OLYMPIA— A bill sponsored by Rep. Chris Stearns (D-Auburn) that would allow for the resentencing of adults whose juvenile record influenced the length of their sentence passed out of the House Committee on Community safety today.
In 2023 the legislature passed EHB 1324 that excluded a person’s juvenile conviction points from being included when calculating a sentence for an adult. That law only applied to new sentences. The new bill, HB 1274, would make the 2023 law retroactively applicable to sentences that have already been imposed.
“We are going back for those left behind.” said Stearns. “Institutionalized racism has led to overly harsh sentences for minorities in the juvenile justice system. This bill is a major step towards righting these wrongs.”
More than 800 people currently incarcerated stand to have their sentences reduced by this bill. More than 40% of those people are indigenous.
“We should be looking at where we are failing our juvenile offenders,” Stearns said. “And more specifically, where we are failing our indigenous and Black youth. We should be focused on keeping youth out of incarceration instead of punishing adults for crimes committed as a minor.”
It is estimated that reducing the sentences of the roughly 850 people impacted by this law would save the state nearly $500 million.