Carolyn Dimmick Final PDF.indd - Washington Secretary of State

Dimmick: Oh, good for me. I’d forgotten that.
Hughes: Here’s the news story from 1996: “The federal judge who upheld Washington
State’s Sex Offender Public Notification Law yesterday said, ‘The law does not punish the
individual whose criminal past is revealed. The stigma of which plaintiffs complain is not
created by the registration and notification provisions, but rather by the communities’
reaction to the sex offender’s prior conduct.”
Dimmick: That’s right.
Hughes: What kind of marks do you give your fellow judges here? They think highly of you,
I can tell you that.
Dimmick: Well, I think highly of all of them. That’s why I’m at a loss what to say about
them. They come from good backgrounds, work hard, do their job.
Hughes: They’re a diverse group of bright, young men and women, aren’t they?
Dimmick: They are.
Hughes: Do you think they’re smarter than you were at that age?
Dimmick: I think so. I really do. I think, “I wouldn’t be able to get into law school
nowadays.” It’s hard to get into law school at the UW. You don’t just walk in the door any
more.
Hughes: I was screened heavily to get in here. Is the intense security in this new
Courthouse in the wake of 9/11?
Dimmick: No, that came in the wake of the bombing of the courthouse in Oklahoma.
Hughes: Timothy McVeigh.
Dimmick: Yes.
Hughes: Do you think it’s well warranted and take comfort in having all this security here?
Or in some respects does that sort of fly in the face of the “people’s” court?
Dimmick: No, because when we built this Courthouse we made it as open as possible.
You can walk in freely, look at the reflection pool, look at the art and not have to go
through security. That was my primary intent when we planned this Courthouse, having
some wonderful serene vista that the people could see without having to go through
tight security to get into their court. And so that’s what we did and fortunately it was a
wonderful barrier.
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