SUPERVISION IN THE COMMUNITY

COMMUNITY CUSTODY FOR SENTENCES ONE YEAR OR LESS

For sentences of one year or less (jail sentences), and for a First-time Offender Waiver, a court may impose up to one year of community custody.  Community custody is limited to 24 months for consecutive sentences (RCW 9.94A.589(5)). Community custody must be imposed on the date of sentencing.  This period of custody is tolled while the offender is in total or partial confinement.

Community custody under the First-time Offender Waiver may include rehabilitative conditions, which may include crime-related prohibitions.[1]  All community custody for crimes committed on or after July 28, 1991, include a requirement that offenders cannot own, use or possess firearms or ammunition (RCW 9.94A.720).

If a court finds that an offender has a chemical dependency that has contributed to his or her offense, the court may prohibit such use during community custody, with regular monitoring by urinalysis or breathalyzer tests.  The court may also impose affirmative conditions reasonably related to the circumstances of the crime, such as participation in drug and alcohol treatment, depending on available resources.

A court may, as part of community custody, also order an offender to undergo a mental status evaluation and participate in available outpatient mental health treatment.

A court is permitted to require an offender to participate in a domestic violence perpetrator program if the offender has a minor child, or if the victim of the offense for which the offender was convicted has a minor child.

 COMMUNITY CUSTODY

The Offender Accountability Act became effective July 1, 2000, and requires sentencing to include a term of community custody for all offenses enumerated in the Act.  The Act is aimed at strengthening the law to hold offenders more accountable in the community and further requires the Department of Corrections to supervise offenders based upon their risk to the community’s safety.

For offenses committed on or after July 1, 2000, “community custody” will be the only form of supervision required for all sex offenses, all serious violent offenses, all violent offenses, all “crimes against persons” (defined in RCW 9.94A.411) and all felony drug offenses.  Conditions of community custody and levels of supervision will be based on risk.

Courts sentence all offenders, except those sentenced under RCW 9.94A.712, to a determinate period of confinement and to community custody for the period set forth in the community custody range or for the period of earned release time, whichever is longer.  Courts may impose conditions of supervision, including affirmative conditions such as rehabilitative treatment, which are reasonably related to the circumstances of the offense, to the risk of recidivism and to community safety.  Offenders may not be discharged from community custody before the end of the period of earned release, the Department of Corrections, however, may discharge an offender at any time during the period between the end of the earned release and the end of the range specified by the court.

When sentencing sex offenders who commit offenses on or after September 1, 2001, and who fall within the scope of RCW 9.94A.712, the court is required to impose a sentence to a maximum term of confinement, the statutory maximum for the offense, and a minimum term within the standard range for the offense or exceptional outside the standard sentence range as allowed under RCW 9.94A.535. In addition to other terms of the sentence, the court must also sentence the offender to community custody under the supervision of the Department of Corrections and the authority of the Indeterminate Sentence Review Board for any period of time remaining between the date of release from total confinement and before the expiration of the statutory maximum sentence.

 The Sentencing Guidelines Commission established community custody ranges for eligible offenses through the administrative process.  The community custody ranges became effective July 1, 2000.  The Commission is empowered to modify the ranges annually but subsequent modifications will require enactment by the Legislature before becoming effective. The ranges are as follows:

The ranges specified in this section are not intended to affect or limit the authority to impose exceptional community custody ranges, either above or below the standard community custody range as authorized by RCW 9.94A.535 and pursuant to such guidelines.  The community custody range for offenders with multiple convictions must be based on the offense that dictates the longest term of community custody. The community custody range for offenders convicted of an offense that falls into more than one of the five categories of offense types listed in this section must be based on the offense type that dictates the longest term of community custody.

[Statutory Authority: RCW 9.94A.850(6) (rule-making authority under chapter 34.05 RCW). 00-11-052, § 437-20-010, filed 5/12/00, effective 7/1/00.]

While on community custody, offenders will be subject to affirmative conditions imposed by the court and by the Department of Corrections. The Department will supervise offenders according to identified risk.  Violations of conditions of community custody will be sanctioned by the Department under a system of graduated sanctions, including confinement.  An appeals process for violations and sanctions has been established by the Department.

Effective July 1, 2000, the one-year term of community supervision for unranked felonies becomes a term of community custody.  Effective July 25, 1999, offenders sentenced under the First-time Offender Waiver are required to be supervised in the community for one year, unless an ongoing treatment program continues beyond the first year, after which supervision ends with treatment.  Such supervision cannot exceed two years.