GR 9 COVER SHEET

Suggested Amendments to

WASHINGTON STATE COURT GENERAL RULES:

RULE 22: ACCESS TO FAMILY LAW AND GUARDIANSHIP COURT RECORDS

Submitted by the District & Municipal Court Judges’ Association

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A.        Name of Proponent:             District & Municipal Court Judges’ Association

B.        Spokesperson:                       Judge Michelle Gehlsen, DMCJA President

C.        Purpose:         The District and Municipal Court Judges’ Association (DMCJA) recommends amending GR 22 to include therapeutic court records. Therapeutic courts are defined under RCW 2.30.010. This amendment would further the goal of therapeutic courts to provide individualized treatment intervention. Limited public access to assessments and treatment reports would help encourage defendants to cooperate more honestly with risk/needs assessments, mental health and chemical dependency evaluations, and treatment.

In RCW 2.30.010, the legislature recognized the unique ability of therapeutic courts to help defendants address their individual treatment needs:

(1) The legislature finds that judges in the trial courts throughout the state effectively utilize what are known as therapeutic courts to remove a defendant’s or respondent’s case from the criminal and civil court traditional trial track and allow those defendant’s or respondent’s the opportunity to obtain treatment services to address particular issues that may have contributed to the conduct that led to their arrest or other issues before the court. Trial courts have proved adept at creative approaches in fashioning a wide variety of therapeutic courts addressing the spectrum of social issues that can contribute to criminal activity and engagement with the child welfare system.

(2) The legislature further finds that by focusing on the specific individual's needs, providing treatment for the issues presented, and ensuring rapid and appropriate accountability for program violations, therapeutic courts may decrease recidivism, improve the safety of the community, and improve the life of the program participant and the lives of the participant’s family members by decreasing the severity and frequency of the specific behavior addressed by the therapeutic court.

(3) The legislature recognizes the inherent authority of the judiciary under Article IV, section 1 of the state Constitution to establish therapeutic courts, and the outstanding contribution to the state and local communities made by the establishment of therapeutic courts and desires to provide a general provision in statute acknowledging and encouraging the judiciary to provide for therapeutic court programs to address the particular needs within a given judicial jurisdiction.

            Successful completion of a therapeutic court program by a defendant is dependent on the defendant being honest throughout the entire process. Initial evaluations require defendants to be honest about their personal history, their addiction issues, their mental health issues, etcetera.  Having such evaluations and treatment reports be restricted will help facilitate this goal because defendants can speak freely to evaluators, treatment providers, and probation counselors without fear their personal private information will be released to the general public.

            To further this end, the DMCJA proposes an amendment to GR 22 that would create restricted access to certain critical records used in therapeutic courts.  This amendment would facilitate public access to court records while also protecting personal privacy and not unduly burdening the ongoing business of the courts. Please note that this proposal was distributed to various justice partners, and their input  was incorporated into the final version. In addition to the DMCJA, this proposal has been reviewed and approved by the Superior Court Judges’ Association and the Washington State Association of County Clerks.

D.        Proposed Amendments: [set forth below]

E.        Hearing:  A hearing is not recommended.

F.         Expedited Consideration:  Expedited consideration is not requested.