United States of Disparities

United States

One-day count

Data in this section show how many youth are detained, committed, or otherwise sleeping somewhere other than their homes per orders of the court on "any given day" in select years. Data is available for the nation and on a state-by-state basis, and are based upon one-day counts of youth in residential placement facilities conducted in 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2015. Learn more »

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Year White Black Latino Native American Asian Other All youth of color All youth

Annual decision points

This section includes data at nine key juvenile justice annual decision points. Data are available at the county and state-level, but only for counties that report. This section allows you to view the data from many different angles and all of the data is broken down by race and ethnicity. Learn more »

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Measurement

Number of youth
Rates
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How are measurements calculated?

Race/ethnicity Select all

Year

Data not available for every year. (Why?)

Available years are those for which states have submitted data to OJJDP. States do not submit data on an annual basis.

Case flow diagram

Click on a decision-making point to see the data for that point. Click additional decision-making points to the graph to compare.

  1. Youth population
  2. Youth arrests
  3. Referred to court2
    1. Diverted
    2. Petition filed
    3. Detained
    1. Found delinquent
    2. Adult court
    1. Probation
    2. Incarceration

  • 1Comparison of arrest to population is rate per 1,000 youth. All other annual decision points are rate per 100 youth at the prior decision-making point.
  • 2Due to differences in how states define arrests and referrals to court, some states may have more referrals to court than arrests.
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Decision White Black Latino American Indian or Alaskan Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander Asian Other All youth of color All youth

13 of 39 counties (Why?)

Originally, states were only required to examine three counties: those with the greatest proportions of minority youth within their juvenile population, as well as those that contained the greatest numbers of minority youth. Only recently has OJJDP required that states track DMC data for all potential DMC reduction sites on a regular basis (at least every 3 years). If a county is not a DMC reduction site, data may not be available.

Detention statute

Juvenile courts may hold delinquents in a secure detention facility if the court believes it is in the best interest of the community or the child. After arrest a youth is often brought to the local juvenile detention facility by law enforcement. Juvenile probation officers or detention workers review the case and decide if the juvenile should be held pending a hearing by a judge.

Jurisdiction ages

  • 0–17
  • Extended Age of Delinquency Jurisdiction: 20; may be extended for the purpose of enforcing a restitution order or a penalty assessment.

Standard for detention

(b) . . . Admission to, and continued custody in, a court detention facility shall be governed by subsection (2) of this section; or

(c) Pursuant to a court order that the juvenile be held as a material witness; or

(d) Where the secretary or the secretary's designee has suspended the parole of a juvenile offender.

(2) A juvenile may not be held in detention unless there is probable cause to believe that:

(a) The juvenile has committed an offense or has violated the terms of a disposition order; and

(i) The juvenile will likely fail to appear for further proceedings; or

(ii) Detention is required to protect the juvenile from himself or herself; or

(iii) The juvenile is a threat to community safety; or

(iv) The juvenile will intimidate witnesses or otherwise unlawfully interfere with the administration of justice; or

(v) The juvenile has committed a crime while another case was pending; or

(b) The juvenile is a fugitive from justice; or

(c) The juvenile's parole has been suspended or modified; or

(d) The juvenile is a material witness.

(3) Notwithstanding subsection (2) of this section, and within available funds, a juvenile who has been found guilty of one of the following offenses shall be detained pending disposition: Rape in the first or second degree (RCW 9A.44.040 and 9A.44.050); or rape of a child in the first degree (RCW 9A.44.073).

(4) Upon a finding that members of the community have threatened the health of a juvenile taken into custody, at the juvenile's request the court may order continued detention pending further order of the court.

Detention hearing timeline

Wash. Rev. Code § 13.40.050.

Probable cause determination within 48 hours of being taken into custody, if there is no arrest warrant.

Detention hearing within 72 hours of filing a petition, which must be filed within 72 hours of placement in custody.

Contact

Please email Anna Wong with any updates to contact information for your DMC coordinator, JJS coordinator, or DMC subcommittee chair.

DMC coordinator

Lisa Wolph
Office of Juvenile Justice
1115 Washington Street
14th and Jefferson, OB-2
Olympia, WA 98504-5828
Phone: 360-902-0874
Fax: 360-902-0821
wolphlj@dshs.wa.gov

Website

JJS coordinator

Ryan Pinto
Governor's Juvenile Justice Advisory Committe
1115 Washington Street
14th and Jefferson, OB-2
Olympia, WA 98504
pintorm@dshs.wa.gov

DMC subcommittee chair

Judge Frank Cuthbertson
Fcuthbe@co.pierce.wa.us

&

Mauris Ward
mauris.ward@dshs.wa.gov

Reform efforts

States that wish to post their most recent three-year plans or share other relevant publications about their reform work should contact Anna Wong. We would be happy to link to relevant documents and information.

DMC Reform efforts

MacArthur Foundation's Model for Change initiative:  2010: WA's Juvenile Rehabilitation Authority (JRA) required disaggregation of data by race, ethnicity, gender for all reports in normal course of business.

2011: issued executive orders to increase youth access to community-based programs

State plan

There is no link available to the current State Plan

State Advisory Group (SAG)

The Governor's Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee (GJJAC) was established in 1982, by Executive Order, in response to the federal Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) Act of 1974, as amended (reauthorized in 2002). The Act established a block grant program (Title II Formula Grant) to distribute funds to the states, based on their juvenile population under age 18, and requires states to establish State Advisory Groups to administer the program (in Washington, this is the GJJAC). The JJDP Act established a single federal agency to address juvenile delinquency, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), in the U.S. Department of Justice.

Mission: The mission of the GJJAC is to promote partnerships and innovations that improve outcomes for juvenile offenders and their victims, to build family and community capacity to prevent delinquency, and to provide analysis and expertise to state and local policymakers. Three of the four grant programs administered by the GJJAC directly address juvenile delinquency prevention.

SAG chair

Liz Mueller
Vice Chair of Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Council
1033 Old Blyn Highway
Sequim, WA 98382
Phone: 360-681-4628
lmueller@jamestowntribe.org
Website

Organizational structure

Washington State's Juvenile Justice State Advisory Group, the GJJAC, was established to implement the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act in Washington State. Prior to that time, the State Advisory Group was a committee of the Governor's Council on Criminal Justice. Members of the GJJAC are appointed by the Governor and are juvenile justice professionals and knowledgeable private citizens, and represent all sectors of the juvenile justice system and all geographical areas of the State.

The GJJAC is committed to:

  • Developing and implementing effective methods of preventing delinquency.
  • Improving the quality of juvenile justice.
  • Providing policy recommendations to the Governor, the Legislature, the Department of Social and Health Services, and other organizations.
  • Informing the public about juvenile justice issues.

Committees

  • DMC
  • Mental Health
  • Youth
  • Legislation

Membership

  • Honorable Frank Cuthbertson, Vice Chair, Judge, Pierce County Superior Court, Tacoma
  • Starcia Ague, Youth Member, Research Assistant, University of Washington, Seattle
  • Bonnie Bush, Director, Spokane County Juvenile Court
  • John Clayton, Assistant Secretary, Juvenile Rehabilitation Admin., Dept. of Social & Health Services, Olympia
  • The Honorable Bruce Dammeier, WA State Representative, Puyallup
  • The Honorable Mary Lou Dickerson, WA State Representative, Seattle
  • David Dickinson, Director, Division of Behavioral Health and, Recovery, ADSA, Dept. of Social & Health Services, Olympia
  • Destiny Drayton, Youth Member, Student, University Place
  • Susan Dreyfus, Secretary, Dept. of Social & Health Services, Olympia