Snohomish County Blue Ribbon Commission on Criminal Justice

Snohomish County Blue Ribbon Commission on Criminal Justice Priorities Presentation to the Snohomish County Council February 25, 2008 Blue Ribbon Commission on Criminal Justice Priorities

BRC Mission Through outreach to service providers, recognized experts, and the public, the Commission will systematically review and evaluate existing and new proposals/recommendations for meeting the diverse criminal justice needs in our community. The Commission’s recommendations will establish priorities and funding options that balance prevention, intervention, and response to provide safer communities and responsible use of public funds.

BRC Mission Through outreach to service providers, recognized experts, and the public, the Commission will systematically review and evaluate existing and new proposals/recommendations for meeting the diverse criminal justice needs in our community. The Commission’s recommendations will establish priorities and funding options that balance prevention, intervention, and response to provide safer communities and responsible use of public funds.

BRC Work Process – Sept through Dec 2007 n n n Outreach to Snohomish County Agencies, Private Service Providers, outside organizations Education of Commissioners Synthesis of Input from range of presentations, letters, reports Public Meetings Conclusions and Recommendations

Sources of Input n n n Human Services Department of Corrections Judiciary Police Departments Other Counties Prosecuting Attorney n n School Districts Sheriff’s Office Deputy Sheriff’s Association SNOPAC and SNOCOM

Presentations/Input n n n n Health and Safety Network Snohomish County Regional Drug Task Force Judiciary Prosecuting Attorney’s Office Department of Corrections Snohomish County Jail Whatcom County Law and Justice Group n n n n n Snohomish County Center for Battered Women Snohomish County Sheriff Former Sheriff Bart Edmonds School District Deputy Sheriffs’ Association Edmonds Police Department Triple Play of WA Skagit County College Skagit County ARIS Program

Proposals Taken to the Public n n n Comprehensive Criminal Justice Program focused on prevention, treatment, enforcement, incarceration (People’s Concept) Comprehensive Mental Health Programs Dedicated Domestic Violence Court New County Criminal Justice Center Prosecuting Attorney Caseload Standards Collaboration with existing DOC programs

Public Meetings n n n Mill Creek – November 27 th Arlington – November 29 th Everett – December 3 rd Lynnwood – December 5 th Monroe – December 5 th

A Call For Change: Increased General Fund Appropriations

Law and Justice General Fund Appropriations 1990 -2007

Recidivism is a Growing Problem n n Prison rates have tripled in Washington State since mid 1970’s Recidivism rate increased 5% in past ten years Unless recidivism curbed, DOC prison population will exceed available beds by 4, 000 by 2017 50% of male children with an incarcerated parent will be incarcerated in the future

Overtaxed System n n Even without population growth, the percentage of dollars spent on criminal justice will continue to rise Contributors include n n n Increased transient population K-12 education problems Inadequacies in mental illness and chemical dependency treatment Increased arrests Tougher sentencing

Current System is Imbalanced n n n Our current response to crime has not resulted in decreased criminal activity Prevention needs are largely unmet, particularly related to mental health and chemical dependency issues Without prevention, the County will continue to spend more to react to growing crime problems

Growing Need fro Mental Health and Chemical Dependency Services n n n More than 20 percent of all bookings have a history with the local mental health system According to the DOC, 73 percent of females and 55 percent of males have mental health problems Sixty two percent of females and 56 percent of males reported using illegal drugs in the month before their offense Incarceration for drug-related crimes continues to rise Eighty percent of persons who seek chemical dependency treatment do so because they are required to do so by the criminal justice system, not because of their own motivation

Inadequate Services for Children n Eighty three percent of females and 71 percent of males enter DOC with less than a ninth grade education Seventy five percent have previously been in a County juvenile court system Without intervention with children who exhibit mental disorders of a socially deviant nature (threatening or manifesting harm to others), 50 percent of those children will engage in criminal activity. Much of this deviant behavior can be identified as early as primary grades (pre-K through elementary grades)

Opportunities n n n n Collaboration between Human Services, WA DOC, and Community Volunteers Evidenced Based Public Policy Options Juvenile Justice Options Drug Courts Human Services A. R. I. S Expanded Prevention Programs

A Call For Change: The Public Demands Solutions n n n Enhanced early childhood and juvenile intervention Early family intervention Expanded chemical dependency treatment Expanded mental illness services Separate evaluation and treatment for mental illness services And…. .

