CHAPTER 80
AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 51, TITLE 31, DELAWARE CODE, RELATING TO THE YOUTH SERVICES COMMISSION OF DELAWARE, TO REDEFINE THE FUNCTIONS OF THE COMMISSION, QUALIFICATIONS OF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SETTING HIS SALARY, APPOINTMENT OF OTHER PERSONNEL, POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION, CUSTODY OF CHILDREN COMMITTED TO INSTITUTIONS PRIOR TO JULY 1, 1958.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware:
Section 1. Title 31, § 5102, Delaware Code, is amended to read as follows:
§ 5102. Functions of the Youth Services Commission of Delaware
There shall be one State agency known as the Youth Services Commission of Delaware whose function shall be the administration of all State-owned training facilities for the detention, care and treatment, and after-care supervision of juvenile delinquents. These include: Ferris School for Boys, Kruse School, Woods Haven School for Girls, and the Detention Home for Juvenile (Bridge House). In addition, the Commission shall foster the expansion of community services directed toward the over-all prevention of juvenile delinquency.
Section 2. Title 31, § 5105, Delaware Code, is amended to read as follows:
§ 5105. Oath; quorum; chairman
(a) Before entering upon the duties of the office, each member shall take and subscribe an oath or affirmation, as prescribed in Article XIV of the Constitution of this State.
(b) Five members shall constitute a quorum.
(c) The Commission shall elect a Chairman from among its membership.
Section 3. Title 31, §5106, Delaware Code, is amended to read as follows:
§ 5106. Executive Director; appointment; compensation; duties
The Executive Director of the Commission shall be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the Commission. The Executive Director shall have at least a Bachelor of Arts degree, and preferably have done graduate work in the behavioral sciences, and shall have had at least five years' experience in an administrative capacity in an agency dealing with problems of juvenile delinquency, at least two of them in an institution for delinquent children. It shall.be the duty of the Executive Director, with the approval of the Commission, to appoint the superintendents of the institutions involved. He shall approve the appointments of all other personnel made, by the superintendents, fix their compensation in accordance with salary schedules approved by the Commission, and prescribe. their duties. He shall act as Secretary of the Youth Services Commission of Delaware. The salary of the Executive Director shall be set by the Commission.
Section 4. Title 31, § 5120 (2), Delaware Code, is amended to read as follows:
Appoint advisory committees having such membership as it deems appropriate or desirable.
Section 5. Title 31, § 5121, Delaware Code, is amended to read as follows:
§ 5121. Commitments to the Youth Services Commission of Delaware
The Family Court of the State of Delaware in and for New Castle County and the Juvenile Court of Kent and Sussex Counties may each commit to the custody of the Commission any juvenile who is subject to the jurisdiction of such Court and who is delinquent, as that term is defined in sections 901 and 1101 of Title 10. The Commission shall accept the custody of any juvenile so committed to it. After July 1, 1958, a Court shall commit a juvenile properly adjudged a juvenile delinquent only to the Youth Services Commission of Delaware. All juveniles who, prior to July 1, 1958, have been adjudged delinquent and committed to any institution in this State by any Court will, after that date, be in the legal custody of the Commission, just as though the custody of any such juvenile had been directly awarded to the Commission by a Court.
Section 6. Title 31, § 5122, Delaware Code, is amended to read as follows:
§ 5122. Power to discharge
The Commission in its discretion may discharge finally any juvenile committed to its custody if the Commission shall determine such discharge to be for the best interests of the juvenile or of the Youth Services Commission of Delaware. After such discharge the Commission shall be relieved of all liability for any such juvenile. In any event, no person shall be retained in the legal custody of the Youth Services Commission beyond his or her 21st birthday.
Approved June 24, 1959.