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Nov
15

Youth legal system resources

Learn more about support for youth in the legal system available from Community and Human Services.

We’re investing in new approaches to support youth in the legal system. This strategic work moves away from punishing youth to prioritizing:

  • Rehabilitation
  • Safety
  • Healing
  • Community well-being

Services are available through our community partners with Stopping the School to Prison Pipeline and Restorative Community Pathways.

Find a provider

Find providers offering prenatal, childhood, youth, and young adult programs

About

King County Executive Constantine pledged to expand community-based alternatives to youth detention that support:

  • Youth healing
  • Accountability
  • Community safety
  • Closure of the secure youth detention facility

This work is guided and shaped by an Advisory Committee made up of community members and other interested parties.

The Advisory Committee and county staff are listening to and learning from young people and their families who have been affected. The committee also identifies opportunities to support community-based alternatives, leading with racial equity. The committee will recommend how the county can close the detention facility while expanding community-based alternatives.

Restorative Community Pathways

Restorative Community Pathways (RCP) invests in community-driven supports that:

  • Give survivors a voice in their healing process
  • Provide youth with an opportunity to engage in meaningful accountability
  • Do not push youth into the juvenile legal system

When a young person gets involved with the legal system, they are referred to an RCP provider.

Stopping the School-to-Prison Pipeline

The Stopping the School to Prison Pipeline strategy partners with communities to create school to life success pathways for 12- to 24-year-old young people and their families most likely to be pushed into the criminal legal system or who are involved in the criminal legal system. The strategy invests in community-based programming that builds relationships, provides guidance, and connects young people to pathways of success - creating an environment that helps all our young people and their families, especially Black and Indigenous youth, embrace their worth, live-up to their potential and pursue their aspirations with the full support of their communities.

Featured service provider: CHOOSE 180

CHOOSE 180 offers a 5-week restorative practice to youth at risk of suspension and expulsion in middle and high schools.

CHOOSE 180 helps students:

  • Stay in school
  • Build intentional relationships with campus leaders
  • Learn necessary skills to prevent future disciplinary actions

While the majority of CHOOSE 180 participants are referred by the prosecutor's offices, community members can also make referrals for young people ages 12-24 in need of services by completing a referral form.

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