Seattle, WA

Site Coordinator | Advisory Board |  Press | Site Resources

Seattle, the first Burns Institute site, began work in 1999. In Seattle and Phoenix, the Burns Institute process is known as "Building Blocks," because Seattle and Phoenix began work with BI Director James Bell prior to his founding the BI. The Seattle Advisory Board is co-chaired by Washington State Supreme Court Justice Bobbe J. Bridge and Metropolitan King County Councilmember Larry Gossett. The major problem in Seattle is the overrepresentation of African-American youth in the juvenile justice system.

Seattle has completed the community mapping stage of the Burns Institute process and is in the midst of the system reform stage. Seattle is implementing an objective detention risk assessment instrument for the first time in the jurisdiction. The site serves as a model for the sustainability of the Burns Institute process because the Burns Institute's disproportionality focus has been woven into and is a major component of a broader Seattle juvenile justice reform effort called the Juvenile Justice Operational Master Plan (JJOMP).

The overall detention population in Seattle has declined dramatically since the BI process began, and the overrepresentation of African-American youth has also begun to decline. Seattle has also greatly expanded its use of alternative to detention programs and increased the percentage of youth of color participating in these alternatives.

For more information on the Seattle site, please contact Seattle Site Coordinator Teddi Edington.