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)(i)
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; and
(ii)
All information, including but not limited to filing charges, truancy
petitions, and court dispositions, pertaining to offenses over which district
and municipal courts of limited jurisdiction are exercising concurrent
jurisdiction shall be transmitted without delay to juvenile court for entry
into the appropriate court information system;
(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 and the
pilot project, together with the authority to exercise concurrent jurisdiction
with the juvenile court, expires June 30, 2002.
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;
(c)
Relating to the termination of a parent and child relationship as provided in
RCW 13.34.180 through 13.34.210;
(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.
