AN ACT Relating to the disposition and sentencing of juvenile offenders; amending RCW 13.40.020, 13.40.027, and 13.40.030; adding a new section to chapter 13.40 RCW; repealing RCW 13.40.035 and 13.40.036; and providing an effective date.

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

Sec. 1. Section 56, chapter 291, Laws of 1977 ex. sess. as last amended by section 17, chapter 145, Laws of 1988 and RCW 13.40.020 are each amended to read as follows:

For the purposes of this chapter:

(1) "Serious offender" means a person fifteen years of age or older who has committed an offense which if committed by an adult would be:

(a) A class A felony, or an attempt to commit a class A felony;

(b) Manslaughter in the first degree or rape in the second degree; or

(c) Assault in the second degree, extortion in the first degree, child molestation in the first or second degree, rape of a child in the second degree, kidnapping in the second degree, robbery in the second degree, or burglary in the second degree, where such offenses include the infliction of bodily harm upon another or where during the commission of or immediate withdrawal from such an offense the perpetrator is armed with a deadly weapon or firearm as defined in RCW 9A.04.110;

(2) "Community service" means compulsory service, without compensation, performed for the benefit of the community by the offender as punishment for committing an offense;

(3) "Community supervision" means an order of disposition by the court of an adjudicated youth. A community supervision order for a single offense may be for a period of up to one year and include one or more of the following:

(a) A fine, not to exceed one hundred dollars;

(b) Community service not to exceed one hundred fifty hours of service;

(d) Counseling; or

(e) Such other services to the extent funds are available for such services, conditions, or limitations as the court may require which may not include confinement;

(4) "Confinement" means physical custody by the department of social and health services in a facility operated by or pursuant to a contract with the state, or physical custody in a facility operated by or pursuant to a contract with any county. Confinement of less than thirty-one days imposed as part of a disposition or modification order may be served consecutively or intermittently, in the discretion of the court;

(5) "Court", when used without further qualification, means the juvenile court judge(s) or commissioner(s);

(6) "Criminal history" includes all criminal complaints against the respondent for which, prior to the commission of a current offense:

(a) The allegations were found correct by a court. If a respondent is convicted of two or more charges arising out of the same course of conduct, only the highest charge from among these shall count as an offense for the purposes of this chapter; or

(b) The criminal complaint was diverted by a prosecutor pursuant to the provisions of this chapter on agreement of the respondent and after an advisement to the respondent that the criminal complaint would be considered as part of the respondent's criminal history;

(7) "Department" means the department of social and health services;

(8) "Diversion unit" means any probation counselor who enters into a diversion agreement with an alleged youthful offender or any other person or entity with whom the juvenile court administrator has contracted to arrange and supervise such agreements pursuant to RCW 13.04.040, as now or hereafter amended, or any person or entity specially funded by the legislature to arrange and supervise diversion agreements in accordance with the requirements of this chapter;

(9) "Institution" means a juvenile facility established pursuant to chapters 72.05 and 72.16 through 72.20 RCW;

(10) "Juvenile," "youth," and "child" mean any individual who is under the chronological age of eighteen years and who has not been previously transferred to adult court;

(11) "Juvenile offender" means any juvenile who has been found by the juvenile court to have committed an offense, including a person eighteen years of age or older over whom jurisdiction has been extended under RCW 13.40.300;

(12) "Manifest injustice" means a disposition that would either impose an excessive penalty on the juvenile or would impose a serious, and clear danger to society in light of the purposes of this chapter;

(13) "Middle offender" means a person who has committed an offense and who is neither a minor or first offender nor a serious offender;

(14) "Minor or first offender" means a person sixteen years of age or younger whose current offense(s) and criminal history fall entirely within one of the following categories:

(a) Four misdemeanors;

(b) Two misdemeanors and one gross misdemeanor;

(d) Three gross misdemeanors;

(e) One class C felony and one misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor;

(f) One class B felony except: Any felony which constitutes an attempt to commit a class A felony; manslaughter in the first degree; rape in the second degree; assault in the second degree; extortion in the first degree; indecent liberties; kidnapping in the second degree; robbery in the second degree; burglary in the second degree; rape of a child in the second degree; vehicular homicide; child molestation in the first degree; or arson in the second degree.

