SENATE BILL REPORT

                            SB 6119

                    AS OF JANUARY 18, 1994

Brief Description:  Transferring certain juvenile crimes to adult court.

SPONSORS: Senators Nelson, A. Smith, Oke, L. Smith, Sellar, Roach, Schow, Haugen, Quigley, West, M. Rasmussen, Winsley, Hochstatter, Skratek, Deccio, McDonald, Anderson, McCaslin, Ludwig and Moyer

SENATE COMMITTEE ON LAW & JUSTICE

Staff:  Susan Mahoney (786‑7717)

Hearing Dates: January 20, 1994

BACKGROUND:

Offenders under the age of 18 are subject to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court system in even the most serious of cases.  Juvenile court jurisdiction over an offender automatically expires at the age of 21 years regardless of the type of conviction.  To transfer a serious case to the adult system, a special hearing must be held in juvenile court where the burden is on the state to prove that the juvenile court should decline its jurisdiction to the superior court.

Over the last several years the number of serious crimes committed by juvenile offenders has increased.  Under the current system the presumption is that an offender under the age of 18 should be handled within the juvenile court system.  There is growing concern that the juvenile system does not adequately hold juvenile offenders accountable for their actions and that the public would be better served if the more serious juvenile offenders were handled exclusively within the adult system.   

SUMMARY:

A juvenile who is 16 or 17 years of age, and is alleged to have committed a class A felony or an attempt, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit a class A felony, shall automatically fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the superior court.  A juvenile who is 14, 15, 16, or 17 years of age, and has two prior juvenile convictions for a violent offense, and is alleged to have committed assault in the second degree, extortion in the first degree, indecent liberties, child molestation in the second degree, kidnapping in the second degree, or robbery in the second degree, shall automatically fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the superior court.

Appropriation: none

Revenue:  none

Fiscal Note:  requested January 18, 1994