As the legislative session winds down, state lawmakers are debating whether they should take the next step in juvenile justice reform, following moves made last session that stopped previous convictions under the age of 18 from being automatically counted in adult court.
Last year, pushback stopped a retroactive change to the state law. Instead, a slimmed-down version of the bill passed which blocked people already serving prison time from re-sentencing.
This year, 57 tribal governments that make up the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI), came together to support House Bill 2065 – which would allow prisoners a chance for their sentences to be recalculated without penalties tied to juvenile offenses.
According to the State Department of Corrections, 41% of Indigenous people currently incarcerated in Washington state have one or more juvenile felony adjudications in their criminal history. That translates to more than 400 Indigenous people who received prison sentences that are longer than what is currently allowed – if they were to commit the same crimes today.
