DataWashington  

In Washington, felony murder is defined in the first degree murder (Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 9A.32.030) and second degree murder statutes (Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 9A.32.050).

Prosecutors can charge and convict any person of murder without having to prove that they intended to cause another person’s death. Prosecutors must only prove that a person or an accomplice committed or attempted to commit another specified felony (first degree) or “any felony” (second degree) and that “in the course of or in furtherance of such crime or in immediate flight therefrom,” a death occurred.

People charged with felony murder in Washington can raise an “affirmative defense” that they weren’t the one who committed or aided in the commission of the homicide, weren’t armed, had “no reasonable grounds to believe” that any other participant was armed or “intended to engage in conduct likely to result in death or serious physical injury.“ Affirmative defenses, however, are extremely difficult to prove.

A conviction for felony murder carries a sentence of a minimum of 20 years and maximum of life imprisonment for first degree murder, or a range of 0 years to life for second degree murder.

Race and Conviction Rate:

In Washington, you are 12.9625 times more likely to be incarcerated for felony murder if you are Black than if you are white.

Disproportionate Representation

While Black individuals account for only 4% of Washington’s population

They make up 17% of all incarcerated people

and 31% of those incarcerated for felony murder.

• 31

  Median age of offense for all crimes.

• 25

  Median age at offense for felony murder.

• 43

  Persons incarcerated for felony murder in Washington were younger than 18 at the time of their offense.

  Of these young persons, 51.16% of them are Black.

*These factors track the process--i.e. the effort and obstacles--for obtaining data from individual states under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and appeals process. These factors do not measure the quality of the data; only the process of attempting to obtain the data.

It took Washington state 113 days to respond to our FOIA request under the Washington Public Records Act Chapter 42.56 RCW with a CD-ROM at a cost of $1.31. The quality of the data ultimately delivered was among the highest in the country.

The CD-Rom contained Washington Department of Corrections (WADOC) data for people whose sentencing statute was listed as 9A.32.030(1)(c) or 9A.32.050(1)(b), and at a cost of $1.31. These specific subsections of the first and second degree murder statutes correspond to felony murder in Washington State, and were even specific to the underlying crime that was committed to warrant a felony murder conviction.