Drafter
Clerk 07/26/2011
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AN ORDINANCE establishing interim conditions of eligibility for the use of pretrial alternatives to detention; and amending Ordinance 12432, Section 2, as amended, and K.C.C. 2.16.120 and Ordinance 14561, Section 9, and K.C.C. 2.16.122.
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STATEMENT OF FACTS:
A. The King County department of adult and juvenile detention, through its community corrections division, operates a series of alternatives to incarceration for pretrial defendants and sentenced offenders, including work education release, electronic home detention and day reporting programs through the community center for alternative programs.
B. To participate in the alternatives to detention provided by the community corrections division, a defendant must be ordered to the program by the court and must be statutorily eligible for the program. Washington state law governs eligibility for post conviction participants and prohibits the use of these programs for individuals serving sentences following conviction of a violent or sex crime. There are currently no eligibility conditions for pretrial defendants.
C. In 2010, the King County council adopted Ordinance 16953, signed by the executive, that directed the creation of a pretrial risk assessment tool that will use objective criteria and actuarial calculations to assess the risk that a defendant will fail to appear before the court or will reoffend while awaiting trial, presenting a danger to public safety.
D. A risk assessment tool will aid the superior and district courts in making pretrial release decisions and will uniformly assess risk across all defendants, reducing the potential for high risk offenders to be released into the community through alternatives to detention programs, posing a danger to public safety. The tool will also reduce the potential of low risk offenders serving time in secure detention, resulting in additional taxpayer expense.
E. Until a risk assessment tool is implemented, it is in t...
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