On February 17, I became Chief Criminal Judge, following Judge Jeffrey Ramsdell. No article on the criminal department of the King County Superior Court would be complete if it did not first acknowledge the fine work of Judge Ramsdell and thank him for his tireless efforts. Under his tenure filings went up, yet we were still able to get almost eighty percent of all cases resolved within four months of filing. Through renewed emphasis on alternatives to total confinement in the pre-adjudication phase of a criminal matter and renewed commitment to the directives of Criminal Rule 3.2, we have been able to meet and exceed the targets for reducing the population of the King County Jail without compromising public safety.
It took more than the countless hours Judge Ramsdell spent on these tasks to achieve these results. The King County Community Corrections Division is engaged in some very exciting work. We are on the cusp of being able to offer CCAP as another alternative to total confinement for defendants awaiting trial and at sentencing. If the legislature passes SHB 3065, it will undoubtedly see more use as a sentencing alternative, as well.
CCAP (Community Center for Alternative Programs) has been used by King County District Courts and occasionally by some Superior Court judges for some time. We hope that by the time you read this article it will be in wide use. The “basic” level will require individuals to report to CCAP on a daily basis by telephone and will provide random UAs and breathalyzer testing if ordered. This will provide an alternative to confinement for individuals awaiting trial for whom there is some concern about potential failure to appear. The experience at juvenile court has been that this kind of contact between the criminal justice system and defendants is effective at reducing the rate of failure to appear.
CCAP “enhanced” will entail daily reporting, random UAs and breathalyzers, if ordered, and will also offer a number of treatment and education alternatives. Among the programs are GED preparation and testing, chemical dependency recovery readiness, domestic violence educational curriculum, job search and preparedness and mental health counseling.
As of March 1, CCAP will be able to offer the services of a state-certified chemical dependency treatment program. One of the exciting things about CCAP is that, from the perspective of the defendant, these services are funded during an individual’s participation at CCAP. This will help alleviate the conundrum we judges have had to face in ordering, as condition of probation or community custody, that a defendant undergo treatment, without necessarily offering much help to that individual in figuring out how he or she is going to pay for it.
One of the consequences of ESSB 5990, effective July 1, 2003, has been that there is no post-release supervision (formerly known as probation) for several offenders for whom community service hours would otherwise have been an obvious sentencing option. Different judges have dealt with this issue in different ways. However, CCAP will provide community service opportunities through work crews.
This effort will be enhanced in the next few months by an initiative called “helping hands,” a collaborative effort with United Way of King County to identify alternatives for community service and monitor compliance with the requirements of court orders requiring the performance of community service hours.
We in the criminal department of King County Superior Court face the same issues that plague the court, and County government as a whole. Providing for community safety, achieving efficiencies in the operation of the criminal justice system, insuring defendants’ rights are honored in a time when our resources are limited is a challenge. It is a challenge that representatives of the court, the prosecutor’s office, the criminal defense bar and the King County Council are committed to work together to meet.
The Honorable Palmer Robinson is the King County Superior Court Chief Criminal Judge.
