Rape, Killing Of Baby Sitter Prompts Halfway House Bill

Months after a teen walked away from a halfway house and raped and killed a 12-year-old baby sitter, the Legislature is struggling to better protect communities from similar outrages.

This week, a Senate leader proposed a measure that she hopes will fill holes in the system that led to last September’s slaying of Ashley Jones as she baby-sat five children in a Stanwood home. David Daniel Dodge, 17, of Camano Island, pleaded guilty in that crime.

“What we did when we wrote this bill was to look at the case of David Dodge and look at all the places where, if things had been done that weren’t done, this might not have happened,” Sen. Jeanine Long said.

The measure, SB6445, contains no magic solutions, she said, but a series of adjustments in the system to make sure that:

Juvenile lawbreakers placed in community halfway houses are properly screened to ensure they deserve to be there rather than locked up.

Authorities, ranging from local law enforcement to state officials and group home operators, fully share information about a juvenile’s criminal history and his behavior in the juvenile justice system.

Communities have a stronger and more active voice in deciding whether halfway houses can operate in their communities, and in deciding which juveniles can be placed in them.

Background checks are conducted on halfway house staff who might have unsupervised access to juveniles.

The records of halfway house operators are considered before they are given contracts to operate the facilities on behalf of the state.

Long, a Republican from Mill Creek, noted that among the glaring problems that emerged following the Stanwood killing was the fact that given Dodge’s record, he never should have been in the halfway house, Larch Way Lodge in Lynnwood, which has since closed.

Authorities were not aware that Dodge had a record of violent behavior, something that would have kept him out of the facility, she observed.

Under her bill, various agencies that deal with juveniles as they pass through the justice system would be expected to record and share such information.

Long said she was optimistic her measure had strong bipartisan support and would clear the Legislature this year.