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Law

Adult Trials, Long Sentences For Youth Get Scrutiny In Washington

File photo of The Temple of Justice in Olympia, Washington, home to the Washington Supreme Court.
Harvey Barrison
/
Flickr - tinyurl.com/zhj7uae
File photo of The Temple of Justice in Olympia, Washington, home to the Washington Supreme Court.

The practice of automatically charging 16 and 17-year-olds as adults for serious crimes is coming under scrutiny. The issue will come up Monday at a youth justice conference in Seattle and Tuesday during a Washington Supreme Court hearing.

The conference will tackle many issues related to juvenile justice and developing brain science. But a key focus will be a 1994 Washington law that automatically directs 16 and 17-year-olds into adult court for serious violent crimes like murder and assault.

In 1997, the law was expanded to include crimes like first-degree robbery. Now critics note that 90 percent of the youth sentenced as adults in Washington state were convicted of robbery.

This week the Washington Supreme Court will hear a challenge to a case involving two teens who robbed Halloween trick or treaters at gunpoint in Tacoma. They each received decades-long sentences. The Court will decide if those sentences constitute cruel and unusual punishment given the age of the robbers.

Another concern raised by critics of the 1994 law is disproportionality. In Washington state, 43 percent of youth automatically charged as adults are African American youth as compared to 18 percent who are white.

Copyright 2016 Northwest News Network

Since January 2004, Austin Jenkins has been the Olympia-based political reporter for the Northwest News Network. In that position, Austin covers Northwest politics and public policy as well as the Washington State legislature. You can also see Austin on television as host of TVW's (the C–SPAN of Washington State) Emmy-nominated public affairs program "Inside Olympia." Prior to joining the Northwest News Network, Austin worked as a television reporter in Seattle, Portland and Boise. Austin is a graduate of Garfield High School in Seattle and Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut. Austin’s reporting has been recognized with awards from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors, Public Radio News Directors Incorporated and the Society of Professional Journalists.
Austin Jenkins
Since January 2004, Austin Jenkins has been the Olympia-based political reporter for the Northwest News Network. In that position, Austin covers Northwest politics and public policy, as well as the Washington State Legislature. You can also see Austin on television as host of TVW's (the C–SPAN of Washington State) Emmy-nominated public affairs program "Inside Olympia."