The Seattle Police Department Youth Handgun Violence Initiative Grant

In 1994, the Washington State Legislature enacted a new law making it a felony-level offense for anyone under the age of 18 to own, possess, or control a firearm of any kind in Washington State.1 The law also increased the severity of consequences for gun-related crimes committed by youth. Following the passage of this new law, SPD and the King County Prosecutor’s Office announced the implementation of the SPD Youth Handgun Violence Initiative (YHVI), a coordinated enforcement and prosecution effort to remove guns from the hands of Seattle’s youth. YHVI complemented the SPD’s and King County Prosecutor’s Office’s educational effort called “Options, Choices, Consequences,” a gun violence prevention program in which police officers, prosecutors, and physicians teach Seattle’s middle school students about the legal and medical consequences of unlawful firearm possession and use.

The Seattle Police Department’s Youth Handgun Violence Initiative was funded by a U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant. Ten cities throughout the country were awarded funds under this program to provide targeted and focused law enforcement efforts directed at combating the rise of youth firearm violence. SPD allocated a portion of these grant funds to employ a prosecutor dedicated to the prosecution of juvenile firearm offenders.

In addition to prosecution support, SPD allocated YHVI grant funds for a new crime analysis and mapping system, law enforcement overtime, and project evaluation. Initiative activities included:

  • Establishing School Enforcement Teams (SET’s). A coordinated school enforcement program was established involving all SPD personnel working in schools, organized by precinct, and working in unison with school district administrators and security staff. Teams met monthly. The program employed a problem-solving approach to address school problems and focused on improving communication between agencies represented on SET’s. Targeted enforcement projects were initiated as needed for identified “hotspots.”

  • Developing a New Crime Analysis System. Grant funds were used to purchase software and hardware for a new Crime Analysis System to provide youth crime targeting, mapping, and tracking capabilities and to support SET activities.

  • Tracking and Prosecuting Chronic Youthful Offenders. The King County Prosecutor’s Office specifically focused on youthful offenders involved in weapons cases, creating a baseline database for tracking juvenile gun crime cases. SPD and the King County Department of Youth Services (DYS) shared information to improve tracking of chronic juvenile offenders and dissemination of information between the agencies, including offenders’ probation or parole status.

  • Figure 1Targeting Serious Youth Offenders. Officers from the SPD’s narcotics and gang units coordinated with SET’s to address the citywide youth violence problem. The program included enforcement projects targeted at youth identified as serious offenders. These enforcement projects included partnering detectives with patrol officers and focusing resources on areas identified as having high levels of drug dealing, drug trafficking, and gang activity.

  • Performing Research and Evaluation. The grant participants established links with University of Washington and King County Department of Public Health researchers to survey the community on program progress and hold focus groups to identify strategies to combat youth violence and firearm use.

In September 1996, representatives of SPD and the King County Prosecutor’s Office implemented the new YHVI deputy prosecuting attorney (DPA) position in juvenile court dedicated exclusively to the prosecution of juveniles who committed crimes using firearms. The new DPA’s goals were to:

  • Increase the effectiveness of the prosecution of juvenile firearm offenders by identifying and tracking juvenile offenders throughout the judicial process.

  • Improve the efficiency at every stage of prosecution.

  • Improve the coordination of law enforcement and prosecution efforts.

  • Provide training and legal advice to law enforcement personnel.

  • Perform a statistical analysis of juvenile firearm offenses for the previous 3 years for comparison with the first grant year.

In April 1999, the city of Seattle and King County received additional funding under OJJDP’s Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants (JAIBG) program. The prosecutor employed under this grant will continue and expand upon the programs implemented during the initial COPS grant, work with the recently formed King County Violent Firearms Crime Coalition to conduct training seminars for law enforcement officers within the county, and coordinate investigation and prosecution efforts with the U.S. Department of the Treasury Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

What Types of Data Were Collected?

The King County Prosecutor’s Office, in consultation with the Seattle Police Department, developed a list of information to be retrieved from case files and included in the database:

  • Juvenile.
    • Name, age, gender, and race.
    • Delinquency history.
    • School.

  • Crime.
    • Brief description of incident, date, and time.
    • Incident address and type location (see figure 1).
    • Victim’s age, gender, race, any injuries sustained.
    • Description of motor vehicles used.
    • Gang information (gang name or moniker).

  • Firearm.
    • Make, model, caliber, and number.
    • Status of the gun: recovered? loaded? fired?
    • Description of how the gun obtained and used by the juvenile.

  • Prefiling.
    • Date case was received by prosecutor.
    • Action taken by the prosecutor.

  • Court Proceedings.
    • Charges filed against the juvenile.
    • Standard range of sentences for charges filed.
    • Results of transfer hearings (waiver to adult court).
    • Adjudications (trials and dismissals).
    • Dispositions (sentences imposed and modification hearings).

1 The Revised Code of Washington (RCW 9.41.010 (1)) defines a firearm as “a weapon or device from which a projectile or projectiles may be fired by an explosive such as gunpowder.” This includes handguns, rifles, and shotguns.

Previous Contents Next

Line
Seattle’s Effective Strategy for Prosecuting Juvenile Firearm Offenders Juvenile Justice Bulletin • March 2000