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Lawmakers hear mixed views on bringing parole‑style review back into Washington sentencing
Summary
At a June 4 Law & Justice Committee work session, a multi‑panel discussion covered the history of parole in Washington, options for integrating parole with the state’s sentencing grid and competing views from judges, prosecutors, defenders and formerly incarcerated advocates about equity, public safety and implementation.
The Law & Justice Committee on June 4 heard panels weighing whether and how a parole‑style review could be reintroduced alongside Washington’s sentencing guidelines.
"A parole system creates an opportunity to take into account rehabilitative progress, personal growth, community support," Judge Veronica Galvan, co‑chair of the Minority and Justice Commission and King County Superior Court juvenile chief, told the committee.
Why it matters: parole or a parole‑like mechanism would reshape when and how people serving long sentences become eligible for supervised release and could affect prison populations, state budgets, racial disproportionality and reentry services.
History and options. Carrie Ann Yetzer, coordinator of the Sentencing Guidelines Commission, and Dr. Lauren Knoth Petersen of the Public Safety Policy and Research Center reviewed the state’s move from indeterminate to determinate sentencing in the 1980s and described three ways a…
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