Bill would ease sentencing rules for violent youths

OLYMPIA – Judges would be able to show greater leniency when sentencing violent juveniles under legislation being pushed by an influential state lawmaker.

House Juvenile Justice and Family Law Committee Chairwoman Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle, introduced the plan after learning of two 12-year-old boys from Grant County facing minimum 20-year prison terms if convicted of murder in the beating and stabbing death of their 13-year-old friend who was mentally and physically challenged. Given the nature of the crime, the two boys were ordered charged as adults, and they face stiffer penalties as a result.

“The mandatory minimum law was passed with adults in mind, not kids,” Dickerson told the committee Tuesday. “There are circumstances in which kids do commit a crime and they are sent into the adult system and they are caught in this box, this mandatory minimum box. I want kids to be accountable if they commit crimes, but I want to try and get them out of that box.”

The bill, HB 1187, would allow judges to use discretion when sentencing minors who were convicted in the adult court system.

Advocates of the bill said judges would be able to consider factors such as the intellectual and emotional maturity of the youth when deciding on a sentence. They also said there likely will be few cases where a lesser sentence than the minimum is given, but judges need the ability to make that call.

Juvenile Court has jurisdiction over criminal suspects 17 or younger. However, the juvenile system can decline jurisdiction under certain circumstances, such as violent offenses. If a case is tried in juvenile court, a sentence’s jurisdiction lasts until the youth turns 21; in adult court, age is not a factor in the length of a sentence.

Cedric Barquet, 24, told the committee he was 16 when he was tried as an adult and sentenced to six years in prison for robbery.

“You can’t just say you don’t care about somebody, you know, a kid, and just throw them away like that. That’s how kids in there (prison) feel,” said Barquet.

While in prison Barquet received his GED and was released after four years for good behavior. He is studying business at Seattle Central Community College. Barquet said he had the opportunity to learn from his mistake and urged lawmakers to grant judges the power to let other young adults do the same.

“I wouldn’t be here right now if I didn’t rehabilitate myself or had I not learned from my actions.”

Last year, seven juveniles were tried as adults in Washington, four on charges of first-degree murder. While the average sentence handed out in those cases was 242 months in prison, 22 months above the mandatory minimum, Martha Caesar of the Washington State Superior Judges Association told the committee that judges need leeway when sentencing a minor.

“Anywhere you can give judges more tools in their tool bag, including more discretion, they appreciate it very much,” she said. “Minimum sentences, mandatory, really tie their hands. For that one or two cases that come up every year I think it will be greatly appreciated that the judge will have more tools in their tool bag to fashion a sentence that might help rehabilitate or help get that youth back on the right track again.”

Tom McBride, of the Washington State Prosecutors Association, agreed. “It takes us out of this position where it’s all or nothing,” he said. “We either have to keep a case in juvenile and live with the termination of jurisdiction at the age of 21, or we’ve got to take the case to adult where we’re stuck with a mandatory minimum. … That amount of flexibility seems to make sense.”