News Releases
Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - May 13, 1997
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136

Locke inks sweeping re-write of juvenile justice law

SEATTLE - Gov. Gary Locke today signed legislation that will make neighborhoods safer and hold juveniles more accountable for their criminal actions. Following the signing of House Bill 3900 this afternoon at King County's Department of Youth Services Detention Facility in Seattle, the state and communities will change how they handle troubled youth who violate the law.


"All of us who care about the safety of our families and neighborhoods can breathe a little easier today," Locke said. "Now more serious juvenile offenders will spend time behind bars and first-time offenders will receive a clear message that crime has consequences."


The old system, in use since 1977, has been the focus of repeated reform efforts that ended in frustration in the Legislature. Most criticisms of the 1977 law revolved around its failure to provide consequences for first offenses, as well as its outdated reliance on the offender's age rather than the seriousness of the crime.


Locke praised the balanced approach of the measure. "While cracking down on hard-core juvenile offenders is imperative, it's also important that young people who haven't yet gone down the road to a life of crime know we won't turn our backs on them at the first sign of trouble," he added.


Though most of the new law's provisions have attracted broad support for several years, bitter disputes over which cases should be automatically transferred from the juvenile court system to the adult court system have repeatedly blocked passage of the comprehensive changes. This year Locke stepped into the fray and forged a compromise on the toughest sticking point. As a result, an estimated 155 more juveniles will be automatically referred to adult court. The additional crimes that now will send juveniles to adult court are first degree robbery; first degree child rape; drive-by shootings; first degree burglary, if the juvenile has one prior felony or misdemeanor; and any violent offense committed while armed with a firearm.


Juveniles now will be sentenced under a new formula that will take into account the offender's criminal history and the seriousness of the crime.


Under the new law, juveniles who commit a felony while armed with a firearm will receive mandatory additional confinement tacked onto their sentences, ranging from 2 months up to an additional 6 months in the case of class A felonies. And a host of crimes, from child molestation to residential burglary and possession of a stolen firearm, are reclassified as more serious offenses under provisions signed by Locke.


The new law includes a component which empowers communities to create local intervention programs and to direct new state funds toward local initiatives.


More intensive supervision of juveniles also will be allowed in the new system. Sex offenders, previously subject to only two years of parole supervision, can now be sentenced to as much as three years of parole. In addition, the one-fourth of offenders at the highest risk of re-offending could be subjected to intensive supervision.


The measure creates a new option for judges by allowing them to order juveniles into drug or alcohol treatment programs. It is estimated that over 80 percent of juvenile offenders have substance abuse problems.


Parental involvement is another emphasis of the new law. Parents now will be required to attend hearings when their children are charged with a crime. Additional provisions are included to encourage and allow further parental involvement in all aspects of the juvenile justice system.


"Bringing people of goodwill and sharply differing views together behind a consensus can be difficult when emotions run as high as they do on juvenile justice issues," Locke said. "Today we celebrate an achievement which at times seemed out of reach. Our families, our neighborhoods and our youth will reap substantial benefits from the sweeping reform ideas that now become law."


Locke also signed a series of additional criminal justice measures. House Bill 1176 adds more crimes to the list of sex offenses which count as strikes under the 'Two Strikes, You're Out' law. Offenders who are at least 16-years-old and commit first degree child rape, and 18-year-old offenders who commit second degree child rape will get one of their two strikes under provisions of this new law. Another bill signed today by the governor (House Bill 1924) increases penalties for rape, child rape, indecent liberties committed with forcible compulsion and failing to register as a sex offender.


Locke signed House Bill 1398, which creates nine new superior court judge positions, two each in Snohomish and Spokane counties, and five in Pierce County. Victims of violent and sex crimes now have the clear right to have an advocate present during all judicial proceedings under the terms of House Bill 1589, also among the 15 crime bills signed into law today.

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