2384-S

AN ACT Relating to disposition of juvenile offenders; amending RCW 13.40.030 and 13.40.160; adding a new section to chapter 13.40 RCW; creating a new section; and prescribing penalties.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that the number of juvenile offenders and the severity of their crimes is increasing rapidly state-wide. In addition, many juvenile offenders continue to reoffend after they are released from the juvenile justice system causing disproportionately high and expensive rates of recidivism.

The legislature further finds that juvenile criminal behavior is often the result of a lack of self-discipline, the lack of systematic work habits and ethics, the inability to deal with authority figures, and an unstable or unstructured living environment. The legislature further finds that the department of social and health services currently operates an insufficient number of confinement beds to meet the rapidly growing juvenile offender population. Together these factors are combining to produce a serious public safety hazard and the need to develop more effective and stringent juvenile punishment and rehabilitation options.

The legislature intends that juvenile offenders who enter the state rehabilitation system have the opportunity and are given the responsibility to become more effective participants in society by enhancing their personal development, work ethics, and life skills. The legislature recognizes that structured incarceration programs for juvenile offenders such as juvenile offender basic training camps, can instill the self-discipline, accountability, self-esteem, and work ethic skills that could discourage many offenders from returning to the criminal justice system. Juvenile offender basic training camp incarceration programs generally emphasize life skills training, prevocational work skills training, anger management, dealing with difficult at-home family problems and/or abuses, discipline, physical training, structured and intensive work activities, and educational classes. The legislature further recognizes that juvenile offenders can benefit from a highly structured basic training camp environment and the public can also benefit through increased public protection and reduced cost due to lowered rates of recidivism.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 13.40 RCW to read as follows:

(1) The department of social and health services shall establish and operate a medium security juvenile offender basic training camp program. The department shall site a juvenile offender basic training camp facility in the most cost-effective facility possible and shall review the possibility of using an existing abandoned and/or available state, federally, or military-owned site or facility.

(2) The department may contract under this chapter with private companies, the national guard, or other federal, state, or local agencies to operate the juvenile offender basic training camp, notwithstanding the provisions of RCW 41.06.380. Requests for proposals from possible contractors shall not call for payment on a per diem basis.

(3) The department shall commence operation of the medium security juvenile offender basic training camp program no later than January 1, 1995.

(4) The juvenile offender basic training camp shall accommodate at least seventy offenders. The beds shall count as additions to, and not be used as replacements for, existing bed capacity at existing department of social and health services juvenile facilities.

(5) The juvenile offender basic training camp shall be a structured and regimented model lasting one hundred twenty days emphasizing the building up of an offender's self-esteem, confidence, and discipline. The juvenile offender basic training camp program shall provide participants with basic education, prevocational training, work-based learning, live work, work ethic skills, conflict resolution counseling, substance abuse intervention, anger management counseling, and structured intensive physical training. The juvenile offender basic training camp program shall have a curriculum training and work schedule that incorporates a balanced assignment of these or other rehabilitation and training components for no less than sixteen hours per day, six days a week.

The department shall adopt rules for the safe and effective operation of the juvenile offender basic training camp program, standards for an offender's successful program completion, and rules for the continued after-care supervision of offenders who have successfully completed the program.

(6) Offenders eligible to be committed to the juvenile offender basic training camp option shall be those with a disposition of at least fifty-two weeks but not more than seventy-eight weeks. Violent and sex offenders shall not be committed to the juvenile offender basic training camp program.

(7) All juvenile offenders sentenced to the juvenile offender basic training camp sentencing option shall spend the first one hundred twenty days of their sentence in a juvenile offender basic training camp. If the juvenile offender's activities while in the juvenile offender basic training camp are so disruptive to the juvenile offender basic training camp program, as determined by the secretary according to rules adopted by the department, as to result in the removal of the juvenile offender from the juvenile offender basic training camp program, or if the offender cannot complete the juvenile offender basic training camp program due to medical problems, the secretary shall require that the offender be committed to a juvenile institution to serve the entire remainder of his or her sentence, less the amount of time already served in the juvenile offender basic training camp program.

