Drafter
Clerk 05/15/2024
Title
AN ORDINANCE related to requirements for the treatment of and services to juveniles in the custody of the department of adult and juvenile detention; amending Ordinance 18637, Section 2, and K.C.C.2.65.010, Ordinance 18637, Section 3, and K.C.C.2.65.020, and Ordinance 18637, Section 4, and K.C.C.2.65.030 and adding a new section to K.C.C. chapter 2.65.
Body
STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. In Washington state, the juvenile courts, a division of the superior court system, have jurisdiction over youth under the age of eighteen who are charged with committing a crime.
2. Under the Washington Youth Violence Reduction Act, juvenile court jurisdiction over youth ages sixteen and seventeen who are charged with certain offenses, is automatically declined. For those youth, the adult superior court has jurisdiction.
3. Washington state Basic Juvenile Court Act also allows prosecutors to petition to transfer a youth to adult court at the discretion of juvenile court; this is known as a discretionary decline of jurisdiction.
4. The King County department of adult and juvenile detention operates the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, Washington, through its Kent division and the King County Correctional Facility in Seattle, Washington, through its Seattle division.
5. The King County department of adult and juvenile detention's juvenile division operates the juvenile detention facility housed in the Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center ("the CCFJC") in Seattle, Washington.
6. Juveniles detained in King County are incarcerated at the CCFJC. Incarcerated juveniles charged as adults are generally transferred to the King County Correctional Facility after they turn eighteen.
7. The Best Starts for Kids Implementation Plan, first approved by Ordinance 18373, notes that adolescence is a critical period when patterns of health-promoting or potentially health-damaging behaviors are established and discusses the potentia...
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