Proposed Rules Archives

• Proposed Changes to RAP 3.4 - Title of Case and Designation of Parties (in Word Format)
• Comments Received for RAP 3.4 - Title of Case and Designation of Parties

Suggested Amendment

Rules of Appellate Procedure

RAP 3.4 — TITLE OF CASE AND DESIGNATION OF PARTIES

A. Proponent: Washington State Office of Public Defense

B. Spokespersons: George Yeannakis, Trial Level Public Defense Improvement Program Managing Attorney, and Gideon Newmark, Appellate Program Managing Attorney, Washington State Office of Public Defense

C. Purpose: To update RAP 3.4 to provide for juvenile offender appeals to be recaptioned using the juvenile’s initials, and for the juvenile’s initials to be used throughout appellate proceedings.

It has long been a matter of convention in Washington’s appellate courts that juvenile offender appeals are captioned using the juvenile’s initials, not the juvenile’s name. There is currently no statute or court order requiring such recaptioning. Recognizing this fact, Division III of the Court of Appeals recently published a general order requiring unsealed juvenile offender appeals to be captioned using the juvenile’s full name. But recent changes in juvenile record-sealing law would be frustrated if Washington’s longstanding custom of protecting juvenile identities on appeal was abandoned.

In 2014, the Legislature declared that “it is the policy of the state of Washington that the interest in juvenile rehabilitation and reintegration constitutes compelling circumstances that outweigh the public interest in continued availability of juvenile court records.” Laws of 2014, ch. 175, § 1. The Legislature accordingly required that a juvenile’s court record be administratively sealed upon the juvenile’s 18^th birthday, provided that the juvenile has met the terms and conditions of his or her disposition, and in the absence of any objection. RCW 13.50.260. Such administrative sealing will be rendered useless, however, if juvenile offender identities are routinely published online, as all appellate opinions are. In the interest of effectuating the policy enacted by the Legislature, and in the interest of enabling juveniles to be rehabilitated and lead productive lives following a juvenile offense disposition, this Court should adopt the attached suggested amendment to RAP 3.4.