By  Morgan Spangler, Paige Wanner, Nathan Adams, Curtis Mack, Katelyn Kelley 

  This report describes the initial implementation of a series of bills referred to as “JR to 25.” Among other things, these bills modified court jurisdiction and the location of confinement for juveniles convicted as adults in Washington State. We summarize the policy changes resulting from JR to 25 legislation, describe facility changes before and after the legislation took effect, provide preliminary analysis on data collected thus far, and estimate the fiscal impacts of the legislation. We find that individuals are engaged in more rehabilitative programming after the JR to 25 policy changes took effect. We also find an increase in behavior incidents and an increase in reports of room confinement and isolation after the policy changes. Part of the JR to 25 legislation included applying changes retroactively to populations in Juvenile Rehabilitation (JR) and the Department of Corrections (DOC) with qualifying offenses. This meant there was a small group of people in DOC facilities that were newly eligible to transfer back to JR custody. Our report includes a discussion of that process and summarizes racial demographic information of that eligible group along each stage of the process. Finally, we discuss the limitations to this report and outline a plan for the final report, due to the legislature in 2031.  

   Olympia: Washington State Institute for Public Policy. 2024. 36p.