Lewis County Juvenile Detention Would Serve 19-Year-Olds Under Proposed State Legislation

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A bill to allow 19-year-olds to come through juvenile courts and detention facilities aligns with scientific research about young adults’ still-developing brains, supporters say. Impressionable 19-year-olds, they contend, would greatly benefit from rehabilitation, mental health and other social services available in the juvenile system. 

But locally, Lewis County Juvenile Court Administrator Shad Hall says Senate Bill 5122 would overwhelm the juvenile system and “risk diluting” services already being offered. The bill would also largely exclude 8 to 13-year-olds from the system, although Hall would still expect a major increase in cases, since relatively few kids younger than 13 come through. 

At Lewis County’s 24-bed juvenile detention facility, with single-person cells and co-ed, communal day spaces, Hall says staff aren’t trained to work with young adults, and worries the state would severely underfunded what he sees as a massive undertaking. Plus, he fears introducing more mature inmates could put younger kids at risk of grooming or recruitment into organized crime. 

“I’m worried those things could all line up to create a perfect storm where we’re actually going to do more harm than good if we’re not careful,” Hall said. 

Hall agrees, however, that the services his facility provides — medical, mental health, addiction, employment, and mentoring programs — would benefit young adults. They’re exactly the services supporters of the bill point to as well.

According to an analysis by the state Board of Health, there’s strong evidence that “emerging adults” have better health outcomes when they’re housed in juvenile facilities, as opposed to adult facilities. That’s partially because those emerging adults are more likely than other age groups to be physically or sexually assaulted by inmates or staff in adult facilities, said Cait Lang-Perez, a health policy analyst for the board. 

At public testimony, supporters also harped on the idea that there is no hard line, developmentally, between childhood and legal adulthood. 

“Children do not magically, developmentally, turn into adults on their 18th birthdays,” said Kimberly Ambrose, a University of Washington law professor who founded and directs the Tools for Social Change: Race and Justice Clinic. 

The idea that kids suddenly become adults at 18 is why young adults are being failed by the criminal justice system, are overrepresented in arrests, and have worse recidivism rates, said Lael Chester, director of Columbia University’s Emerging Adult Justice Project.

“Why? Because the adult justice system does not recognize emerging adults as a distinct developmental group,” she said, adding that the bill is “well supported by the research.”

Still, like other opponents of the bill, Hall argued that the legal cutoff of 18 years old should be maintained to match the rest of society. He noted that Americans can join the military at 18, like he did, so why shouldn’t they also be treated like an adult in the criminal system?



Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys executive director Russell Brown similarly told lawmakers that “age 18 is the logical cutoff in our society.”

Young Children

During public testimony, Chester told lawmakers that she supports the bill because it includes young people most likely to benefit from the juvenile system while excluding those most likely to be harmed by it — elementary and middle school-aged kids.

According to the BOH analysis, there is “very strong evidence” that decreased involvement in the criminal justice system for 7 to 13-year-olds would benefit their adult health outcomes.

Ambrose noted racially-disparate levels of involvement in the criminal justice system, saying the removal of young kids from the court system would “cut off what we know is a pipeline for black and brown children to the criminal legal system.”

Opponents, including law enforcement officials and Yakima Mayor Patricia Byers, argued that if consequences for young kids were diminished, they may be targeted by gang members who recruit young kids for crime. The criminal justice system, she said, is necessary to get those young kids help. 

Sean Goode, whose community-based Seattle program Choose 180 diverts young people from the criminal justice system and has been heralded as a local success, balked at the idea that social and medical services require a criminal justice aspect. 

“I think it’s ridiculous to assume that criminalizing behavior is the only gateway to get a young person services that they need to be healthy, whole and live fully and to the possibility that they were born to be,” Goode said. 

Hall, on the other hand, who says the legislation is rushed, characterized Lewis County as having a much different landscape than King County when it comes to rehabilitation services — especially services that operate outside the criminal justice system. In rural Lewis County, Hall said, those resources are “much more scarce.”

In a recent county meeting, Commissioner Gary Stamper also expressed funding concerns, saying the bill would “come down heavily on Lewis County and many other counties.”