FINAL BILL REPORT

                  HB 2242

                         C 220 L 94

                     Synopsis as Enacted

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

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.

House Committee on Corrections

House Committee on Appropriations

Senate Committee on Law & Justice

Background:  Any child under the age of 16 who is convicted of a felony crime and is committed for a term of confinement in an adult correctional facility may be transferred to a juvenile institution until the age of 18.  This determination is made jointly by the secretary of the Department of Corrections and the secretary of the Department of Social and Health Services.

The average cost per year in Washington State for incarcerating an individual in an adult correctional facility is approximately $27,000.  Juvenile institutional costs are approximately $48,000 per person per year.

Summary:  The age at which a juvenile offender may be transferred from an adult correctional institution to a juvenile correctional institution is raised from age 16 to age 18. The age at which the transferred juvenile offender must be returned to an adult correctional facility is raised from age 18 to age 21.

A juvenile felony offender committed to an adult correctional facility may be placed in a juvenile institution by the secretary of the Department of Corrections, with the consent of the secretary of the Department of Social and Health Services, after the secretary of the Department of Corrections makes an independent assessment and evaluation of the juvenile offender and determines that the transfer is in the best interest of the juvenile offender.

Both the secretary of the Department of Corrections and the secretary of the Department of Social and Health Services are required to review regularly the juvenile offender's  progress to determine which corrections system is the most appropriate institutional environment to house the juvenile offender.

Votes on Final Passage:

House  89 3

Senate 44 0

Effective:  June 9, 1994