People v. Covarrubias CA2/3

DISCUSSION

I. Section 3051

The California Legislature enacted section 3051 in light of United States Supreme Court decisions that recognized the lessened culpability and greater prospects for reform that distinguish juveniles from adult offenders. (See Stats. 2013, ch. 312, § 1; Graham v. Florida (2010) 560 U.S. 48 (Graham); Miller v. Alabama (2012) 567 U.S. 460 (Miller).) Section 3051

3 requires the Board of Parole Hearings to conduct a “youth offender parole hearing” at specified times during the incarceration of certain youthful offenders. (See § 3051, subds. (a)(1) & (b); Franklin, supra, 63 Cal.4th at p. 277.) Section 3051 has been amended since it was enacted. “When it was first enacted in 2013, the statute applied only to individuals who committed their crimes before the age of 18; the purpose of the statute was to align California law with then- recent court decisions identifying Eighth Amendment limitations on life without parole sentences for juvenile offenders. In more recent years, however, the Legislature has expanded the statute to include certain young adult offenders as well. Under the current version of the statute, most persons incarcerated for a crime…