HB 443 — 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.

PRINTER'S NO.   421

                     THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



                         HOUSE BILL
                         No. 443
                                                Session of
                                                  2025

     INTRODUCED BY BRIGGS, HOWARD, SANCHEZ, KINKEAD, HILL-EVANS,
        WEBSTER, KHAN, GIRAL, KENYATTA, CERRATO, CEPEDA-FREYTIZ,
        PIELLI, MAYES, GUENST, HOHENSTEIN, DONAHUE, D. WILLIAMS, BOYD
        AND GREEN, FEBRUARY 3, 2025

     REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, FEBRUARY 3, 2025


                                    AN ACT
 1   Amending Titles 18 (Crimes and Offenses) and 61 (Prisons and
 2      Parole) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in
 3      authorized disposition of offenders, further providing for
 4      sentence for murder, murder of unborn child and murder of law
 5      enforcement officer and for sentence of persons under the age
 6      of 18 for murder, murder of an unborn child and murder of a
 7      law enforcement officer; and, in Pennsylvania Board of
 8      Probation and Parole, further providing for parole power.
 9      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
10   hereby enacts as follows:
11      Section 1.    Sections 1102(b) and 1102.1(c) of Title 18 of the
12   Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes are amended to read:
13   § 1102.    Sentence for murder, murder of unborn child and murder
14                of law enforcement officer.
15      * * *
16      (b)    Second degree.--Except as provided under section 1102.1,
17   a person who has been convicted of murder of the second degree,
18   of second degree murder of an unborn child or of second degree
19   murder of a law enforcement officer shall be sentenced to a term
20   of [life] imprisonment of not more than 50 years.
 1      * * *
 2   § 1102.1.       Sentence of persons under the age of 18 for murder,
 3                   murder of an unborn child and murder of a law
 4                   enforcement officer.
 5      * * *
 6      (c)     Second degree murder.--A person who has been convicted
 7   after June 24, 2012, of a murder of the second degree, second
 8   degree murder of an unborn child or murder of a law enforcement
 9   officer of the second degree and who was under the age of 18 at
10   the time of the commission of the offense shall be sentenced as
11   follows:
12             (1)    A person who at the time of the commission of the
13      offense was 15 years of age or older shall be sentenced to a
14      term of imprisonment [the minimum of which shall be at least
15      30 years to life] of not more than 40 years.
16             (2)    A person who at the time of the commission of the
17      offense was under 15 years of age shall be sentenced to a
18      term of imprisonment [the minimum of which shall be at least
19      20 years to life] of not more than 30 years.
20      * * *
21      Section 2.       Section 6137(a)(1) and (3) of Title 61 are
22   amended and the subsection is amended by adding a paragraph to
23   read:
24   § 6137.    Parole power.
25      (a)     General criteria for parole.--
26             (1)    The board may parole subject to consideration of
27      guidelines established under 42 Pa.C.S. § 2154.5 (relating to
28      adoption of guidelines for parole) or subject to section
29      6137.1 (relating to short sentence parole) and such
30      information developed by or furnished to the board under

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 1    section 6174 (relating to right of access to offenders), or
 2    both, and may release on parole any offender to whom the
 3    power to parole is granted to the board by this chapter,
 4    except an offender condemned to death or serving life
 5    imprisonment for a conviction under 18 Pa.C.S. § 2502(a)
 6    (relating to murder), whenever in its opinion:
 7              (i)    The best interests of the offender justify or
 8        require that the offender be paroled.
 9              (ii)    It does not appear that the interests of the
10        Commonwealth will be injured by the offender's parole.
11        * * *
12        (3)   The power to parole granted under this section to
13    the board may not be exercised in the board's discretion at
14    any time before, but only after, the expiration of the
15    minimum term of imprisonment fixed by the court in its
16    sentence or by the Board of Pardons in a sentence which has
17    been reduced by commutation[.], except as follows:
18              (i)    Notwithstanding 42 Pa.C.S. § 9757 (relating to
19        consecutive sentences of total confinement for multiple
20        offenses), the board may grant parole 25 years after the
21        date of incarceration for an offender sentenced to life
22        imprisonment under 18 Pa.C.S. § 1102(b) (relating to
23        sentence for murder, murder of unborn child and murder of
24        law enforcement officer).
25              (ii)    Notwithstanding 42 Pa.C.S. § 9757, the board
26        may grant parole 20 years after the date of incarceration
27        for an offender sentenced under 18 Pa.C.S. § 1102.1(c)(1)
28        (relating to sentence of persons under the age of 18 for
29        murder, murder of an unborn child and murder of a law
30        enforcement officer).

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 1                 (iii)   Notwithstanding 42 Pa.C.S. § 9757, the board
 2          may grant parole 15 years after the date of incarceration
 3          for an offender sentenced under 18 Pa.C.S. § 1102.1(c)
 4          (2).
 5                 (iv)    Before parole may be granted under subparagraph
 6          (i), (ii) or (iii), the board must give primary
 7          consideration to the protection of the public and to
 8          victim safety. In addition to the considerations required
 9          under 42 Pa.C.S. § 2154.5, when determining whether to
10          grant parole under subparagraph (i), (ii) or (iii), the
11          board shall consider the level of culpability of the
12          person in the underlying murder, including whether the
13          person directly caused or intended to cause a death.
14          * * *
15          (3.2)    The power to parole a person under paragraph (3)
16      (i), (ii) or (iii) may only be utilized if the victims of the
17      underlying offense have been notified that parole is being
18      considered and are given the opportunity to be heard by the
19      board, unless there is good cause that notice or the
20      opportunity to be heard could not be provided. Nothing in
21      this paragraph shall be construed to reduce, alter or
22      eliminate any rights of a victim under section 201 of the act
23      of November 24, 1998 (P.L.882, No.111), known as the Crime
24      Victims Act.
25          * * *
26      Section 3.    The addition of 61 Pa.C.S. § 6137(a)(3)(i), (ii),
27   (iii) and (iv) and (3.2) shall apply to the incarceration of an
28   offender sentenced before, on or after the effective date of
29   this section.
30      Section 4.    This act shall take effect in 60 days.

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