Facing a judge can be a daunting experience, but Renton judges are attempting to divert non-violent offenders, meeting them where they are — but they’re still not opposed to putting people in jail if need be.

Renton Municipal Court Presiding Judge Kara Murphy-Richards and Judge Jessica Giner presented their yearly “State of the Court” presentation on July 8 to the Renton City Council. Murphy-Richards said this year, she feels like she and Giner have found the perfect balance for people going through Renton Municipal Court.

“I was supposed to retire after this year, and I’m not leaving because I think Jessica and I have finally, finally gotten to the point where we’ve found this perfect balance between the kind of accountability that holds people responsible for their actions, and the recognition of helping people address the underlying basis of their criminal decisions,” Murphy-Richards said. “We’re finally starting to see incredible stories emerge from this approach, and I’m not ready to leave yet. I’m really, very pleased.”

One of the Renton court’s newer programs is Community Court, which has about a 7.6% recidivism rate in the last two years the program has been around. Murphy-Richards described Community Court as a therapeutic approach to connect people who have committed non-violent crimes to resources so they do not continue to commit crimes.

The process for being admitted to Community Court begins with the prosecuting attorney reviewing if someone is eligible, and if they are, at that point, the defendant’s attorney is notified.

If the person is not interested in community court, they stay in mainstream court, but if they’re interested, they come back on the next Thursday and observe what community court looks like. Murphy-Richards said first they must observe Community Court before committing to the program so they know exactly what they’re signing up for.

If an individual is interested, they then complete a needs assessment with a case manager, and this determines the resources they need to be connected.

“So, if that person sits down and says, ‘I stole because I have mental health issues and drug issues and I’m homeless,’ then the needs of that person are going to be housing, job training, substance abuse treatment, and mental health treatment, right? So that’s going to be the parameters of their contract in our program,” Murphy-Richards said. The parameters of the defendants’ contracts are legal contracts, which Murphy-Richards said she explains to the defendant, and following their completion of the contract, their charges are dismissed.

Murphy-Richards said many people might have the misconception that the process is simple and people’s charges are easily dismissed, but she said this is not the case. She cited that Community Court is a 12-month program where people turn their lives around. She said defendants enrolled in Community Court must meet with the court weekly and provide updates on how things are going. Murphy-Richards said participants range from homeless people who are addicted to drugs to housed, educated and employed mothers who decided to shoplift.

Murphy-Richards said when people hear about Community Court, they might say that she and Giner are two bleeding-heart liberal judges who are all about giving people diversion options, but she said that could not be farther from the truth. Murphy-Richards said if people do not want to try the program or go to treatment, she is not opposed to jailing them. She said she hopes a minimum 30-day jail sentence will give some people clarity about what they’re doing.

“When we talk about some of our programs, there are people who kind of walk away saying on social media, ‘slap on the hand, no accountability.’ That could not be further from the truth because I have no issues imposing significant jail time on people who aren’t willing to get help. Not a problem for me,” Murphy-Richards said. “Every case we deal with, with drugs, the first thing we ask the defense attorney before making an offer on the case is, does your client want help? If the answer is yes, we’re going to recommend your client do treatment. No jail time, go through treatment, be successful in treatment, and then there’ll be no jail time. And if the defense attorney says, nope, my client’s not interested in treatment, then the prosecutor’s recommendation is going to be 30 days in jail because it’s not to punish people for not getting treatment, but if they don’t get treatment, they’re going to keep stealing.”

Renton Municipal Youth Traffic Court

Another area where the Renton court attempts to divert people is through the Renton Municipal Youth Traffic Court, a program that prevents 16- and 17-year-olds from having tickets on their record.

Giner said this can be a big help to families who are on a tight budget and can’t afford to pay a ticket or higher insurance prices following a traffic infraction. She noted that youth traffic court is not available for photo enforcement tickets.

Giner said when a driver typically receives a traffic infraction, they would go through the mainstream calendar and have some options for handling their ticket, including mitigating or contesting their ticket. But, with the youth traffic court, a 16- or 17-year-old driver can have their case heard by the youth traffic court team, which Renton School District High School students staff, Giner said.

Additionally, she said in youth traffic court, the team is staffed by a teen judge, teen advocates, a teen mentor, and a teen jury.

“The youth traffic court team hears the police report, and it begins with a somewhat similar to mainstream court process and procedure. But then we stop the proceedings, and the team moves their chairs into a restorative justice circle. They have the opportunity to discuss the two main goals of the program, which is what is going to serve as an educational tool for the teen driver. Then what helps restore the community from the infraction that was committed,” Giner said. “The teen team works together to create conditions for the student driver. Those conditions could include community service, a reflection essay, attending and serving as a future youth traffic court jury member. There are a variety of conditions, and the conditions are all laid out by a state law that authorizes these types of courts.”

Giner said the teen then has six months to fulfill the decided conditions, and if they do, their case is dismissed. However, if the driver does not fulfill the conditions, they go back into the adult mainstream calendar, Giner said.

Giner said that in addition to this program assisting youth drivers, it’s also created opportunities for leadership roles. Giner said in Renton that a few team members are board members for the Washington Association of Youth Courts. Additionally, she said that the teen members not only have the opportunity to take on leadership roles statewide, but also to become familiar with the court system and foster future interest in a legal career.

“So if they’d like to attend law school, it’s a great step for them to start their sort of knowledge base of what a courtroom looks like, what it feels like,” Giner said. “And they also have the opportunity to attend an annual state conference, and it’s traditionally held at Seattle University School of Law. So they’re sitting in real law school classrooms for this conference, and they’re having that ability to become empowered at achieving their goal of attending law school.”