KING COUNTY, Wash. — King County Executive Dow Constantine announced Tuesday a commitment to phase out youth detention in the county by 2025.
Today I commit King County to converting the remaining youth detention units at the CFJC to other uses as quickly as possible, and no later than 2025.
— Dow Constantine (@kcexec) July 21, 2020
The remaining detention space in the Clark Children and Family Justice Center will be converted to other uses as quickly as possible, according to a tweet from Constantine.
"Phasing out centralized youth detention is no longer a goal in the far distance," Constantine said. "We have made extraordinary progress and we have evolved to believe that even more can be done."
He said the detention wing replaced an old, decrepit building that was “unsafe and inhumane” as part of a “restorative alternative for every youth” but goes on to say that vision has changed.
Constantine said the pandemic along with recent protests over police brutality have shown that a new path forward is possible.
“Redemption begins by shifting public dollars away from systems that are rooted in oppression and into those that maintain public health and safety, and help people on a path to success,” he tweeted.
The county was already working toward a goal of zero youth detention.
Cox Media Group
