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The state House near-unanimously passed a bill from state Rep. Julio Cortes (D-Everett) March 5 that tweaks rules to require first-time offenders under age 18 have alternatives to being put into the juvenile justice system.
Cortes’ bill also would bar parents from overriding and blocking their child the right to receive alternatives to sentencing, which some might do as a form of “tough love.”
House Bill 1391 now heads to the Senate. This week, the Senate took it up.
It upholds existing rules that juveniles be offered alternatives such as restitution hours or counseling versus being sentenced “if the alleged offense is a misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor and the alleged offense is the offender’s first offense,” a bill summary says.
Cortes did not respond for comment for this story.
Cortes’s office said in its press release that “by prioritizing community-based alternatives over incarceration, this legislation ensures more young people have a second chance to rebuild their futures — without the burden of a criminal record.”
The bill also obligates state agencies to create and fund grant programs toward alternative sentencing. The modified version of the bill that passed in the House, though, has a conditional provision requiring this to be funded or the law is dead.