(8) All offenders who successfully graduate from the one hundred twenty day juvenile offender basic training camp program shall spend the remainder of their sentence on parole in a division of juvenile rehabilitation intensive aftercare program in the local community. The program shall provide for the needs of the offender based on his or her progress in the aftercare program as indicated by ongoing assessment of those needs and progress. The intensive aftercare program shall monitor postprogram juvenile offenders and assist them to successfully reintegrate into the community. In addition, the program shall develop a process for closely monitoring and assessing public safety risks. The intensive aftercare program shall be designed and funded by the department of social and health services.

(9) No juvenile who suffers from any mental or physical problems that could endanger his or her health or drastically affect his or her performance in the program shall be admitted to or retained in the juvenile offender basic training camp program.

(10) The department shall also develop and maintain a database to measure recidivism rates specific to this incarceration program. The data base shall maintain data on all juvenile offenders sentenced to a juvenile offender basic training camp for a period of two years after they have completed the program. The data base shall also maintain data on the criminal activity, educational progress, and employment activities of all juvenile offenders who participated in the program. The department shall produce an outcome evaluation report on the progress of the juvenile offender basic training camp program to the appropriate committees of the legislature no later than December 12, 1996.

Sec. 3. RCW 13.40.030 and 1989 c 407 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

(1)(a) The juvenile disposition standards commission shall recommend to the legislature no later than November 1st of each year disposition standards for all offenses. The standards shall establish, in accordance with the purposes of this chapter, ranges which may include terms of confinement, including the juvenile offender basic training camp program established in section 2 of this act, and/or community supervision established on the basis of a youth's age, the instant offense, and the history and seriousness of previous offenses, but in no case may the period of confinement and supervision exceed that to which an adult may be subjected for the same offense(s). Standards recommended for offenders listed in RCW 13.40.020(1) shall include a range of confinement which may not be less than thirty days. No standard range may include a period of confinement which includes both more than thirty, and thirty or less, days. Disposition standards recommended by the commission shall provide that in all cases where a youth is sentenced to a term of confinement in excess of thirty days the department may impose an additional period of parole not to exceed eighteen months. Standards of confinement which may be proposed may relate only to the length of the proposed terms and not to the nature of the security to be imposed. In developing recommended disposition standards, the commission shall consider the capacity of the state juvenile facilities and the projected impact of the proposed standards on that capacity.

(b) The secretary shall submit guidelines pertaining to the nature of the security to be imposed on youth placed in his or her custody based on the age, offense(s), and criminal history of the juvenile offender. Such guidelines shall be submitted to the legislature for its review no later than November 1st of each year. At the same time the secretary shall submit a report on security at juvenile facilities during the preceding year. The report shall include the number of escapes from each juvenile facility, the most serious offense for which each escapee had been confined, the number and nature of offenses found to have been committed by juveniles while on escape status, the number of authorized leaves granted, the number of failures to comply with leave requirements, the number and nature of offenses committed while on leave, and the number and nature of offenses committed by juveniles while in the community on minimum security status; to the extent this information is available to the secretary. The department shall include security status definitions in the security guidelines it submits to the legislature pursuant to this section.

(2) In developing recommendations for the permissible ranges of confinement under this section the commission shall be subject to the following limitations:

(a) Where the maximum term in the range is ninety days or less, the minimum term in the range may be no less than fifty percent of the maximum term in the range;

(b) Where the maximum term in the range is greater than ninety days but not greater than one year, the minimum term in the range may be no less than seventy-five percent of the maximum term in the range; and

(c) Where the maximum term in the range is more than one year, the minimum term in the range may be no less than eighty percent of the maximum term in the range.

Sec. 4. RCW 13.40.160 and 1992 c 45 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) When the respondent is found to be a serious offender, the court shall commit the offender to the department for the standard range of disposition for the offense, as indicated in option A of schedule D-3, RCW 13.40.0357 except as provided in subsection (5) of this section or section 2 of this act.

If the court concludes, and enters reasons for its conclusion, that disposition within the standard range would effectuate a manifest injustice the court shall impose a disposition outside the standard range, as indicated in option B of schedule D-3, RCW 13.40.0357. The court's finding of manifest injustice shall be supported by clear and convincing evidence.

