H-1049.1          _______________________________________________

 

                                  HOUSE BILL 1412

                  _______________________________________________

 

State of Washington              52nd Legislature             1991 Regular Session

 

By Representatives Wineberry, Padden, Jacobsen, Tate, Prentice, Paris, Locke, Belcher, O'Brien, Leonard and Anderson.

 

Read first time January 29, 1991.  Referred to Committee on Human Services\Appropriations.Studying racial disproportionality in the juvenile justice system.


     AN ACT Relating to racial disproportionality in the juvenile justice system; creating new sections; making an appropriation; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.

 

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

 

     NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1.      The legislature finds that the number of minority youth arrested, detained, and incarcerated within the juvenile justice system has significantly increased from seven percent in 1978 to over thirty-five percent in 1989 and continues to rise.  The number of minorities in the juvenile justice system is significantly higher than their proportion of the state's population.   As a result, it is the legislature's intent to provide for a study to identify the causes of minority disproportionality within the juvenile justice system and to recommend changes, if needed, to address this growing problem.

 

     NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2.      The office of management services of the division of children, youth, and family services within the department of social and health services, in cooperation with the commission on African American affairs and the governor's juvenile justice advisory committee, shall contract for an independent study of racial disproportionality in the juvenile justice system.

     (1) The study shall identify key decision points in the juvenile justice system where race and/or ethnicity-based disproportionality exists in the treatment and incarceration of juvenile offenders.  The key decision points shall include, but not be limited to, arrest, detainment at the time of arrest, admission to detention, release to parent or other legal guardian, referral to prosecution and filing of charges, juvenile court sentencing, and institutional assignment if committed to the division of juvenile rehabilitation.

     (2) The study shall also seek to identify the causes of such disproportionality, propose new policies and procedures to address disproportionality, and test the impact of proposed policies.

     (3) The division of children, youth, and family services of the department of social and health services shall report its findings and recommendations to the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 1, 1992.

 

     NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3.      The sum of sixty‑two thousand five hundred dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1993, from the general fund to the division of children, youth, and family services of the department of social and health services for the purposes of this act.

 

     NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4.      This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect July 1, 1991.