Thanks to community partners, Community Passageways, Creative Justice, Choose 180 and the King County Department of Public Defense, King County youth under the age of 18 will be connected with a public defender when asked to waive their Miranda rights!
Mi’Chance Dunlap-Gittens was a 17-year-old whose dream of attending law school to champion youth rights was cut short when he was killed by the police. Named in honor of Mi’Chance, the Mi'Chance Dunlap-Gittens’ Youth Rights Ordinance will protect young people’s constitutional rights during interrogations and searches by ensuring youth rights are asserted and that young people fully understand the consequences of waiving their rights.
Under the Mi’Chance Dunlap-Gittens Youth Rights Ordinance:
Law enforcement will connect a youth to a public defender when the youth is asked to waive their constitutional rights to remain silent and to an attorney
Law enforcement will connect a youth to a public defender when the youth is asked consent to search/authorize the search of any property, abode, or vehicles belonging to the youth
There is an exception to this ordinance that allows officers to interrogate youth without connecting them to a public defender if they reasonably believe the information sought is necessary to protect life from an imminent threat and the questioning is limited to that purpose
The Mi’Chance Dunlap-Gittens Youth Rights Ordinance will be instrumental in advancing racial equity. Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) youth are regularly discriminated against and overrepresented in the legal system. Not only are BIPOC youth stopped and recommended for charges at higher rates than their white peers, but in 2019, approximately 86% of the youth jailed and 72% of the youth prosecuted in King County Juvenile Court were BIPOC. Due to the consistent and constant violence BIPOC experience from law enforcement, many Black and Brown young people fear and distrust law enforcement, and are less likely to assert their rights. The Mi’Chance Dunlap-Gittens Youth Rights Ordinance will ensure BIPOC youth’s rights in these situations.
Check out “Empower King County youth to invoke their rights with police,” an op-ed written by Nikkita Oliver, Dominique Davis and Sean Goode to read more about the trauma experienced by BIPOC youth and how this ordinance is vital to change.