Probation budget cuts threaten second chances and public safety in Seattle

The Seattle City Council is currently reviewing Mayor Jenny Durkan’s proposed 2020 budget, which includes status quo funding for the Seattle Municipal Court and our probation program. At least one council member — Kshama Sawant — has proposed cutting $1.5 million from the court’s probation budget in 2020 and beyond, or nearly half the annual funding for this critical program and redirecting this funding to pilot restorative-justice alternatives to the traditional criminal justice system. The mayor already has included funding in her proposed budget through the Seattle Office for Civil Rights and Human Services Department to support restorative-justice alternatives.

Preserving funding for Seattle Municipal Court probation is critical to promoting community safety and helping individuals address the underlying needs that brought them to the criminal justice system. Cutting probation funding creates a significant service gap for those who are involved in the court and drastically limits this rehabilitative jail alternative.

Although the municipal court works with programs such as LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion), our judges cannot order individuals to this type of voluntary program. Reducing or eliminating funding for probation will significantly limit our sentencing options and result in more people staying in jail.

Most individuals assigned probation in our court, 72%, have committed significant community-safety crimes like driving while under the influence — DUI (49%), domestic violence — DV (19%) and non-DV assault, harassment and stalking (11%). These charges are not typically diversion eligible, and Washington state law mandates court monitoring of specific conditions, especially for DUIs.

As a progressive court, our probation approach is at the national forefront of criminal-justice reform, and aligned with the recommendations and national best practices described in several national studies. This includes sentencing practices that reserve probation for only those who present a high public-safety risk. Our probation program incentivizes progress by pursuing early discharge for clients who successfully complete their obligations, and about one-third end their probation early at Seattle Municipal Court. Our probation conditions are tailored to the needs and goals of the individual. This includes accessing treatment or counseling when appropriate. Our probation services do not contribute to mass incarceration or mass supervision. Probation terms are brief and active supervision is closed once the obligations are completed.

Seattle Municipal Court probation counselors are case managers. They assist their clients in staying in compliance with court obligations, help them access substance-abuse treatment, counseling and social services, and maintain or access employment, housing, family and community connections. At review hearings, our judges utilize harm-reduction strategies and offer opportunities to resolve underlying issues through community referrals with the support of their probation counselor, not through jail. On a given day, approximately 1,600 individuals are on probation, and we have a 77% success rate in completing probation obligations. Even more significant, 86% of the people referred for probation complete it without going back to jail.

Our probation counselors are critical to many of our court programs and services, including pretrial services, community programs like our Community Resource Center and neighborhood outreach events (events held this year provided assistance to more than 650 people), and therapeutic specialty courts including mental-health court, domestic violence intervention programs and veterans treatment court. Eliminating funding for probation will drastically reduce or eliminate many of these innovative programs and services and will prevent adding more evidence-based programs.

Reducing funding for probation is misguided and is a drastic step that will result in significant public-safety implications and severely limit non-jail alternatives at sentencing. At a time when Seattle citizens are calling for leadership around public safety and looking for solutions that help high-need individuals who cycle through the criminal justice system, we need a spectrum of approaches that includes probation. Probation promotes community safety, helps individuals remain out of jail and access supportive services while successfully moving forward and out of the criminal justice system.

Signing on to this Op-Ed were: Seattle Municipal Court Assistant Presiding Judge Willie Gregory, Judge Adam Eisenberg, Judge Anita Crawford-Willis, Judge Andrea Chin, Judge Damon Shadid. Judge Faye Chess is away and unable to contribute to this Op-Ed.