wa-law.org > bill > 2023-24 > HB 1800 > Original Bill
The legislature finds that an increase in graffiti and defacement of public and private property damages and detracts from the general enjoyment of community spaces. This act provides the court with more options for offenders to rectify their mistakes. The intent of this act is to discourage graffiti and other malicious mischief crimes by including community service hours or actual damage cleanup as a court-issued punishment. Adults are paying the fines for some youth, so the offender is not experiencing consequences that would lead to better behavior. Prosecutors are unlikely to recommend actual jail time for minor crimes. Therefore, picking up trash in state parks, scrubbing off paint, or doing other forms of community restitution provides a reformative opportunity. This act is building on policies that currently exist in the justice system with the expectation of better outcomes for all involved.
Alternatives to total confinement are available for offenders with sentences of one year or less. These alternatives include the following sentence conditions that the court may order as substitutes for total confinement:
One day of partial confinement may be substituted for one day of total confinement;
In addition, for offenders convicted of nonviolent offenses only, eight hours of community restitution may be substituted for one day of total confinement, with a maximum conversion limit of two hundred forty hours or thirty days. Community restitution hours must be completed within the period of community supervision or a time period specified by the court, which shall not exceed twenty-four months, pursuant to a schedule determined by the department;
For offenders convicted of nonviolent and nonsex offenses, the court may credit time served by the offender before the sentencing in an available county supervised community option and may authorize county jails to convert jail confinement to an available county supervised community option, may authorize the time spent in the community option to be reduced by earned release credit consistent with local correctional facility standards, and may require the offender to perform affirmative conduct pursuant to RCW 9.94A.607; and
For offenders convicted of malicious mischief in the third degree or criminal street gang tagging and graffiti located on state property, the court may order the offender to perform at least 24 hours of community restitution in addition to other penalties or in lieu of incarceration. The court may use any community restitution program available including, but not limited to, RCW 79A.05.050 or 72.09.260.
For sentences of nonviolent offenders for one year or less, the court shall consider and give priority to available alternatives to total confinement and shall state its reasons in writing on the judgment and sentence form if the alternatives are not used.
In this title unless a different meaning plainly is required:
If a person has gained money or property or caused a victim to lose money or property through the commission of a crime, upon conviction thereof or when the offender pleads guilty to a lesser offense or fewer offenses and agrees with the prosecutor's recommendation that the offender be required to pay restitution to a victim of an offense or offenses which are not prosecuted pursuant to a plea agreement, the court, in lieu of imposing the fine authorized for the offense under RCW 9A.20.020, may order the defendant to pay an amount, fixed by the court, not to exceed double the amount of the defendant's gain or victim's loss from the commission of a crime. Such amount may be used to provide restitution to the victim at the order of the court. It shall be the duty of the prosecuting attorney to investigate the alternative of restitution, and to recommend it to the court, when the prosecuting attorney believes that restitution is appropriate and feasible. If the court orders restitution, the court shall make a finding as to the amount of the defendant's gain or victim's loss from the crime, and if the record does not contain sufficient evidence to support such finding the court may conduct a hearing upon the issue. For purposes of this section, the terms "gain" or "loss" refer to the amount of money or the value of property or services gained or lost.
If a person commits malicious mischief in the third degree under RCW 9A.48.090 or criminal street gang tagging and graffiti under RCW 9A.48.105, in addition to the community restitution authorized in RCW 9.94A.680, the court has discretion to order community or clean-up restitution, in lieu of part or all of the incarceration sentence.
The court may order the person to clean up the damage, with prior permission of the legal owner or, in the case of public property, of the agency managing the property.
When the court orders community restitution under RCW 9.94A.680, the payment shall be forwarded to the state treasurer who shall distribute it to the program for which the restitution is performed. The court may select either the litter cleanup programs created under RCW 72.09.260 or the waste reduction, recycling, and litter control account created under RCW 70A.200.140.
When the court does not order community restitution under RCW 9.94A.680, the restitution payment shall be forwarded to the state treasurer who shall deposit it in the graffiti and tagging abatement grant program in RCW 36.28A.210, or a similar account, to be used solely for graffiti abatement and cleanup.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, this section also applies to any corporation or joint stock association found guilty of any crime.
If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.