A disposition outside the standard range shall be determinate and shall be comprised of confinement or community supervision, or a combination thereof. When a judge finds a manifest injustice and imposes a sentence of confinement exceeding thirty days, the court shall sentence the juvenile to a maximum term, and the provisions of RCW 13.40.030(2), as now or hereafter amended, shall be used to determine the range. A disposition outside the standard range is appealable under RCW 13.40.230, as now or hereafter amended, by the state or the respondent. A disposition within the standard range is not appealable under RCW 13.40.230 as now or hereafter amended.

(2) Where the respondent is found to be a minor or first offender, the court shall order that the respondent serve a term of community supervision as indicated in option A or option B of schedule D-1, RCW 13.40.0357 except as provided in subsection (5) of this section. If the court determines that a disposition of community supervision would effectuate a manifest injustice the court may impose another disposition under option C of schedule D-1, RCW 13.40.0357. Except as provided in subsection (5) of this section, a disposition other than a community supervision may be imposed only after the court enters reasons upon which it bases its conclusions that imposition of community supervision would effectuate a manifest injustice. When a judge finds a manifest injustice and imposes a sentence of confinement exceeding thirty days, the court shall sentence the juvenile to a maximum term, and the provisions of RCW 13.40.030(2), as now or hereafter amended, shall be used to determine the range. The court's finding of manifest injustice shall be supported by clear and convincing evidence.

Except for disposition of community supervision or a disposition imposed pursuant to subsection (5) of this section, a disposition may be appealed as provided in RCW 13.40.230, as now or hereafter amended, by the state or the respondent. A disposition of community supervision or a disposition imposed pursuant to subsection (5) of this section may not be appealed under RCW 13.40.230 as now or hereafter amended.

(3) Where a respondent is found to have committed an offense for which the respondent declined to enter into a diversion agreement, the court shall impose a term of community supervision limited to the conditions allowed in a diversion agreement as provided in RCW 13.40.080(2) as now or hereafter amended.

(4) If a respondent is found to be a middle offender:

(a) The court shall impose a determinate disposition within the standard range(s) for such offense, as indicated in option A of schedule D-2, RCW 13.40.0357 except as provided in subsection (5) of this section or section 2 of this act: PROVIDED, That if the standard range includes a term of confinement exceeding thirty days, commitment shall be to the department for the standard range of confinement; or

(b) The court shall impose a determinate disposition of community supervision and/or up to thirty days confinement, as indicated in option B of schedule D-2, RCW 13.40.0357 in which case, if confinement has been imposed, the court shall state either aggravating or mitigating factors as set forth in RCW 13.40.150 as now or hereafter amended.

(c) Only if the court concludes, and enters reasons for its conclusions, that disposition as provided in subsection (4)(a) or (b) of this section would effectuate a manifest injustice, the court shall sentence the juvenile to a maximum term, and the provisions of RCW 13.40.030(2), as now or hereafter amended, shall be used to determine the range. The court's finding of manifest injustice shall be supported by clear and convincing evidence.

(d) A disposition pursuant to subsection (4)(c) of this section is appealable under RCW 13.40.230, as now or hereafter amended, by the state or the respondent. A disposition pursuant to subsection (4) (a) or (b) of this section is not appealable under RCW 13.40.230 as now or hereafter amended.

(5) When a serious, middle, or minor first offender is found to have committed a sex offense, other than a sex offense that is also a serious violent offense as defined by RCW 9.94A.030, and has no history of a prior sex offense, the court, on its own motion or the motion of the state or the respondent, may order an examination to determine whether the respondent is amenable to treatment.

The report of the examination shall include at a minimum the following: The respondent's version of the facts and the official version of the facts, the respondent's offense history, an assessment of problems in addition to alleged deviant behaviors, the respondent's social, educational, and employment situation, and other evaluation measures used. The report shall set forth the sources of the evaluator's information.

