As a centerpiece of our efforts, King County Executive Constantine has pledged to close the secure youth detention facility in King County by 2025. An Advisory Committee made up of community members and other stakeholders will guide and shape this work. Throughout the next two years, the Advisory Committee and county staff will listen and learn from impacted young people and their families, identify opportunities to support community-based alternatives, and lead with racial equity. It will then recommend how the county can close the detention facility and repurpose the space to meet other community-identified needs.  

King County is committed to closing the detention center to address racial disproportionality and reduce harm in the youth legal system. The county took this course to close the detention facility after hearing calls from community leaders. In July 2020, the King County Executive declared racism as a public health crisis and prioritized efforts in the criminal legal system. That followed the 2018 launch of King County’s Zero Youth Detention initiative to create a more equitable legal system for young people. The initiative identified several strategies, which the county is pursuing:

• Lead with racial equity;

• Prevent youth from entering into the juvenile legal system;  

• Divert young people to community-based options;

• Support young people and their families to reduce the recurrence of legal system involvement; and 

• Align and optimize connections between system to increase effectiveness. 

As shown in the figures below, these disparities are getting worse, despite successful efforts to reduce the number of young people in detention. Between 2010 and 2021, the number of young people in secure detention declined by 75%. In 2021, the average number of young people in detention was 22 young people, down from 89 in 2010.