BP BHEAD INT S [atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to granting courts of limited jurisdiction concurrent jurisdiction over certain juvenile offenses; reenacting and amending RCW 13.04.030; adding a new section to chapter 13.04 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that a swift and certain response to a juvenile who begins engaging in acts of delinquency may prevent the offender from becoming a chronic or more serious offender. However, given pressing demands to address serious offenders, the system does not always respond to minor offenders expeditiously and effectively. Consequently, this act is adopted to implement an experiment to determine whether granting courts of limited jurisdiction concurrent jurisdiction over certain juvenile offenses will improve the system's effectiveness in curbing delinquency. The legislature may ascertain whether this approach might be successful on a larger scale by conducting an experiment with local governments, which are the laboratories of democracy.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 13.04 RCW to read as follows:

(1) Any county with a population of at least two hundred thousand but less than three hundred fifty thousand that is located east of the crest of the Cascades may authorize a pilot project to allow courts of limited jurisdiction within the county to exercise concurrent jurisdiction with the juvenile court under certain circumstances. District and municipal courts of limited jurisdiction at the local option of the county or any city or town located within the county may exercise concurrent original jurisdiction with the juvenile court over traffic or civil infractions, violations of compulsory school attendance provisions under chapter 28A.225 RCW, and misdemeanors, when those offenses are allegedly committed by juveniles and:

(a)(i) The offense, if it were committed by an adult, would be punishable by sanctions that do not include incarceration; or

(ii) The offender's standard range disposition does not include a term of confinement as defined in RCW 13.40.020;

(b) The court of limited jurisdiction has a computer system that is linked to the state-wide criminal history information data system used by juvenile courts to track and record juvenile offenders' criminal history;

(c) The county legislative authority of the county has authorized creation of concurrent jurisdiction between the court of limited jurisdiction and the juvenile court; and

(d) The court of limited jurisdiction has an agreement with officials responsible for administering the county juvenile detention facility under RCW 13.04.035 and 13.20.060 that the court may order juveniles into the detention facility for an offense in cases in which the court finds that a disposition without confinement would be a manifest injustice.

(2) The juvenile court shall retain jurisdiction over the offense if the juvenile is charged with another offense arising out of the same incident and the juvenile court has jurisdiction over the other offense.

(3) Jurisdiction under this section does not constitute a decline or transfer of juvenile court jurisdiction under RCW 13.40.110.

(4) The procedural and disposition provisions of chapter 13.40 RCW apply to offenses prosecuted under this section.

(5) All diversions and adjudications entered by a court of limited jurisdiction must be included in an offender's criminal history as provided in chapter 13.40 RCW.

(6) This section is to be implemented as a pilot project in the county.

Sec. 3. RCW 13.04.030 and 1995 c 312 s 39 and 1995 c 311 s 15 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, the juvenile courts in the several counties of this state, shall have exclusive original jurisdiction over all proceedings:

(a) Under the interstate compact on placement of children as provided in chapter 26.34 RCW;

(b) Relating to children alleged or found to be dependent as provided in chapter 26.44 RCW and in RCW 13.34.030 through 13.34.170;

(d) To approve or disapprove out-of-home placement as provided in RCW 13.32A.170;

(e) Relating to juveniles alleged or found to have committed offenses, traffic infractions, or violations as provided in RCW 13.40.020 through 13.40.230, unless:

(i) The juvenile court transfers jurisdiction of a particular juvenile to adult criminal court pursuant to RCW 13.40.110; ((or))

(ii) The statute of limitations applicable to adult prosecution for the offense, traffic infraction, or violation has expired; ((or))

(iii) The alleged offense or infraction is a traffic, fish, boating, or game offense or traffic infraction committed by a juvenile sixteen years of age or older and would, if committed by an adult, be tried or heard in a court of limited jurisdiction, in which instance the appropriate court of limited jurisdiction shall have jurisdiction over the alleged offense or infraction: PROVIDED, That if such an alleged offense or infraction and an alleged offense or infraction subject to juvenile court jurisdiction arise out of the same event or incident, the juvenile court may have jurisdiction of both matters: PROVIDED FURTHER, That the jurisdiction under this subsection does not constitute "transfer" or a "decline" for purposes of RCW 13.40.110(1) or (e)(i) of this subsection: PROVIDED FURTHER, That courts of limited jurisdiction which confine juveniles for an alleged offense or infraction may place juveniles in juvenile detention facilities under an agreement with the officials responsible for the administration of the juvenile detention facility in RCW 13.04.035 and 13.20.060; ((or))

(iv) The alleged offense is a traffic or civil infraction, a violation of compulsory school attendance provisions under chapter 28A.225 RCW, or a misdemeanor, and a court of limited jurisdiction has assumed concurrent jurisdiction over those offenses as provided in section 2 of this act; or

(v) The juvenile is sixteen or seventeen years old and the alleged offense is: (A) A serious violent offense as defined in RCW 9.94A.030 committed on or after June 13, 1994; or (B) a violent offense as defined in RCW 9.94A.030 committed on or after June 13, 1994, and the juvenile has a criminal history consisting of: (I) One or more prior serious violent offenses; (II) two or more prior violent offenses; or (III) three or more of any combination of the following offenses: Any class A felony, any class B felony, vehicular assault, or manslaughter in the second degree, all of which must have been committed after the juvenile's thirteenth birthday and prosecuted separately. In such a case the adult criminal court shall have exclusive original jurisdiction.

If the juvenile challenges the state's determination of the juvenile's criminal history, the state may establish the offender's criminal history by a preponderance of the evidence. If the criminal history consists of adjudications entered upon a plea of guilty, the state shall not bear a burden of establishing the knowing and voluntariness of the plea;

(f) Under the interstate compact on juveniles as provided in chapter 13.24 RCW;

(g) Relating to termination of a diversion agreement under RCW 13.40.080, including a proceeding in which the divertee has attained eighteen years of age;

(h) Relating to court validation of a voluntary consent to an out-of-home placement under chapter 13.34 RCW, by the parent or Indian custodian of an Indian child, except if the parent or Indian custodian and child are residents of or domiciled within the boundaries of a federally recognized Indian reservation over which the tribe exercises exclusive jurisdiction; and

(i) Relating to petitions to compel disclosure of information filed by the department of social and health services pursuant to RCW 74.13.042.

(2) The family court shall have concurrent original jurisdiction with the juvenile court over all proceedings under this section if the superior court judges of a county authorize concurrent jurisdiction as provided in RCW 26.12.010.

(3) A juvenile subject to adult superior court jurisdiction under subsection (1)(e)(i) through ((~~(iv)~~)) (v) of this section, who is detained pending trial, may be detained in a county detention facility as defined in RCW 13.40.020 pending sentencing or a dismissal.