For purposes of this definition, current violations shall be counted as misdemeanors;

(15) "Offense" means an act designated a violation or a crime if committed by an adult under the law of this state, under any ordinance of any city or county of this state, under any federal law, or under the law of another state if the act occurred in that state;

(16) "Respondent" means a juvenile who is alleged or proven to have committed an offense;

(17) "Restitution" means financial reimbursement by the offender to the victim, and shall be limited to easily ascertainable damages for injury to or loss of property, actual expenses incurred for medical treatment for physical injury to persons, and lost wages resulting from physical injury. Restitution shall not include reimbursement for damages for mental anguish, pain and suffering, or other intangible losses. Nothing in this chapter shall limit or replace civil remedies or defenses available to the victim or offender;

(18) "Secretary" means the secretary of the department of social and health services;

(19) "Services" mean services which provide alternatives to incarceration for those juveniles who have pleaded or been adjudicated guilty of an offense or have signed a diversion agreement pursuant to this chapter;

(20) "Foster care" means temporary physical care in a foster family home or group care facility as defined in RCW 74.15.020 and licensed by the department, or other legally authorized care;

(21) "Violation" means an act or omission, which if committed by an adult, must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and is punishable by sanctions which do not include incarceration.

Sec. 2. Section 4, chapter 299, Laws of 1981 as amended by section 9, chapter 288, Laws of 1986 and RCW 13.40.027 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) It is the responsibility of the commission to: (a) (i) Evaluate the effectiveness of existing disposition standards and related statutes in implementing policies set forth in RCW 13.40.010 generally and (ii) specifically review the guidelines relating to the confinement of minor and first offenders as well as the use of diversion((~~. The committee shall propose modifications to the legislature regarding subsection (1)(a)(ii) of this section by January 1, 1987~~)); (b) solicit the comments and suggestions of the juvenile justice community concerning disposition standards; and (c) ((~~develop and propose~~)) make recommendations to the legislature regarding modifications of the disposition standards in accordance with RCW 13.40.030.

(2) It is the responsibility of the department to: (a) Provide the commission with available data concerning the implementation of the disposition standards and related statutes and their effect on the performance of the department's responsibilities relating to juvenile offenders; (b) at the request of the commission, provide technical and administrative assistance to the commission in the performance of its responsibilities; and (c) provide the commission and legislature with recommendations for modification of the disposition standards.

Sec. 3. Section 57, chapter 291, Laws of 1977 ex. sess. as last amended by section 1, chapter 73, Laws of 1985 and RCW 13.40.030 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) (a) ((~~The juvenile disposition standards commission shall propose to the legislature no later than November 1st of each even-numbered year disposition standards for all offenses.~~)) The commission shall conduct a study to determine the capacity of juvenile rehabilitation facilities and programs which are or will be available. Although the commission does not have to consider the capacity in arriving at its recommendations, the commission shall project whether the implementation of its recommendations would result in exceeding existing capacity. If the commission finds that this result would probably occur, then the commission shall prepare an additional list of standard sentences which shall be consistent with the capacity.

(b) By November 1, 1989, the commission shall recommend its standard sentence ranges and standards to the legislature by providing the recommendations to the chief clerk of the house of representatives and secretary of the senate. If the commission has prepared an additional list of standard sentence ranges, as provided under (a) of this subsection, then the commission shall include the list along with its recommendations.

