of Juvenile Justice. Any county or city which establishes aSHOCAP committee shall, within 45 days of such action, notify the Departmentof Criminal Justice Services. The Department shall issue statewide SHOCAPguidelines and provide technical assistance to local jurisdictions onimplementation of SHOCAP.
D. Each SHOCAP committee shall share among its members and with other SHOCAPcommittees otherwise confidential information on identified serious orhabitual juvenile offenders. Every person, including members of the SHOCAPcommittee, who is to receive confidential information pursuant to thisarticle shall maintain the confidentiality of that information.
All records and reports concerning serious or habitual juvenile offendersmade available to members of a SHOCAP committee and all records and reportsidentifying an individual offender which are generated by the committee fromsuch reports shall be confidential and shall not be disclosed, except asspecifically authorized by this article or other applicable law. Disclosureof the information may be made to other staff from member agencies asauthorized by the SHOCAP committee for the furtherance of case management,community supervision, conduct control and locating of the offender for theapplication and coordination of appropriate services. Staff from the memberagencies who receive such information will be governed by the confidentialityprovisions of this article. The staff from the member agencies who willqualify to have access to the SHOCAP information shall be limited to thoseindividuals who provide direct services to the offender or who providecommunity conduct control and supervision to the offender.
The provisions of this article authorizing information sharing between andamong SHOCAP committees shall take precedence over the provisions of (i)Article 12 (§ 16.1-299 et seq.) of Chapter 11 of this title governingdissemination of court and law-enforcement records concerning juveniles, (ii)Article 5 (§ 22.1-287 et seq.) of Chapter 14 of Title 22.1 governing accessto pupil records, (iii) Title 37.2 and any regulations enacted pursuantthereto governing access to juvenile mental health records, and (iv) Title63.2 and any regulations enacted pursuant thereto governing access to recordsconcerning treatments or services provided to a juvenile.
E. It shall be unlawful for any staff person from a member agency to discloseor to knowingly permit, assist or encourage the unauthorized release of anyidentifying information contained in any reports or records received orgenerated by a SHOCAP committee. A violation of this subsection shall bepunishable as a Class 3 misdemeanor.
(1993, cc. 465, 927; 1996, c. 293; 1999, c. 508; 2004, c. 418.)