Reagan Dunn Seeks to Curb Repeat Offenders with New Legislation

July 27, 2022

Summary

King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn introduced a proposal that would target the revolving door for low-level repeat offenders. This legislation asks the county to create a plan to hold certain repeat offenders in custody until they have received a bond hearing or have been arraigned—working to stop these repeat offenders from continuing to commit crimes.

Story

Today King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn introduced a proposal that would target the revolving door for low-level repeat offenders. This legislation asks the county to create a plan to hold certain repeat offenders in custody until they have received a bond hearing or have been arraigned—working to stop these repeat offenders from continuing to commit crimes.

“Law enforcement should have the discretion to book high-impact, repeat offenders into the King County Jail when there is a likelihood that they will commit more crimes if they are put back out on the streets,” said Dunn. “Our most emboldened and notorious criminals must answer for their crimes and be stopped rather than simply being released to inflict more harm onto our communities.”

Dunn’s legislation, if passed, would request King County, including the Executive, Prosecutor, and local jurisdictions within the county, to develop a plan that would hold repeat offenders booked in a King County Correctional Facility until the arrestee has received a bond hearing or has been arraigned. The offenders would be held if they have been arrested three times within a rolling four-week period; if they were arrested as a part of an investigation resulting in multiple arrests; if they have a prior history of violating court orders three or more times; or if they have been previously arrested for offenses involving danger to the public or law enforcement officers.

The introduction of this legislation comes after multiple incidents where a repeat offender continued to commit dangerous crimes after being arrested then released. This includes a man with nearly 40 arrests being released one day after being arrested for motorcycle theft, a carjacking incident where a 5-year-old child was still in the car, and a 35 person arrest for retail theft in December of 2021 that ended with only one person booked in jail.

The current breakdown of open cases before the King County Superior Court that involve auto theft, burglary, and repeat economic/property offenders where the defendant is out of custody is 62.2%, or 498 defendants. Currently, King County Corrections does not hold low-level offenders. The current policy at King County Correctional Facilities, established in March of 2020, is that jails will not accept people brought in for misdemeanor charges, except for certain charges that present a public safety concern. These charges include assault 4, assault 4 domestic violence, assault 4 with sexual motivation, alcohol related traffic, communication with a minor, stalking, violations of no contact order, and violations of a restraining order.

This legislation will be referred to the Council’s Law, Justice, Health, and Human Services Committee and heard in the coming weeks.