Posted on 04/02/2018 9:53:22 AM PDT by Dragonfly
The new law will reduce the number of 16- and 17-year-olds who have been charged with a handful of violent offenses from entering the adult criminal-justice system. It also extends juvenile jurisdiction to age 25, up from age 21, for those convicted of certain crimes.
By Sara Jean Green
Seattle Times staff reporter
Robbing a convenience store at gunpoint or spraying bullets from a moving vehicle are the kinds of crimes that will no longer see 16- and 17-year-olds automatically sent to adult court — and likely, on to adult prison.
Gov. Jay Inslee recently signed legislation that represents what one lawmaker called “a seismic shift” in the state’s efforts to reform the juvenile-justice system. The new law removes a handful of crimes from the list of what are known as auto-decline offenses and extends juvenile jurisdiction for those specific crimes to age 25.
The new law also increases sentences for those crimes, called A++ offenses, with the time served in juvenile-rehabilitation facilities instead of the state’s prisons.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.com ...
LOL, It worked out well for Trevon Martin....
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