Are youth crime rates rising in Renton? Are they rising in King County as a whole?

The Renton Police Department raised concerns at the city’s February Public Safety Committee meeting regarding an increase in rising rates of youth crime.

“There’s no other way to put it, but we are seeing more and more juveniles involved in violent and property crimes,” said Renton Police Chief Jon Schuldt in a March social media post from the department.

Meanwhile, countywide comparisons of felony referrals and filings through the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office’s juvenile division show comparable numbers of felony referrals and filings pre-pandemic and post-pandemic against minors, according to Casey McNerthney, a spokesperson for the office.

On the other hand, King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn introduced legislation on March 19 proposing a King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office’s juvenile crime dashboard that includes “more comprehensive data on the types of crime that are occurring and how those crimes are being addressed by [prosecutors],” according to a news release from Dunn. The news release states “juvenile violent crime continues to spike” and criticized King County juvenile diversion programs, stating they “lack oversight, accountability, and performance metrics.”

Juvenile suspect trends in Renton

The department provided data regarding juvenile suspect trends from 2019 to 2023 to the Renton News.

According to Deputy Chief Jeffery Hardin of the Renton Police Department, the data serves as the estimations of reporting parties and officers regarding a suspect’s age, subject to human error. The data concerns the number of minors serving as the reported suspects of crimes including robberies, motor vehicle thefts, assaults involving firearms, misdemeanor assaults, and malicious mischief cases.

Hardin said in terms of youth crimes, crimes involving firearms and domestic violence crimes served as the department’s “biggest concerns.”

The number of juvenile suspects decreased from 2019 to 2020 in all five categories examined, and from 2020 to 2021, decreased in two categories, motor vehicle theft and misdemeanor assaults; served as comparable in two categories, robberies and assaults involving firearms; and more than doubled for malicious mischief cases.

The number of juvenile suspects in robbery cases remained the same from 2021 to 2022, and rose in terms of motor vehicle theft, and assaults involving firearms and misdemeanor assaults. The number of juvenile suspects in malicious mischief cases saw a fall from 2021 to 2022 back to 2020 numbers.

In 2023, the number of juvenile suspects in Renton saw increases across the board in comparison to 2022, with robberies increasing 161%, motor vehicle thefts increasing 512.5%, assaults involving firearms increasing 114%, misdemeanor assaults increasing 40%, and malicious mischief increasing 173%.

“It’s impossible for the police to know why there is an increase in the number of juveniles committing crimes,” stated Meeghan Black, a spokesperson for the Renton Police Department, in an email to the Renton News.

According to Hardin, the Renton Police Department reduced the number of school resource officers within recent years.

“Now, I wouldn’t say that has had a direct effect or impact by any means, but noticing that there has been an increase in juvenile crime, we’re committed to make sure that our school resource officers are fully staffed by fall of 2024,” Hardin said.

The Renton Police Department aims to have three school resource officers — one per Renton School District high school.

Randy Matheson, a spokesperson for the Renton School District, did not respond to attempts to reach him for comment regarding youth crime.

“I think, for young children who are ... breaking the law, that is, a lot of times because they don’t have the right narrative in their head about what the world really is and their place in the world,” said Julianna Dauble, president of the Renton Education Association union. “They don’t feel needed or wanted or valued.”

Sexual assault

Data from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office provided information regarding the number of felony referrals and filings against minors pre-pandemic, 2018 and 2019, and post-pandemic, 2022 and 2023.

According to Casey McNerthney of the prosecuting attorney’s office, the data serves as subject to error and was entered by humans.

“Each case is only counted once by the most serious offense in the case. All this data is for felony referrals and filings only,” stated McNerthney in an email.

From 2018-2019 to 2022-2023, the number of referrals for youth sexual assault increased, and the number of filings decreased.

The number of referrals for youth sexual assault cases from 2018-2019 to 2022-2023 increased 20%, and number of filings decreased 40%.

According to McNerthney, the discrepancy serves as a result of the influence of statutory referrals — cases where law enforcement does not believe there is evidence to charge a crime.

Combining felony cases and misdemeanor sex assault cases, King County prosecutors received a total of 270 referrals in 2023, with 119 of the aforementioned referrals, approximately 44%, serving as statutory referrals.

According to McNerthney, in 73% of the statutory referrals, either the suspect served as younger than 12 years old, with state law presuming the child to be incapable of committing the crime, or the victim’s guardians did not want to assist with a police investigation or prosecution.

McNerthney provided the Renton News with a document detailing the prosecutorial work done on all 270 sexual assault case referrals to the team’s juvenile division in 2023.

According to McNerthney, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office plans to launch a public data dashboard for the office’s juvenile division to provide faster access to data.

Vehicle theft

Felony referrals and filings for vehicle thefts involving youth served as a marked increase from pre-pandemic rates.

Motor vehicle theft served as a singular outlier in comparing pre-pandemic and post-pandemic referrals and filings.

In 2018 and 2019, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office juvenile division received a total of 256 felony referrals and filed 156 felony cases for felony vehicle theft cases. In 2022 and 2023, the office received 342 referrals and filed 186 felony cases, an approximately 34% increase in referrals and 19% increase in filings post-pandemic.

McNerthney attributed the increase in vehicle thefts to a viral social media challenge showcasing methods to hot-wire Kia and Hyundai vehicles.

“You’ll see that with the exception of vehicle theft - which is a result of thefts of Kias and Hyundais following the nationwide TikTok trend - [youth] crime types increased from 2022 to 2023, but are not higher than 2018-2019 numbers, or are comparable,” McNerthney said.

Number of juvenile suspects per year in motor vehicle thefts in Renton from 2019 to 2023, including motor vehicle thefts of a truck or bus, motor vehicle thefts of an automobile, and attempted motor vehicle theft.

Number of juvenile suspects per year in assaults involving firearms in Renton from 2019 to 2023.

Number of juvenile suspects per year in misdemeanor assaults in Renton from 2019 to 2023.

Number of juvenile suspects per year in malicious mischief cases in Renton from 2019 to 2023.

Felony referrals for robbery, sexual assault, vehicle theft, burglary, felony assault, unlawful possession of a firearm, and felony theft and possession of stolen property in the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office’s Juvenile Division from 2019 to 2023.

Felony filings for robbery, sexual assault, vehicle theft, burglary, felony assault, unlawful possession of a firearm, and felony theft and possession of stolen property in the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office’s Juvenile Division from 2019 to 2023.