Dori: After Puyallup murder, do we still believe in zero youth incarceration?

We got breaking news during Wednesday’s show that the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office believes two 16-year-olds are responsible for the Puyallup murder last weekend, which left a 79-year-old convenience store owner dead.

The teens allegedly robbed Soon Ja Nam at gunpoint at the Handy Corner store, and then after she gave them the money, one of them allegedly shot her in the back.

One of the 16-year-olds washed up on the beach in Pierce County on Monday. He had been fatally shot. The other 16-year-old was arrested on Wednesday.

We didn’t know when we first reported the Puyallup murder that this alleged killer and accomplice to murder were 16 years old. It’s shocking, nauseating, and sad.

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In the Puget Sound area, there is a very active coalition that has the ear of politicians like Dow Constantine and Jenny Durkan, that believes anyone under 18 should not be put in jail for any crime. Our politicians are striving for no youth detention, even if it’s a 16-year-old rapist or murderer.

In an article published in The Seattle Times last fall, an activist with the No New Youth Jail Coalition was quoted as saying that a new youth jail is a misplacement of priorities because it just isolates youth offenders from society. That same article cited 23 percent of youth offenders as being convicted of violent crimes.

I want you to think about that. Imagine one of these brutal 16-year-olds firing a bullet into the back of that 79-year-old shop owner after she had given them the money they wanted. Not to mention, I believe this 16-year-old may have murdered his accomplice to keep the other teen from turning them both in. We won’t know until we get the charging papers, which could be on Monday.

But we have politicians like Dow Constantine and Jenny Durkan who entertain this nonsense. We have some absolutists who believe that if you’re under 18, even if you commit murder or rape, you should not go to jail. And amazingly, they have the ear of our politicians.

Some of you voted for those politicians.

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