(c) The standards shall establish, in accordance with the purposes of this chapter, ranges which may include terms of confinement and/or community supervision established on the basis of a youth's age, the instant offense, and the history and seriousness of previous offenses, but in no case may the period of confinement and supervision exceed that to which an adult may be subjected for the same offense(s). Standards ((~~proposed~~)) recommended for offenders listed in RCW 13.40.020(1) shall include a range of confinement which may not be less than thirty days. No standard range may include a period of confinement which includes both more than thirty, and thirty or less, days. Disposition standards ((~~proposed~~)) recommended by the commission shall provide that in all cases where a youth is sentenced to a term of confinement in excess of thirty days the department may impose an additional period of parole not to exceed eighteen months. Standards of confinement which may be proposed may relate only to the length of the proposed terms and not to the nature of the security to be imposed. ((~~In developing proposed disposition standards, the commission shall consider the capacity of the state juvenile facilities and the projected impact of the proposed standards on that capacity.~~

~~(b)~~)) (d) Following legislative enactment of disposition standards in 1990, the juvenile disposition standards commission shall recommend to the legislature no later than November 1st of each even-numbered year modifications to the disposition standards for all offenses. If implementation of the revisions or modifications would result in exceeding the capacity of rehabilitation facilities, then the commission shall accompany its recommendation with an additional list of standard sentence ranges which are consistent with the capacity.

(e) The commission shall study the existing criminal code and from time to time make recommendations to the legislature for modification.

(f) The secretary shall submit guidelines pertaining to the nature of the security to be imposed on youth placed in his or her custody based on the age, offense(s), and criminal history of the juvenile offender. Such guidelines shall be submitted to the legislature for its review no later than November 1st of each even-numbered year. At the same time the secretary shall submit a report on security at juvenile facilities during the preceding two-year period. The report shall include the number of escapes from each juvenile facility, the most serious offense for which each escapee had been confined, the number and nature of offenses found to have been committed by juveniles while on escape status, the number of authorized leaves granted, the number of failures to comply with leave requirements, the number and nature of offenses committed while on leave, and the number and nature of offenses committed by juveniles while in the community on minimum security status; to the extent this information is available to the secretary. The department shall include security status definitions in the security guidelines it submits to the legislature pursuant to this section.

(((2) If the commission fails to propose disposition standards as provided in this section, the existing standards shall remain in effect and may be adopted by the legislature or referred to the commission for modification as provided in subsection (3) of this section. If the standards are referred for modification, the provisions of subsection (4) shall be applicable.

(3) The legislature may adopt the proposed standards or refer the proposed standards to the commission for modification. If the legislature fails to adopt or refer the proposed standards to the commission by February 15th of the following year, the proposed standards shall take effect without legislative approval on July 1st of that year.

(4) If the legislature refers the proposed standards to the commission for modification on or before February 15th, the commission shall resubmit the proposed modifications to the legislature no later than March 1st. The legislature may adopt or modify the resubmitted proposed standards. If the legislature fails to adopt or modify the resubmitted proposed standards by April 1st, the resubmitted proposed standards shall take effect without legislative approval on July 1st of that year.

~~(5)~~)) (2) In developing ((~~and promulgating~~)) recommendations the permissible ranges of confinement under this section the commission shall be subject to the following limitations:

(a) Where the maximum term in the range is ninety days or less, the minimum term in the range may be no less than fifty percent of the maximum term in the range;

(b) Where the maximum term in the range is greater than ninety days but not greater than one year, the minimum term in the range may be no less than seventy-five percent of the maximum term in the range; and

(c) Where the maximum term in the range is more than one year, the minimum term in the range may be no less than eighty percent of the maximum term in the range.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 13.40 RCW to read as follows:

(1) At its regular session convening in 1990, the legislature shall enact laws approving or modifying either the standards recommended by the commission, or the additional list of standard sentence ranges consistent with the department's capacity in the event an additional list has been submitted pursuant to RCW 13.40.030(1)(a). The standards so adopted shall take effect on July 1, 1990.

(2) Revisions or modifications of standard sentence ranges or other standards, together with any additional list of standard sentence ranges, shall be submitted to the legislature by November 1 of each even-numbered year and shall become effective as provided under subsection (1) of this section on July 1st of the following year in which they are submitted.

(3) The current sentencing standards as modified by the 1989 legislative session shall remain in effect until July 1, 1990.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. The following acts or parts of acts are each repealed:

(1) Section 56, chapter 155, Laws of 1979 and RCW 13.40.035; and

(2) Section 10, chapter 288, Laws of 1986 and RCW 13.40.036.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. This act shall take effect July 1, 1990.