Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Law

New Washington Law Will Eliminate Many Court Fees For Juvenile Offenders

Auntneecey
/
Flickr
The new law will remove the financial burden of court fees that have made it difficult for young offenders to get court records sealed

A new law signed by Governor Jay Inslee eliminates most legal fees for juvenile offenders, removing a burden that’s been particularly hard for low-income families.

Democratic Representative Ruth Kagi, who sponsored the bill in the state House, says there's a long list of court fees that are getting eliminated for people under age 18.  

"Criminal conviction fee, juvenile criminal conviction penalty, criminal filing fee, juvenile crime victim penalty fee," Kagi said. "And there are many, many more."

These add up.

Young people from well-off families can usually pay them and then once the young person turns 18, he or she can get the court record sealed.

But until this new law, if you had trouble paying the fees, you couldn’t get your court record sealed.

`Injustice'

Kagi says that meant you could get shut out from getting a job, or housing, or into school.  

"It’s been such an injustice what we have done to youth over the last 30 years, having every mistake they made as a teenager follow them for the rest of their lives," she said. 

Under the new law, juvenile offenders will still be required to pay restitution to victims. But judges will have the leeway, with input from victims, to allow someone to perform community service if he or she can’t pay the restitution.

In July 2017, Ashley Gross became KNKX's youth and education reporter after years of covering the business and labor beat. She joined the station in May 2012 and previously worked five years at WBEZ in Chicago, where she reported on business and the economy. Her work telling the human side of the mortgage crisis garnered awards from the Illinois Associated Press and the Chicago Headline Club. She's also reported for the Alaska Public Radio Network in Anchorage and for Bloomberg News in San Francisco.