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.

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
 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, the minimum of which shall be at least
21   25 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] 20 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] 15 years.
20      * * *
21      Section 2.       Section 6137(a)(1) and (3) of Title 61 are
22   amended to read:
23   § 6137.    Parole power.
24      (a)     General criteria for parole.--
25             (1)    The board may parole subject to consideration of
26      guidelines established under 42 Pa.C.S. § 2154.5 (relating to
27      adoption of guidelines for parole) or subject to section
28      6137.1 (relating to short sentence parole) and such
29      information developed by or furnished to the board under
30      section 6174 (relating to right of access to offenders), or

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 1    both, and may release on parole any offender to whom the
 2    power to parole is granted to the board by this chapter,
 3    except an offender condemned to death or serving life
 4    imprisonment for first degree murder, whenever in its
 5    opinion:
 6               (i)    The best interests of the offender justify or
 7        require that the offender be paroled.
 8               (ii)    It does not appear that the interests of the
 9        Commonwealth will be injured by the offender's parole.
10        * * *
11        (3)    The power to parole granted under this section to
12    the board may not be exercised in the board's discretion at
13    any time before, but only after, the expiration of the
14    minimum term of imprisonment fixed by the court in its
15    sentence or by the Board of Pardons in a sentence which has
16    been reduced by commutation[.], subject to the following:
17               (i)    Notwithstanding 42 Pa.C.S. § 9757 (relating to
18        consecutive sentences of total confinement for multiple
19        offenses) and except for an incarcerated person sentenced
20        to life imprisonment under 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711 (relating to
21        sentencing procedure for murder of the first degree), in
22        the case of an incarcerated person sentenced to life
23        imprisonment, the board may grant parole only after a
24        period of at least 25 years has elapsed since the
25        beginning date of the incarceration of the incarcerated
26        person.
27               (ii)    Notwithstanding 42 Pa.C.S. § 9757, in the case
28        of an incarcerated person sentenced under 18 Pa.C.S. §
29        1102.1(c)(1) (relating to sentence of persons under the
30        age of 18 for murder, murder of an unborn child and

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 1        murder of a law enforcement officer), the board may grant
 2        parole only after a period of at least 20 years has
 3        elapsed since the beginning date of the incarceration of
 4        the incarcerated person.
 5             (iii)    Notwithstanding 42 Pa.C.S. § 9757, in the case
 6        of an incarcerated person sentenced under 18 Pa.C.S. §
 7        1102.1(c)(2), the board may grant parole only after a
 8        period of at least 15 years has elapsed since the
 9        beginning date of the incarceration of the incarcerated
10        person.
11             (iv)    Before parole may be granted under subparagraph
12        (i), (ii) or (iii), the board must give primary
13        consideration to the protection of the public and to
14        victim safety.
15             (v)    In addition to the considerations required under
16        42 Pa.C.S. § 2154.5, when determining whether to grant
17        parole under subparagraph (i), (ii) or (iii), the board
18        shall consider the level of culpability of the person in
19        the underlying murder, including whether the person
20        directly caused or intended to cause a death.
21        * * *
22    Section 3.     This act shall take effect in 60 days.




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