Gil? City of Seattle Office of the Mayor City of Seattle Bruce A. Harrell, Mayor Executive Order 2017-08: Examining Alternatives to the King County Youth Detention Center An Executive Order establishing a Taskforce led by the Director of the Office for Civil Rights to examine alternatives to youth detention and directing the Office of Housing to identify alternative housing options to youth incarceration. WHEREAS, the City Council has passed a resolution endorsing a vision for the City of Seattle to become a city with zero use of detention for youth (Resolution 31614); and WHEREAS, the City is convening a Criminal Justice Equity Team to develop an Action Plan to realize the City?s goal in reaching zero use of detention for youth, including steps the City can take to reduce reliance on detention and a strategy for City investments in anti-racist community?centered alternatives to detention that are led by communities of color; and WHEREAS, the Office for Civil Rights, in partnership with King County and community stakeholders, conducted a Racial Equity Toolkit Analysis of the King County Children and Family Justice Center and published a report onJune 23, 2015; and WHEREAS, the racial equity analysis included a finding that the juvenile justice system has a disproportionate negative impact on youth from communities of color; and WHEREAS, the racial equity analysis recommended designing all aspects of the new Children and Family Justice Center to support a goal of zero use of detention; and WHEREAS, the communities organizing and leading the campaign against placing youth in detention oppose the construction of the King County Children and Family Justice Center and contend that the facility itself is inconsistent with the vision of zero use of detention for youth; and WHEREAS, the impacts ofjuvenile incarceration on communities of color undermine the City?s work to end institutional racism in City government and interfere with the City?s goal of achieving racial equity across the community; and WHEREAS, a report titled, ?Working to Reduce the Use of Secure Confinement? on August 17, 2017, by Dr. Eric Trupin, Professor and Vice Chair, Department of and Behavioral Sciences and Director, Behavioral Health and Justice Policy, School of Medicine, University of Washington stated "International and national juvenile detention centers are increasingly moving away from architectural models of large institutionalized facilities in favor of smaller normalized environments; an approach consistent with restorative justice design principles, which emphasize that accountability, healing and Office of the Mayor 600 Fourth Avenue, PO. Box 94749, Seattle, WA 98124 206-684-4000 1 seattlegov/mayor transformation be addressed in small?scale homelike spaces that de-escalate stress by integrating elements of the natural world to create positive experiences,? and WHEREAS, Dr. Trupin concluded that structures designed to develop family relationships and healthy living spaces to treat kids is the preferred alternative; and WHEREAS, a vision for zero use of detention has long been the vision of Seattle youth of color, particularly African-American youth, who have been organizing and leading a campaign against placing youth in detention; NOW, THEREFORE, I, Bruce A. Harrell, Mayor of Seattle, hereby order the following: Section 1. Alternatives to Youth Detention Taskforce. The Director of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) shall create and convene a taskforce comprised of City departments and community leaders to identify and define best practices in alternatives to youth detention and identify resource opportunities to support any King County effort to redesign the planned Youth Detention Center and reach our shared goal of reaching zero use of youth detention. The recommendations shall guide the work of the Office of Housing as described in Section 2. Section 2. Identifying Alternative Options to Incarceration. The Director of the Office of Housing, shall, in consultation with the Seattle Department of Construction and lnSpections, King County, and with the taskforce convened by OCR, identify housing options throughout King County that could provide alternative options to youth incarceration and provide a report to the Mayor regarding those within six months of the taskforce?s conclusion. Inquiries by City Departments, grantees, and contracted service providers regarding this Executive Order should be directed to Patty Lally, Director of the Office for Civil Rights at (206) 233-7822. Dated this 15th day of September, 2017. 346/ Bruce A. Harrell Mayor, City of Seattle Page 2 of 2