The examiner shall assess and report regarding the respondent's amenability to treatment and relative risk to the community. A proposed treatment plan shall be provided and shall include, at a minimum:

(a)(i) Frequency and type of contact between the offender and therapist;

(ii) Specific issues to be addressed in the treatment and description of planned treatment modalities;

(iii) Monitoring plans, including any requirements regarding living conditions, lifestyle requirements, and monitoring by family members, legal guardians, or others;

(iv) Anticipated length of treatment; and

(v) Recommended crime-related prohibitions.

The court on its own motion may order, or on a motion by the state shall order, a second examination regarding the offender's amenability to treatment. The evaluator shall be selected by the party making the motion. The defendant shall pay the cost of any second examination ordered unless the court finds the defendant to be indigent in which case the state shall pay the cost.

After receipt of reports of the examination, the court shall then consider whether the offender and the community will benefit from use of this special sex offender disposition alternative and consider the victim's opinion whether the offender should receive a treatment disposition under this section. If the court determines that this special sex offender disposition alternative is appropriate, then the court shall impose a determinate disposition within the standard range for the offense, and the court may suspend the execution of the disposition and place the offender on community supervision for up to two years. As a condition of the suspended disposition, the court may impose the conditions of community supervision and other conditions, including up to thirty days of confinement and requirements that the offender do any one or more of the following:

(b)(i) Devote time to a specific education, employment, or occupation;

(ii) Undergo available outpatient sex offender treatment for up to two years, or inpatient sex offender treatment not to exceed the standard range of confinement for that offense. A community mental health center may not be used for such treatment unless it has an appropriate program designed for sex offender treatment. The respondent shall not change sex offender treatment providers or treatment conditions without first notifying the prosecutor, the probation counselor, and the court, and shall not change providers without court approval after a hearing if the prosecutor or probation counselor object to the change;

(iii) Remain within prescribed geographical boundaries and notify the court or the probation counselor prior to any change in the offender's address, educational program, or employment;

(iv) Report to the prosecutor and the probation counselor prior to any change in a sex offender treatment provider. This change shall have prior approval by the court;

(v) Report as directed to the court and a probation counselor;

(vi) Pay all court-ordered legal financial obligations, perform community service, or any combination thereof; or

(vii) Make restitution to the victim for the cost of any counseling reasonably related to the offense.

The sex offender treatment provider shall submit quarterly reports on the respondent's progress in treatment to the court and the parties. The reports shall reference the treatment plan and include at a minimum the following: Dates of attendance, respondent's compliance with requirements, treatment activities, the respondent's relative progress in treatment, and any other material specified by the court at the time of the disposition.

At the time of the disposition, the court may set treatment review hearings as the court considers appropriate.

Except as provided in this subsection (5), after July 1, 1991, examinations and treatment ordered pursuant to this subsection shall only be conducted by sex offender treatment providers certified by the department of health pursuant to chapter 18.155 RCW. A sex offender therapist who examines or treats a juvenile sex offender pursuant to this subsection does not have to be certified by the department of health pursuant to chapter 18.155 RCW if the court finds that: (A) The offender has already moved to another state or plans to move to another state for reasons other than circumventing the certification requirements; (B) no certified providers are available for treatment within a reasonable geographical distance of the offender's home; and (C) the evaluation and treatment plan comply with this subsection (5) and the rules adopted by the department of health.

If the offender violates any condition of the disposition or the court finds that the respondent is failing to make satisfactory progress in treatment, the court may revoke the suspension and order execution of the sentence. The court shall give credit for any confinement time previously served if that confinement was for the offense for which the suspension is being revoked.

For purposes of this section, "victim" means any person who has sustained emotional, psychological, physical, or financial injury to person or property as a direct result of the crime charged. "Victim" may also include a known parent or guardian of a victim who is a minor child unless the parent or guardian is the perpetrator of the offense.

(6) Whenever a juvenile offender is entitled to credit for time spent in detention prior to a dispositional order, the dispositional order shall specifically state the number of days of credit for time served.

(7) Except as provided for in subsection (5) of this section, the court shall not suspend or defer the imposition or the execution of the disposition.

(8) In no case shall the term of confinement imposed by the court at disposition exceed that to which an adult could be subjected for the same offense.