Background: Community Supervision. The Department of Corrections (DOC) is required to supervise the following offenders sentenced to community custody:

offenders who are classified at a high risk to reoffend; and
regardless of risk classification, those offenders who:
1. are convicted of a sex offense or serious violent offense;
2. are identified as dangerously mentally ill;
3. have an indeterminate sentence;
4. are convicted of a failure to register;
5. have a current conviction for domestic violence felony offense where domestic violence was pleaded and proven after August 1, 2011, and a prior conviction for a repetitive domestic violent offense or domestic violence felony offense where domestic violence was pleaded and proven after August 1, 2011 (this section applies only to offenses committed prior to July 24, 2015);
6. have a conviction for a domestic violence felony offense where domestic violence was pleaded and proven;
7. are sentenced to a Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative, Special Sex Offender Sentencing Alternative, Parenting Sentencing Alternative, or First Time Offender Waiver;
8. must be supervised under the Interstate Compact;
9. are convicted and sentenced for vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, felony DUI, or felony physical control; or
10. are certain misdemeanant sex offenders and repeat domestic violence offenders.

Supervision for Domestic Violence (DV) Offenders. In 2015, Senate Bill 5070 amended the law to require the DOC to supervise an offender with a conviction for a DV felony offense where DV was plead and proven, regardless of risk classification. The new language did not specify if the law should apply to offenders with prior DV convictions, current DV convictions, or both. Prior to the enactment of SB 5070, offenders with a current DV conviction needed at least one prior conviction for a repetitive DV offense in order to be placed under mandatory DOC supervision.

State v. Bruch Washington Supreme Court Case (2015). In State v. Bruch, the defendant was convicted of two counts of second degree child molestation and two counts of third degree rape of a child. The trial court imposed a standard range sentence of 116 months of confinement and ordered community custody for a period of "at least 4 months, plus all accrued earned early release time at the time of release." Bruch challenged the sentence and argued that the court-imposed term of community custody was indeterminate and may exceed the statutory requirement of three years of community custody.

The Supreme Court reasoned that the statutory scheme contemplates that an offender might serve more time in community custody than imposed by the sentencing court if he earns early release. The court stated that the trial court's intended sentence - a total term of 120 months - is not undermined by giving effect to the DOC's authority to transfer earned early release into community custody.