The Public Demands: Responsible Use of Resources n n n Measurable change as a result of initiative funding – focus on “evidenced based” initiatives First, leverage existing resources and augment working programs Collaborate with other agencies, even outside the County, to stretch resources

Facilities Issues n n n Inadequate court facilities Need for “triage” or outside facility for mental illness and chemical dependency evaluation and treatment Snohomish County Jail will be at capacity within five years, reducing space for prevention programming

Review of Proposals n n n New County Justice Facility Sales Tax Initiative Caseload Standards for County Prosecutors Dedicated Domestic Violence Misdemeanor Criminal Court Continued, Funded Collaboration with WA State DOC and Snohomish County The People’s Concept

New County Justice Facility n n Support for this proposal in concept – clear, demonstrated inadequacies in existing facilities Current space limitations do not appear to permit additional criminal justice personnel to deal with current (or growing future) needs No cost data provided. Programming team should carefully consider impact of alternative courts and additional (prevention) resources in the new facility Overall, the County should move forward to find a solution to current space limitations

Sales Tax Initiative “One in 10 children suffers from mental illness severe enough to impair development, the surgeon general said in urging changes to fix what he termed a crisis…. A report to be released today says too often children who wind up in jail had mental health problems that went unnoticed or untreated until too late. Fewer than one in five children get treatment for any mental health problems. ” n n n Snohomish County should adopt this small tax increase to invest in critical crime prevention efforts The proposal includes a wide range of solutions to the broad needs in the community Triage center is a core part of this proposal Additional funding of $100, 000 is available for each of first three years for methamphetamine treatment Senator Hargrave has declined to support further state funding until/unless counties adopt the sales tax option The public is highly supportive of this proposal

PAO Caseload Standards n n n The Commission supports parity across defense and prosecuting caseloads There is currently not enough space in existing court facilities to house additional staff proposed Proposal for staffing is contingent upon maximum likely caseloads and would require lay-offs if maximum caseloads do not materialize Commission would like to see impact of prevention efforts on caseloads before recommending increased staffing as proposed However, the Commission does support increased staffing to meet demands of increased caseloads as presented by the Prosecuting Attorney

Dedicated Domestic Violence Court n n n Commission recommends implementation of this proposal The proposal requires no additional funding RCW 10. 99. 080 enables the County to collect $100 penalty with each domestic violence conviction to support prevention and treatment

Collaboration with WA State DOC n n These partnerships are a win/win for all involved The Council should encourage and fund these types of collaborative efforts n n n Reentry initiatives between Jail and DOC Chemical Dependency treatment Expanded programming should be considered given success of existing efforts

The People’s Concept n n n The Commission supports the People’s Concept in concept as it represents and comprehensive and rigorous look at the needs of the County Commission is concerned about governance of the overall program, particularly given challenges working with multiple (often competing) agencies/organizations Needs greater emphasis on prevention in the range of programs Concern about lack of efficiencies with other programs – e. g. , there is overlap with the Tax Initiative programs Increased arrests may challenge existing system’s ability to expeditiously process cases Law and Justice Committee should be established to evaluate governance and efficiencies within the People’s Concept

Recommendations: Overall Focus on Prevention n The County should adopt an overarching focus on prevention, shifting emphasis from response to prevention and treatment. This does not mean reducing resources for response; rather, increased resources need to be brought to bear on prevention

Recommendation Summary n n n The County should adopt the 1/10 th of 1% sales tax initiative to fund critical mental health and chemical dependency needs. The County should continue to support and fund ongoing collaboration with outside agencies such as the DOC Though the costs will be significant, the Commission lends cautious support to the new Justice Center proposal

Recommendations Summary (continued) n n The County should review the People’s Concept further to see how elements overlap with other proposals and its impact on existing resources Snohomish County should review other successful programs such as A. R. I. S. and use them as models for implementation here

Recommendations Summary (continued) n n The County should partner with local cities in crime prevention to share resources and information Active steps should be taken to improve communication and collaboration across County law enforcement entities

Next Steps 1. 2. 3. The County should form and implement a comprehensive crime prevention strategy. Facilitated retreats to focus on implementation of recommendations – emphasis on implementation and results The County should adopt the 1/10 th of 1% sales tax initiative to get programs started – however, clear accountability and governance processes should be determined and put into place

Next Steps (continued) 4. 5. 6. The County should develop clear, objective performance metrics for any adopted proposals to build and maintain public confidence All proposals should be reviewed for overlap and efficiencies Ongoing collaborative programs and a possible A. R. I. S. program should be funded and implemented

Funding n n n The Sales Tax Initiative can be immediately implemented The County should seek efficiencies in existing programming, collaboration with other agencies, and grant funding before considering additional taxes Further refinement of needs may reveal a need for future taxation, but no tax increase should be considered before an understanding of the full range of the programmatic needs, performance metrics, and proposal overlap