Crime Measure Gets Tough On Young Offenders Targets Violent 16- And 17-Year-Olds ‘Before The Kids Become Hardened’

Kids who break the law will feel new heat as a result of the 1997 Legislature’s spotlight on juvenile offenders.

The Legislature’s broad overhaul of the 1977 Juvenile Justice Act is “one bill that has everything,” one of its authors, Rep. Ida Ballasiotes, said Tuesday when asked to sum up the fat measure that passed the Legislature in its final days.

“There are much tougher sentences for violent juveniles, the ability of judges to design appropriate punishments for first-time offenders, programs to intervene before the kids become hardened …,” said Ballasiotes, a Mercer Island Republican who heads the House Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee.

The measure won unanimous passage in both houses and is expected to receive the approval of Democratic Gov. Gary Locke, who played a role in shaping the bill.

The legislation, which lawmakers have struggled over for six years, marks a major shift in the way the state treats youthful offenders.

The new legislation puts more emphasis on the lawbreaker’s impact on society by considering the offender’s overall criminal history and more importantly, the nature of the crime.

All sentences would be toughened, but especially so for 16- and 17-year-olds who commit certain violent offenses, even for the first time.

Those youngsters would automatically be tried in adult courts, and if convicted, serve their sentences in adult jails and prisons.

The measure specifies that they must be kept separate from adult inmates.

Offenses that would qualify older teens for adult courts and prisons include drive-by shootings, first-degree robbery and child rape, first-degree burglary with a previous conviction, and any crime in which the offender was armed with a firearm.

Current law sends into the adult system 16- and 17-year-olds who commit extremely serious crimes such as murder or are chronic violent offenders.

Another big change in the treatment of young criminals is a new policy of preserving a juvenile’s felony record so it could be used to help determine his sentence if and when he is convicted of a crime as an adult.

Other important provisions include a requirement that parents of juvenile offenders attend court proceedings or face contempt of court citations, and one that provides local governments money to set up community programs to intervene and steer young people away from crime.

Although much of the Legislature’s energy went to wrangling over a juvenile justice bill, it found time to send the governor other crime legislation as well.

One bill, a proposal to put many methamphetamine-makers and dealers away for life, met with a Locke veto.

The Democrat said the state’s “Three Strikes” law should not be applied to dealers and makers of the drug because the crime is not sufficiently violent.

The law specifies that any criminal convicted of any three of a long list of violent crimes must be sentenced to life in prison.

Ballasiotes, noting that both houses passed the measure unanimously, said lawmakers would be back next year to push the bill.

Locke indicated Tuesday he would just as readily veto it.

“I’m certainly willing to look at longer penalties, tougher penalties,” he said. But the Three Strikes law should be reserved for violent offenders. Otherwise, he said, “where do we draw the line?” Locke did sign another major piece of crime legislation.

The measure, which passed both houses almost unanimously, would mandate life sentences for people convicted twice of violent sex crimes against minors.