Seven years ago, a retired judge, former federal prosecutor and defense attorney produced a report, based on volumes of data and lots of citizen input, recommending ways we could improve our criminal justice system.

Services provided by a signature programs in the Spokane Region's criminal justice reform efforts, the expansion of pretrial services, could soon end if Spokane County Commissioners or surrounding cities do not find funds to pay for the program before its grant funding expires.

On a hot June night in 2016, something woke Anne Walter from her sleep.

Although nonbinding, the resolution would lay out the city’s template for criminal justice reform, prioritizing efforts that reduce crime while emphasizing opportunities for diversion from jail and rehabilitation for defendants.

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers from the Inland Northwest are calling on leaders in the House of Representatives to allow votes on two bills to address violence against Native American women and girls, which despite bipartisan support have stalled as COVID-19 has thrown the legislative schedule into disarray.

Coyote Ridge now has more cases than any other Washington state prison.

The Airway Heights Corrections Center is being outfitted as one of two “regional care facilities” that will treat inmates diagnosed with COVID-19 if there is a spike in the number of cases within the state prison system. A spokesperson said the Airway Heights facility will have about 30 beds and “should be operational in the coming weeks.”

Spokane has gone to great lengths to get good information and develop good ideas about how to dispense justice more smartly. But all the good ideas and hopeful recommendations will crash without any buy-in from the key players.

Making good on a centerpiece of his successful bid for City Council President in November, Councilman Breean Beggs introduced a set of proposals to kick-start deep reform to the city’s criminal justice system on Wednesday.

A Washington State University study on the effects of legalizing marijuana turned up unintended consequences, found gaps in the data and came up with suggestions for law enforcement agencies.

Spokane County leaders are asking voters to renew a $6 million-a-year sales tax that the region has approved twice before to maintain the criminal justice status quo.

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office’s Community Diversion Unit works to divert people experiencing mental health crises away from the hospital or jail.

Unlike most of Washington’s larger counties that have moved toward decriminalizing felony drug possession in conjunction with diversion programs aimed at swapping jail cells for robust drug and mental health treatment, Spokane County has moved in a different direction.

The Spokane City Council passed a measure at the end of 2015 that would allow those with misdemeanor marijuana convictions to petition the court for their record to be cleared. To date, just three people have received reprieves through a program that is now under debate in Olympia.

The state auditor’s office found roughly one-third of Washington’s jail inmates are candidates for pretrial services such as electronic monitoring, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and texts and phone calls that remind people of court dates.

President Donald Trump said “a lot of people” from the NFL have been calling and thanking him for signing legislation addressing concerns with the criminal justice system.