Pennsylvania SB 387: An Act amending Titles 18 (Crimes and Offenses) and 61 (Prisons and Parole) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in authorized disposition of offenders, further providing for sentence for murder, murder of unborn child and murder of law enforcement officer and for sentence of persons under the age of 18 for murder, murder of an unborn child and murder of a law enforcement officer; and, in Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, further providing for parole power.

Bill Text

PRINTER'S NO. 332
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No. 387
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY STREET, BARTOLOTTA, SAVAL, CAPPELLETTI, HAYWOOD
AND SCHWANK, MARCH 6, 2025
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY, MARCH 6, 2025
AN ACT
Amending Titles 18 (Crimes and Offenses) and 61 (Prisons and
Parole) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in
authorized disposition of offenders, further providing for
sentence for murder, murder of unborn child and murder of law
enforcement officer and for sentence of persons under the age
of 18 for murder, murder of an unborn child and murder of a
law enforcement officer; and, in Pennsylvania Board of
Probation and Parole, further providing for parole power.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Sections 1102(b) and 1102.1(c) of Title 18 of the
Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes are amended to read:
§ 1102. Sentence for murder, murder of unborn child and murder
of law enforcement officer.
* * *
(b) Second degree.--Except as provided under section 1102.1,
a person who has been convicted of murder of the second degree,
of second degree murder of an unborn child or of second degree
murder of a law enforcement officer shall be sentenced to a term
of [life] imprisonment, the minimum of which shall be at least
25 years.
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* * *
§ 1102.1. Sentence of persons under the age of 18 for murder,
murder of an unborn child and murder of a law
enforcement officer.
* * *
(c) Second degree murder.--A person who has been convicted
after June 24, 2012, of a murder of the second degree, second
degree murder of an unborn child or murder of a law enforcement
officer of the second degree and who was under the age of 18 at
the time of the commission of the offense shall be sentenced as
follows:
(1) A person who at the time of the commission of the
offense was 15 years of age or older shall be sentenced to a
term of imprisonment the minimum of which shall be at least
[30 years to life] 20 years.
(2) A person who at the time of the commission of the
offense was under 15 years of age shall be sentenced to a
term of imprisonment the minimum of which shall be at least
[20 years to life] 15 years.
* * *
Section 2. Section 6137(a)(1) and (3) of Title 61 are
amended to read:
§ 6137. Parole power.
(a) General criteria for parole.--
(1) The board may parole subject to consideration of
guidelines established under 42 Pa.C.S. § 2154.5 (relating to
adoption of guidelines for parole) or subject to section
6137.1 (relating to short sentence parole) and such
information developed by or furnished to the board under
section 6174 (relating to right of access to offenders), or
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both, and may release on parole any offender to whom the
power to parole is granted to the board by this chapter,
except an offender condemned to death or serving life
imprisonment for first degree murder, whenever in its
opinion:
(i) The best interests of the offender justify or
require that the offender be paroled.
(ii) It does not appear that the interests of the
Commonwealth will be injured by the offender's parole.
* * *
(3) The power to parole granted under this section to
the board may not be exercised in the board's discretion at
any time before, but only after, the expiration of the
minimum term of imprisonment fixed by the court in its
sentence or by the Board of Pardons in a sentence which has
been reduced by commutation[.], subject to the following:
(i) Notwithstanding 42 Pa.C.S. § 9757 (relating to
consecutive sentences of total confinement for multiple
offenses) and except for an incarcerated person sentenced
to life imprisonment under 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711 (relating to
sentencing procedure for murder of the first degree), in
the case of an incarcerated person sentenced to life
imprisonment, the board may grant parole only after a
period of at least 25 years has elapsed since the
beginning date of the incarceration of the incarcerated
person.
(ii) Notwithstanding 42 Pa.C.S. § 9757, in the case
of an incarcerated person sentenced under 18 Pa.C.S. §
1102.1(c)(1) (relating to sentence of persons under the
age of 18 for murder, murder of an unborn child and
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murder of a law enforcement officer), the board may grant
parole only after a period of at least 20 years has
elapsed since the beginning date of the incarceration of
the incarcerated person.
(iii) Notwithstanding 42 Pa.C.S. § 9757, in the case
of an incarcerated person sentenced under 18 Pa.C.S. §
1102.1(c)(2), the board may grant parole only after a
period of at least 15 years has elapsed since the
beginning date of the incarceration of the incarcerated
person.
(iv) Before parole may be granted under subparagraph
(i), (ii) or (iii), the board must give primary
consideration t