Z-1094.3  _______________________________________________

                          HOUSE BILL 2242

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State of Washington      53rd Legislature     1994 Regular Session

By Representatives Leonard, Cooke, Wolfe, Morris, L. Johnson, J. Kohl, Roland, Karahalios and Springer; by request of Department of Corrections and Department of Social and Health Services

Read first time 01/11/94.  Referred to Committee on Corrections.

Authorizing the department of corrections to transfer juveniles under age eighteen to juvenile correctional institutions.

    AN ACT Relating to youthful offender placement; and amending RCW 72.01.410.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

    Sec. 1.  RCW 72.01.410 and 1981 c 136 s 74 are each amended to read as follows:

    Whenever any child under the age of ((sixteen)) eighteen is convicted in the courts of this state of a crime amounting to a felony, and is committed for a term of confinement in a correctional institution wherein adults are confined, the secretary of corrections, after making an independent assessment and evaluation of the child and determining that the needs and correctional goals for the child could better be met by the programs and housing environment provided by the juvenile correctional institution, with the consent of the secretary of social and health services, may transfer such child to a juvenile correctional institution, or to such other institution as is now, or may hereafter be authorized by law to receive such child, until such time as the child arrives at the age of ((eighteen)) twenty-one years, whereupon the child shall be returned to the institution of original commitment.  Retention within a juvenile detention facility or return to an adult correctional facility shall regularly be reviewed by the secretary of corrections and the secretary of social and health services with a determination made based on the level of maturity and sophistication of the individual, the behavior and progress while within the juvenile detention facility, security needs, and the program/treatment alternatives which would best prepare the individual for a successful return to the community.  Notice of such transfers shall be given to the clerk of the committing court and the parents, guardian, or next of kin of such child, if known.

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