WSR 17-12-079

RULES OF COURT

[June 1, 2017]

The Office of Public Defense, having recommended the adoption of the suggested amendment to RAP 3.4—Title of Case and Designation of Parties, and the Court having considered the amendments thereto, and having determined that the proposed amendments will aid in the prompt and orderly administration of justice;

Now, therefore, it is hereby

(a) That pursuant to the provisions of GR 9(g), the suggested amendment as shown below is to be published for comment in the Washington Reports, Washington Register, Washington State Bar Association and Administrative Office of the Court's websites.

(b) The purpose statement as required by GR 9(e), is published solely for the information of the Bench, Bar and other interested parties. The purpose statement and suggested amendments shall be published in January 2018.

(c) Comments are to be submitted to the Clerk of the Supreme Court by either U.S. Mail or Internet E-Mail by no later than April 30, 2018. Comments may be sent to the following addresses: P.O. Box 40929, Olympia, Washington 98504-0929, or supreme@courts.wa.gov. Comments submitted by e-mail message must be limited to 1500 words.

DATED at Olympia, Washington this 1st day of June 2017.

A. Proponent: Washington State Office of Public Defense

B. Spokespersons: George Yeannakis, Trial Level Public Defense Improvement Program Managing Attorney, and Gideon Newmark, Appellate Program Managing Attorney, Washington State Office of Public Defense, PO Box 40957, Olympia, WA 98504-0957, (360) 584-5636, george.yeannakis@opd.wa.gov

C. Purpose: To update RAP 3.4 to provide for juvenile offender appeals to be recaptioned using the juvenile's initials, and for the juvenile's initials to be used throughout appellate proceedings.

It has long been a matter of convention in Washington's appellate courts that juvenile offender appeals are captioned using the juvenile's initials, not the juvenile's name. There is currently no statute or court order requiring such recaptioning. Recognizing this fact, Division III of the Court of Appeals recently published a general order requiring unsealed juvenile offender appeals to be captioned using the juvenile's full name. But recent changes in juvenile record-sealing law would be frustrated if Washington's longstanding custom of protecting juvenile identities on appeal was abandoned.

In 2014, the Legislature declared that "it is the policy of the state of Washington that the interest in juvenile rehabilitation and reintegration constitutes compelling circumstances that outweigh the public interest in continued availability of juvenile court records." Laws of 2014, ch. 175, § 1. The Legislature accordingly required that a juvenile's court record be administratively sealed upon the juvenile's eighteenth birthday, provided that the juvenile has met the terms and conditions of his or her disposition, and in the absence of any objection. RCW 13.50.260. Such administrative sealing will be rendered useless, however, if juvenile offender identities are routinely published online, as all appellate opinions are. In the interest of effectuating the policy enacted by the Legislature, and in the interest of enabling juveniles to be rehabilitated and lead productive lives following a juvenile offense disposition, this Court should adopt the attached suggested amendment to RAP 3.4.

D. Hearing: A hearing is not requested.

E. Expedited Consideration: Expedited consideration is not requested.

F. Supporting material: Suggested rule amendment.

The title of a case in the appellate court is the same as in the trial court except that the party seeking review by appeal is called an "appellant," the party seeking review by discretionary review is called a "petitioner," and an adverse party on review is called a "respondent."

Upon motion of a party or on the court's own motion, and after notice to the parties, the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals may change the title of a case by order in said case. In a juvenile offender case, the parties shall caption the case using the juvenile's initials. The parties shall refer to the juvenile by his or her initials throughout all briefing and pleadings filed in the appellate court, and shall refer to any related individuals in such a way as to not disclose the juvenile's identity. However, the trial court record need not be redacted to eliminate references to the juvenile's identity.