Opinion ID: 1244665
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: rights surrounding trial

Text: The juveniles also argue that the diversion process is tantamount to a conviction and does not safeguard basic constitutional rights such as: the right against self-incrimination, the right of confrontation and the right to trial. They also cite to In re Keene, 95 Wn.2d 203, 622 P.2d 360 (1980), which holds that a plea must have a factual basis in the record in order to be valid. These arguments fail to recognize that a fundamental difference exists between a diversion agreement, which is essentially a contract between the juvenile and the diversion unit, and a guilty plea which results in a criminal conviction. A diversion agreement cannot result in a detention sentence, and requires at most that the juvenile pay a fine of $100 or less and attend community supervision and service activities for a short length of time. RCW 13.40.080(2). The procedure is designed to be informal, and as we held in a case determining the amount of procedural safeguards needed in a contempt proceeding, [t]he procedural safeguards afforded in each situation should be tailored to the specific function to be served by them. Burlingame v. Consolidated Mines & Smelting Co., 106 Wn.2d 328, 334, 722 P.2d 67 (1986). We believe the less formal procedure used in this diversion context need not guarantee that the juvenile be informed of the panoply of constitutional rights which the juvenile would have if he or she were pleading guilty. A diversion agreement is not equivalent to a conviction, and there is no necessity to formalize this procedure by a lengthy recitation of rights which attach during criminal proceedings.