10.9.17

Suggested lead:  The  2018 legislative session is still three months away, but one of the state’s fiercest youth advocates is already putting the finishing touches on next year’s bills.  Dan Frizzell has that story.

Wrap (:70 total): State Representative Tina Orwall wants Washington to move away from locking up kids who are truant but otherwise haven’t done anything that would justify putting them into detention facilities.  The Des Moines Democrat also wants to put a stop to the fortunately rare practice of locking up victims of human trafficking who have been forced to become underage sex workers.  It’s rare, she says, because most law enforcement agencies in the state have seen how counterproductive it can be, but she hopes to have it outlawed altogether.

ORWALL:  "We really want to change our approach.  Our state is really trying to move away from sending youth to detention.  What is the underlying reason that they’re not going to school or they’re out on the street? Trying to understand that is really important.  A lot of kids who don’t go to school have trauma histories or mental health issues, or there’s something going on with their families, or they’re homeless. And so the point of the community getting involved is to get to those underlying issues." [:24]. 

Orwall, vice-chair of the House Committee on Public Safety, said she has an ally in Governor Jay Inslee and is working with leading senators as well.  The Legislature kicks off the 2018 session January 8. In Olympia, I’m Dan Frizzell.