Minority and Justice Commission
Meeting Minutes

Evaluation and Implementation Sub-committee Meeting
Friday, September 28, 2001, 1:30 p.m.
King County Courthouse
516 Third Avenue, C-201

Members participating: Judge James M. Murphy, Chair, Judge Deborah D. Fleck, Robert C. Boruchowitz, Brian Tsuchida, and Ms. Erica S. Chung
      
Members not participating: Judge Kato and Leana Lamb

Meeting was called to order by Judge James M. Murphy at 1:30 p.m.

Status Report of SRA project
Reviewed two versions of the proposed amendments to 9.94A.390, with and without defendant’s burden.  Discussion ensued.  Members were concerned that the proposed amendments were not specific enough to racial and ethnic bias, that it should also include social/economic impact and interdiction problem. Another issue was if racial disparity occurs before sentencing, then does it make more sense to review the prior stages instead of the sentencing phase. Members agreed to review the sentencing range in addition to the mitigating sentencing (9.9A.390) and Bail Guidelines.  Under proposed amendment (i) it was agreed to delete second half of the sentence to avoid redundancy.  Also it was agreed that two to three examples should be included under commentary for proposed amendment (i) and (j).  Bob Boruchowitz and Brian Tsuchida agreed to provide examples by October 5.  Examples should be soft anecdotal, which exemplifies unconscious bias with a negative ramification—that good intentions when applied resulted in negative disparate impact.  Judge Murphy and Bob Boruchowitz agreed to seek input from prosecutors after the meeting regarding proposed amendments by October 5 since prosecutors were not able to attend the scheduled meeting.

Action Items
Judge James M. Murphy
* During conference call with Judge Worswick Monday, October 1, seek inclusion of a woman judge of color and CrR3.2 training.
* Follow up with prosecutor regarding proposed amendments

Judge Deborah Fleck
* Follow up with Judge Pat Akins, retired, regarding proposed amendments.
* Follow up with superior court criminal judges to participate in meetings regarding proposed amendments.

Bob Boruchowitz
* Draft letter to submit to Commission regarding proposing amendments to RCW 9.94A.390
* Submit examples for inclusion to proposed amendments
* Follow up with Norm Maleng regarding proposed amendments and sentencing range.

Lisa Daugaard and Kay-C Lee
* Revise the draft proposed amendment to exceptional sentencing (mitigating sentencing) guideline RCW 9.94A.390 under Sentencing Reform Act of 1981, as directed from today’s meeting.

Brian Tsuchida
* Submit examples for inclusion to proposed amendments

Next Evaluation and Implementation Sub-committee meeting: Needs to be set

Next Steps/Timeline
September 6, 2001:
Set up meeting with Judge Kato to engage in a research project to support exceptional sentencing.
October through December:
Meet with stakeholders: prosecutors, criminal judges, and other interested parties.